Genre: Mystery, Historical
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Maryann
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About The Book
Hollywood, 1939.
When film director Orland Orcott is found dead in his locked study, police rule it a suicide. However, movie star Victor Marvel believes otherwise and sets out to investigate, aided by his handsome boyfriend, Griffin, and Eve Spellman, Victor’s smart, young costar.
Suspects include Orland’s son, Tab, an aspiring actor who was blacklisted after his father found out that he’s gay, and Sheila, a former mistress of Orland’s, tossed aside when he took up with a new starlet. Added to the list are William Taylor, a has-been that Orland delighted in humiliating, William’s daughter Lydia, who may have slept with Orland to get her father a movie role. Agatha Mudd, a gossip columnist with a secret past is also a suspect, and Orland’s long-suffering wife, Marjorie.
Was it suicide or murder? The trio is on the case to find the truth, but suspects and grudges abound. With so many motives for murder, finding the killer won’t be easy. But no one else cares as long as Orland Orcott is dead.
The Review
It’s Hollywood in the year 1939, and the world was still suffering with the Big Depression that started in 1929. The Icon Picture Studio is still making movies, but not so much in color. Things were bad enough with the 1927 “talkies” that many actors lost their jobs because their voice didn’t fit with the film.
Victor Marvel, now forty-nine, is a veteran actor, and has snagged the part of PI Axel Beaumont. He left home at the age of sixteen for Hollywood, and by 1922 at the age of twenty-nine, he’d signed a contract at forty dollars a week with Icon Studio. He’s been in the business for many years and seems to know the world of show business really well. He is a courteous actor and is always willing to help anyone who wants to get into the business. But he’s sad about it too, because he knows not everyone will make it.
He helped Eve Spellman in 1929 when she was seventeen, and then Griffin Fenwick in his twenties, -both got parts in the movie The Lady Screeched. Griffin got the lead part of Jasper Crockett, the other PI. William Taylor is another older actor who also gets a part in this film.
Eve, Griff and Victor have a very carefully guarded secret.
The Director of the film, Orland Orcott, is not a very nice person. In fact, he is disgustingly mean, condescending, and humiliates, ridicules and embarrasses anyone and everyone. He’s also a womanizer.
The book that was written by a woman and used to write the screenplay was very successful. But the screenplay itself, written by Sydney Coe Howard, is not, and Orcott takes privileges changing what was written in the book, which is a mistake.
Before Victor, Griff and the other actors leave the studio, Orcott makes a demand. They are all to attend his wife’s birthday party, and must bring a gift and not be late. The party creates controversy a tragedy when Orcott is killed.
Victor is in attendance at the party, and starts his own investigation. He uses his experience and research from what he learned from Detective Steve Garnett of the West LAPD. Victor had gotten a particular part in a prior film playing a Detective Hart for the “Harts and Clubs” series.
Victor has his hands full with suspects: Marjorie Orcott, Tab Orcott, William Taylor and his daughter Lydia, Sheila Burton, Agatha Mudd and Tony Bolt. As his questioning gets dangerous, Victor eventually has to go to Det. Garnett and fill him in. Although Garnett tells Victor to stay out of it, will he be able to let go before he winds up dead?
Pederson creates a historically-based fictional novel with A Marvelous Murder – it feels like watching an old black-and-white classic detective movie from the 20’s and 30’s. He colorfully describes the fashions from the era, and brings back words and phrases from that era, like “wowzer”. The book also name-drops many famous actors, singers, directors, movies and places from the time period: Tyrone Power, Erroll Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters and of course Oscar Wilde.
Pederson has crafted Victor to be a man for all times, with his intelligence, suaveness and courteous actions and how he cares about others, at a time when Hollywood was virulently homophobic. The author shares heart-rending information on the two major players, Victor Marvel and Griffin Fenwick, and who they were patterned after in real life, with “Mystery History” at the back of the book. I highly recommend reading this section – it is very informative.
David S. Pederson also has two outstanding series from the mid 1940’s: “Heath Barrington Mysteries” and “Mason Adler Mysteries”. These mysteries are entertaining and worth reading over again. There’s not much I can say but David S. Pederson is outstanding with his writing and creating novels that combine fact/fiction.
The Reviewer
Hi, I’m Maryann, I started life in New York, moved to New Hampshire and in 1965 uprooted again to Sacramento, California. Once I retired I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2011 and just moved back to Sacramento in March of 2018. My son, his wife and step-daughter flew out to Florida and we road tripped back so they got to see sights they have never seen. New Orleans and the Grand Canyon were the highlights. Now I am back on the west coast again to stay! From a young age Ialways liked to read.
I remember going to the library and reading the “Doctor Dolittle” books by Hugh Lofting. Much later on became a big fan of the classics, Edgar Alan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and as time went by Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury and Stephen Kingand many other authors.
My first M/M shifter book I read was written by Jan Irving the “Uncommon Cowboys” series from 2012. She was the first author I ever contacted and sent an email to letting her know how much I liked this series. Sometime along the way I read “Zero to the Bone”by Jane Seville, I think just about everyone has read this book!
As it stands right now I’m really into mysteries, grit, gore and “triggers” don’t bother me. But if a blurb piques my interest I will read the book.
My kindle collection eclectic and over three thousand books and my Audible collection is slowly growing. I have both the kindle and audible apps on my ipod, ipads, and MAC. So there is never an excuse not to be listening or reading.
I joined Goodreads around 2012 and started posting reviews. One day a wonderful lady, Lisa Horan of The Novel Approach, sent me an email to see if I wanted to join her review group. Joining her site was such an eye opener. I got introduce to so many new authors that write for the LGBTQ genre. Needless to say, it was heart breaking when it ended.
But I found a really great site, QRI and it’s right here in Sacramento. Last year at QSAC I actually got to meet Scott Coatsworth, Amy Lane and Jeff Adams.
