Mystery Scene Magazine reports on all the big dogs of the mystery genre. So when they gave Oscar Season: A Novel a killer review, we listened. The review follows.
Oscar season, the interval between Oscar nominations and the award ceremony, is the L.A. Pinnacle Hotel's busiest time and a nightmare for hotel PR Director Juliette Greyson. Hiding a sick movie star in the hotel is bad enough, but soon Juliette's ex-husband arrives with his starlet girlfriend, and an Oscar-nominated director pulls an outrageous publicity stunt. The clever and hardworking Juliette retains her cool through it all though, falling apart only when one of the hotel guests is brutally murdered. Can Juliette survive one more Oscar season, or could this be the year the curtain falls on her career and maybe even her life?
Los Angeles Times Hollywood reporter Mary McNamara brings all the color and verve of the Oscar season to life in her debut novel. There's an unflagging energy to McNamara's writing that propels the story along a nerve-wracking path to its surprising, if inevitable, conclusion. That same energy reflects the organized chaos of a large hotel packed to the hilt with big egos and demanding clients. The hotel itself is more a character than a setting, oozing personality on every page, and hotel owner Eamonn Devlin is perfect as the debonair ringmaster of this star-studded circus with Juliette as his cool right-hand woman. Infused with snippets of gossip, Oscar Season richly conveys the behind-the-scenes manipulations of the Hollywood crowd and makes for one thoroughly fun mystery. A highly recommended read.- Mary Welk
This review appeared in the Winter 2008 issue (#103) of the magazine"Mystery Scene" Sphere: Related Content
