Silent Scream
An Anna Travis Mystery
Lynda La Plante
Review: Amanda Delany was a 24-year-old British actress who was finally hitting A-list status ... only to be found murdered in her bed the day after returning from an evening shoot on her latest film in Silent Scream, the fifth mystery in this series by Lynda La Plante.
Detective Inspector Anna Travis is assigned to the case, and she's presented with no shortage of suspects, especially among the cast and crew working with her on the set of the film. But when Anna is pressed to release a statement to the press, she ponders, "What could they release? They still had no suspect and, as yet, no motive for the murder, apart from the fact that Amanda had been promiscuous and caused a lot of heartbreak and tension. But would any of the people listed as her lovers really have a motive to kill her, especially as the main three were all well-known actors with substantial careers?" The suspect list gets longer when Anna learns Amanda was considering changing agents, and there seem to be some substantial discrepancies in her financial records involving her business and investment manager. And the list grows longer still as Anna discovers others within Amanda's orbit who may have had reason to kill her.
Silent Scream is an ambitious police procedural that has the added element of a diva-like film star with the requisite glamour, sex, drugs, and secrets that are inevitably implied with such ... and yet, it's all rather tedious and somewhat boring. Anna methodically goes through the obvious suspects for Amanda's murder, interviewing each, confirming alibi and motive (or lack thereof), then moving on to the less obvious suspects before moving on to the least obvious suspects and then circling back and starting all over again. This process may mimic a real-life police investigation, but here, it gets to be simply monotonous after a while. There's very little action or even a (typically unwelcome) unexpected plot twist to punch things up a bit. The revelations during the investigation are hardly surprising and it's disappointing how the killer is eventually identified, coming out of left field, as it were. There's also a subplot involving Anna's personal and professional relationships that is poorly integrated, and which seems to be included mostly as an afterthought for the sake of series continuity.
Acknowledgment: Simon & Schuster provided an ARC of Silent Scream for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …
Clean Cut
Touchstone (Hardcover), September 2008
ISBN-13: 9781416586678; ISBN-10: 1416586679
Blind Fury
Touchstone (Hardcover), July 2011
ISBN-13: 9781439139318; ISBN-10: 1439139318
Location(s) referenced in Silent Scream: London, England
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Silent Scream by Lynda La Plante
Publisher: Touchstone
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-4391-3929-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-3929-5
Publication Date: July 2010
List Price: $24.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Film star Amanda Delany has the world at her feet. Never one for the quiet life, she has had a string of affairs with the hottest actors around. Then, coming home late from a night shoot, Amanda puts the key in her front door for the very last time. The next morning, Amanda’s body is found, stabbed many times, only her beautiful face left unharmed.
DI Anna Travis is ordered to the team assigned to the Delany murder, headed by Anna’s former lover, the demanding DCI James Langton. Anna is shocked by the truth behind Amanda’s public image: her addictions to drugs and starvation diets; her cold, unemotional parents; her elusive film agent; and the former lovers so quick to distance themselves. But Anna has challenges of her own to overcome too. Promotion to Chief Inspector is within her grasp, but when the time comes for her to stand before the board, she faces a shocking accusation of personal misconduct.
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