- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Avon; 1 edition (Oct 19 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0061826677
- ISBN-13: 978-0061826672
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.4 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #438,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“Alfred Hitchcock fans should love Kandel’s fifth Cece Caruso mystery, a terrific tribute that’s also wickedly funny . . . Kandel keeps the action tight all the way to a delightful denouement that Hitch no doubt would have appreciated.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )
“[B]reezy, entertaining . . . Brisk prose, a pistol of a protagonist, and nice riffs on Hitch—both biographical and psychological.” (Booklist )
“[R]eal charmers . . . [a] clever series.” (New York Times Book Review )
“[B]reezy, entertaining . . . Brisk prose, a pistol of a protagonist, and nice riffs on Hitch—both biographical and psychological.” (Booklist )
“[R]eal charmers . . . [a] clever series.” (New York Times Book Review )
Book Description
Cece Caruso—mystery biographer extraordinaire, vintage clothing enthusiast, and part-time sleuth—is in freefall. First, she calls off her wedding, for reasons even she can't explain. Second, her newest biography (of Alfred Hitchcock) is way past deadline.
So Cece puts on a houndstooth suit with peplum and heads out to see Vertigo, only to come home with a cell phone belonging to a stranger named Anita Colby. Nothing if not a good citizen, Cece tries to return the cell phone—only to hear someone push Anita off a cliff.
Now a woman is dead, and Cece is under suspicion (tip: don't leave rambling, incoherent messages on someone's answering machine just before she gets murdered). To clear her name and put the real murderer in jail, Cece's going on the lam, where she'll encounter mysterious strangers, unhelpful strippers, a bottle of blond hair dye, and twists and turns so eerie it's as if Hitch himself were writing the script.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hitch Himself Would Approve, Oct 27 2009
By Mark Baker - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dial H For Hitchcock: A Cece Caruso Mystery (Paperback)
Taking your honeymoon alone is not recommended. Just ask Cece Caruso. She's just returned from a lonely cruise after calling off her wedding. And she's returned to find herself facing a deadline on her biography of suspense master director Alfred Hitchcock. So what does she do? She goes to a screening of Vertigo at an old theater in town.The next morning, Cece finds someone else's cell phone in her purse. Trying to return it, she witnesses a murder. Then the killer calls her and warns her to keep quiet. As she begins to try to find out who is doing this to her, Cece continually finds herself one step behind...herself. What in the world is going on?
I've been watching a few Hitchcock films over the last couple of years since I knew he would be the subject for this book. As a result, I completely got it. The book is a classic Hitchcock set up, and it works brilliantly. While parts in the first third were a tad slow, I was hooked the entire time and couldn't wait to see how it ended. And how did it end? Well, I'm not going to give anything away, but I will say I absolutely loved it.
Since the point of the book was to isolate Cece, we don't get to see too much of the supporting cast. I missed them, but hopefully we'll get to see more of them soon in a later book.
There were some bits of humor to lighten the load as things progressed, but the further the story went, the more it focused on the mystery.
Even though the plot is very Hitchcockian, I do think fans of the series who aren't familiar with the director will enjoy the book as well. This is a great book that will keep you reading until the very last page.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
super amateur sleuth, Oct 28 2009
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Dial H For Hitchcock: A Cece Caruso Mystery (Paperback)
After completing Christie (see Christietown), in Los Angeles biographer CeCe Caruso is way behind her deadline for the definitive bio on Hitchcock having wasted time on a single person's honeymoon after kicking police Detective Peter Gambino to the curb. A fan of the late filmmaker, she sees Vertigo. However, leaving the theater CeCe somehow has someone else's cell phone so turns around to return it.CeCe travels to Beechwood Canyon to return the cell phone to its owner Anita Colby. There she sees someone push the owner off a cliff reminding her of Vertigo. When the police discover a message CeCe left Anita on her answering machine, she becomes their suspect in the murder.
The latest CeCe Caruso biography mystery is a super amateur sleuth tale that pays homage to the great director and his films throughout a taut investigation. Filled with jocularity, Susan Kandel keeps CeCe climbing into danger as she fears becoming a dead star in her own film without the accolades of one of the Hitchcock beauties. Fans of Hitchcock will relish Ms. Kandel's terrific tale of an innocent woman in a state of frenzy sought by a killer and the law (sounds so Hitchcockian).
Harriet Klausner
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing plot but not sure if I'd read another, Feb 28 2012
By a hargette - Published on Amazon.com
I am torn between 3 and 4 stars with this one because the book has a very intriguing plot. As a Hitchcock fan myself, I have to commend the author on a plot that (with the exception of the tongue-in-cheek tone) IS very Hitchcockian. A film buff can see the tributes right off, but the author does a great job of roadmapping them for any reader. The set-up, the eerie locations, the displacing predicament of the main character, it's all there.My big complaint is with the heroine, who seems remarkably immature for her age. You can especially see it whenever the plot diverts away from the mystery, and focuses on Cece's love life. We hear repeatedly how she just can't commit to the only-in-fiction male character: the too perfect, too handsome, totally-devoted-to-her sexy police detective boyfriend. Apparently Cece abruptly called off their engagement at the last minute for no reason other than a vague fear of commitment that rings false. Yet, even though she's dumped him, she spends random times mooning over how great he was, and even calling him in the middle of the night and then hanging up. Come on, grow up please. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I just don't see a 40-something woman behaving this way, and those that do...well I guess I just can't relate. Add to that her obsession with her looks and with clothes, which she comments on in excruciating detail, and I was left skimming paragraphs to get back to the mystery plot.
I stuck with this one because I was very intrigued to see how Kandel would resolve the mystery. Unfortunately after all the Hitchcockian build-up, the way Kandel chose to end the story felt quite anti-climactic. I may try one more Cece Caruso book since I like the concept of the series, and on the plus side for Cece, she had a good sense of humor and made several witty observations. I just wish I'd come to care about her more.
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