Hollywood
Buzz
A
Pucci
Lewis Mystery
Margit
Liesche
Poisoned
Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-579-8 (1590585798)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-579-5 (9781590585795)
Publication Date: March 2009
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Pucci Lewis was used to ferrying fighter planes and
undercover work. But it’s the dark hours of WWII, and
Hollywood’s biggest stars, studio moguls, and Washington
bureaucrats are working hand-in-glove to merge entertainment and
propaganda. Pucci has been dispatched to the First Motion Picture Unit,
where a make-or-break documentary on the Women Airforce Service Pilots
(WASPs) is underway.
Pucci is stepping in for a sister-WASP, now hospitalized in critical
condition after an all-too-deliberate plane crash. But who’s
the
saboteur? Why the cover-up? Pucci is drawn into a high-profile
homicide. A big-name director has been murdered, possibly by Nazi
operatives. Military intelligence wants Pucci to learn what she can
from her inside position.
Bela Lugosi is a frequent visitor to the Beverly Hills mansion where
Pucci is temporarily billeted. His “niece,” a
rising
starlet and also the housekeeper, has a history with the Hungarian
resistance. But Pucci doesn’t trust the girl.
Can Pucci steadfastly maneuver through movie land and its narcissistic
denizens, finally unraveling the uncertainties to prove she has the
right stuff?
Review:
Pucci
Lewis, a Women's Air Force Service Pilot, is on an incredibly exciting
assignment, off to Hollywood to make a documentary on the work of the
WASPs during World War II in Hollywood
Buzz, the second mystery in
this series by Margit Liesche.
For the most part, Pucci is assigned to ferrying fighter planes, though
she recently was on an undercover job in Detroit. The operation was a
success but the traitor, a double agent code-named Cardillac, escaped.
Her post this time is in Hollywood to replace her friend and sister
WASP Frankie. Frankie’s plane, believed to be sabotaged,
forced
her to go down in flames. Maybe with her investigative skills Pucci
will be able to seek out the person or persons who sabotaged the plane.
Frankie now lies badly burned and in a coma at the local hospital.
Pucci ends up staying at the home the Dunns, friends of her boss, who
own a real Beverly Hills mansion. These friends, however, mysteriously
up and leave on a moments notice, although no one knows where they go.
It could be to Florida, Washington or Cairo. Ilke Maki, their maid and
wannabe starlet, is the “niece” of Bela Lugosi, a
frequent
visitor to the mansion. Ilke, a Gypsy, is a refugee from Hungary and
says she has God-given insights and many stories to tell. Would these
stories have anything to do with the war effort, either on
Hitler’s side or America’s side? The government and
the
Hollywood producers are creating a documentary that will be informative
as well as compelling in order to support patriotism and show that
women can be just efficient in the war effort as men.
While going to the studios to talk about the filming of the planes,
Pucci finds incriminating cans containing film of propaganda extolling
Hitler’s Nazism. She also finds the same type containers in
the
home of the Dunns. Does this mean that the Dunns are double agents?
When a well-known filmmaker is killed, Pucci realizes that enemies are
right there in the studio. One of the producers wants to show a film of
Frankie’s burning crash, against the wishes of Pucci. She
thinks
it will show that women cannot control planes as well as men and how
can that help the war effort? Some of the writers and aides have drug
problems making their tongues loose. Pucci takes advantage of this and
learns a lot from one drugged-out writer who seems to know something
about Frankie’s plane. When she gets an earring shaped like a
swastika in the bottom of her tea cup, she knows the enemy is within
the walls of the sound stages, and that now, her life, too, is in
danger. Bravely she takes a plane up only to find it losing power. Will
she go down in flames too? Has Cardillac returned? If so, will Pucci be
able to capture her this time?
Hollywood
Buzz is a
delightfully entertaining mystery, especially for those readers who
remember the great Hollywood stars of the 1940s. The author tells of
the making of the Victory Shorts starring soldier/actors Clark Gable,
Spencer Tracy, Ronald Reagan, and many others. Pucci seems to interact
with these stars on a daily basis during her investigation. But rather
than detract from the story, they enhance it by injecting a realism
that brings the plot alive. Hollywood
Buzz is a wonderful mystery
and readers will look forward to
seeing Pucci Lewis in her next adventure.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Hollywood Buzz and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Hollywood Buzz? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Lipstick and Lies
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), April 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59058-320-5 (1590583205)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-320-3 (9781590583203)
Hollywood Buzz
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), March 2009
ISBN-10: 1-59058-579-8 (1590585798)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-579-5 (9781590585795)
Omnimystery
keywords for Hollywood Buzz
...
Location(s) referenced: Hollywood, California.
