A fun read taking place in Hollywood, 1932.

Lillian Frost, being crowned Miss Astoria Park of 1936 also won a train ticket from New York to Hollywood and a screen test. She took the test, but wasn’t surprised to not get a part. That was fine, as her real interest was movies and the work making them. She’d been raised by her Uncle Danny, who was a painter for Paramount Studios in Astoria, New York.

Lillian found a job at Tremayne’s Department Store and her own flat. Tremaynes being a little more secure than making the constant round auditioning.

When two detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department show up at her work, enquiring about her ex-roommate, Ruby Carroll, her job security gets shaky, but her love and knowledge of movies comes into play.

Lillian identifies Ruby and also recognizes the gown Ruby is found dead in as one she had seen in a recent movie from Paramount Studios. She goes with the detectives to Paramount Studios to have confirmation she is correct. This is where she meets Edith Head, who is at the beginning of her award winning career in costume design. The two strike up a friendship and agree to solve the mystery.

It is a fun read with appearances by various celebrities of the time. The characters and settings, along with the wardrobe make a great package. Lillian is a strong and motivated woman, just as Edith Head is. There is a nightclub owner nick-named “The Shark,” other actresses, directors, writers, and Argentine playboy, news reporters, photographers, an Hungarian princess with a shady past, just to name a few characters. A good amount of twists and turns on the way to the solution make it a good read. ( )

Los Angeles, 1937, and Lillian Frost realising how bad an actress she is has given up on her non-existent acting career and is working in a deparment store. Only to be questioned by the police - Detective Morrow and Hansen - when her ex-roommate and actress Ruby Carroll is found murdered, wearing clothes purloined from the wardrobe department of the Paramount studios. Lillian and Edith Head decide to worked together to clear their names.
An enjoyable start to a new mystery series which establishes the main characters for the future. ( )

Actually 3.5

Ooh! Vintage setting! Clothes Designers! Murder! How could it miss? And yet, somehow, it did.

Enjoyable enough but not a series I'll continue. ( )

Lillian Frost wasn't overly disappointed when her move to Hollywood for a screen test didn't result in an acting career filled with accolades and is content with her position as a salesgirl in a large department store. However, when police detectives inform her that her former roommate was found murdered in an alley, Lillian ends up being pulled into the investigation after she recognizes her friend's dress as being a costume from a film. Lillian then meets costume designer Edith Head and the two women roll up their sleeves and decide to solve the mystery themselves.

There were elements of this novel that I loved but ultimately I was underwhelmed by the delivery and won't be continuing with the series. The late 1930s Hollywood setting is brilliantly evoked. The details feel accurate and the lingo the characters sling around is like being immersed in one of the films of the era. I did love that Edith Head was a real figure and the author acknowledgements prior to the novel address all the research the authors did (Renee Patrick is a nom de plume for the married couple behind this novel). However, the authors seem so cautious of stepping on Head's memory that she doesn't come across as much of a character at all. And while they namedrop several big old Hollywood names like Bob Hope and Barbara Stanwyck, it feels kind of gimmicky. The mystery itself is convoluted in a way that doesn't feel delightfully complicated but just excessively confusing and there are several points in the novel where as a reader I wasn't sure we'd encountered a clue or solved the case. Also, there was very little sense of Lillian's emotional reactions to everything going on leaving the reader feeling like they're on the outside looking in. Stylistically, there's also a few passages of dialogue where determining who is saying what gets lost. There are worse cozy mysteries but there are also better ones. ( )

A fun mystery that incorporates real life fashion designer Edith Head in a story set in 1930s Hollywood. Lots of possible murder suspects, some danger, real-life movie stars, and fashion - all entertainingly told by fictional heroine Lillian Frost. This novel is the equivalent of watching a screwball comedy - bring on the popcorn, sit back and enjoy! ( )