Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Stars In The Night by Cara Putman

Hollywood 1942. When attorney Audra Schaeffer's sister disappears, Audra flies to Hollywood to find her but instead must identify her body.

Determined to bring the killer to justice, Audra takes a job with the second Hollywood Victory Caravan. Together with Robert Garfield and other stars, she crisscrosses the southern United States in a campaign to sell war bonds.

When two other women are found dead on the train, Audra knows the deaths are tied to that of her sister.

Could the killer be the man with whom she's falling in love?


My Review:
Glitz and glamour, along with the seedy side of film-making comprises the background of this interesting story set in 1942. Audra Schaeffer¹s younger sister, Rosemary, fails to make her scheduled weekly call home to report on her new life in Hollywood. This sets off a trail of events when Audra decides to investigate and travels to California, only to discover a body in her sister's apartment! To complicate matters, Rosemary has disappeared.

I enjoyed reading about classic Hollywood's gala affairs, and B-list stars struggles to "make it." A look back into the history of the Victory Caravan cross-country train trip to sell war bonds allows this reader to understand how such a show might come together. There's a twist, however, when this fictional star-studded train trip reveals a killer on board! Panic ensues as bodies are discovered, but the show must go on.

Although I did not figure out the identity of the killer, the ending is disappointingly hurried. It felt as if the author was rushing to meet a deadline. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Thank you to Bonnie at Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and Summertime Press for my copy.

The author is having a terrific contest. Click here to enter.

If you would like to read the first chapter, click here.

If you would like to buy a copy, click here.

2 comments:

bermudaonion said...

This sounds like a good one - I like it when I can't figure out the mystery.

Cara Putman said...

Sally, thanks so much for the review and posting it all over! I really appreciate it. Glad you enjoyed the book. It was a lot of fun to write!