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SHAMUS IN THE GREEN ROOM
by Susan Kandel
Avon, May 2007
336 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0061284874


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Cece Caruso, biographer of Golden Age mystery novelists, has returned for a new adventure. This time she has been hired to coach Rafe Simic, one of the hottest actors in Hollywood. Rafe is going to portray Dashiell Hammett and Cece’s first and most popular biography was of the legendary writer. Cece is very proud of the accolades she received for this book and also for the fact that it is still in print after many years.

Normally, Cece would be writing, but she accepts this unusual position because of the big money she will earn. She plans to give her entire paycheck to her daughter Annie who, along with her husband Vincent, is trying to get full custody of his child from his first marriage.

Rafe is a little bit of a scatterbrain and not the actor that Cece would have picked to portray Hammett. However, she is convinced that with her knowledge of the writer and her in-depth coaching of Rafe, she can help to get a good performance out of him. Unfortunately, before they have really begun, Rafe is called to identify a body at the morgue. He identifies the woman as an old friend and the sister of his manager.

Cece is a true original. She is addicted to vintage clothing and in the glittery world of Los Angeles and Hollywood, she fits right in. Yet she is a serious writer and her books are well received. Along the way, with descriptions of clothing, jewelry and other accessories, the reader actually amasses a good deal of information about the subject of her current project. The same is true of Dashiell Hammett; the author has obviously done her research.

There are at least two other books in this series. They are equally filled with wacky characters, funny scenes and enough biographical facts to please even those who do not put cozy mysteries with an amateur sleuth at the top of their book list.

Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, October 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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