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Death at High Tide |
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D eath at High Tide byBeth Sherman Avon Books 247 pages, 1999 ISBN 0380731088 Reviewed by PJ Nunn Read our review of Death's a Beach by the same author Small towns and Hollywood don’t mix, porn stars turned prima donna are rarely beloved and somehow, Anne Hathaway, ghostwriter, has to make sense of it all. Her assignment is to write a best-selling autobiography of film star Mallory Loving. But the puritan citizens of Oceanside Heights are appalled at the decadence Mallory Loving has brought into their community with her latest film. The fact that Mallory grew up there and married a home-town boy, then dumped him, did little to increase her popularity. The production is plagued with problems, mostly centered around Mallory, resulting in delays and an increased budget. When Mallory disappears then turns up dead, nobody seems to care. The coroner said it was an accident. The knowledge that she’d been threatened repeatedly didn’t matter nearly as much as getting the movie under wraps on time. But a late night crash over a guard rail didn’t cause Anne’s computer disks to disappear, along with all the work she’d done on Mallory’s autobiography. Anne is convinced the star’s death was no accident. When her editor insists that the book would sell better than ever now, Anne plunges back into the Hollywood scene that contrasts so brutally with tiny, sedate Oceanside Heights. The more questions she asks, the more apparent it becomes that whoever wanted Mallory dead will stop at nothing. Secrets are plentiful among this group. Which one is worth killing for? Can Anne find out before she becomes the next victim? DEATH AT HIGH TIDE is the second Anne Hardaway mystery penned by author Beth Sherman. She does an excellent job of crafting the scenery, utilizing her characters to create a portrait of small-town America - with parades populated by cheerleaders and antique stores lining narrow streets. The contrast is easy to visualize as a Hollywood production crew descends in the midst, intriguing some and offending others. The plot is complex yet not difficult to follow. DEATH AT HIGH TIDE offers a vicarious escape to a seaside village, a clever, but vulnerable heroine, and a puzzle to keep mystery buffs guessing. |
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