Melodie Johnson Howe

I was engrossed by the plot, and couldn't put it down but once it was over, I found it pretty forgettable.

It was interesting to have the main character be a middle-aged actress trying to make her comeback after decades not working. But I always felt somewhat removed from her and what she was feeling. I'm not sure if that was because of the writing, or because I just never clicked with Diana (or any of the characters, really).

The plot itself could have come out of an episode of Castle. A young starlet is murdered and Diana happens to find the body, and then tries and figures out what is happening. There's blackmail, and more murder, and kidnapping, prostitution, etc. etc. It's like crime bingo.

All the characters seemed to be stereotypes and none of them felt genuine. I can't decide if that was sloppy writing, or a deliberate dig at Hollywood.

All in all, a good way to pass the time. I might read the next book if it ever comes out, or I may not.… (mer)

The Mother Shadow – Brilliant Crime Novella

The Mother Shadow by Melodie Johnson Howe is a wonderful crime novella that introduces us to the female private detective Claire Conrad and Maggie Hill who becomes her assistant. What I like about this novella is that Melodie Johnson How has a writing style that reminds me of the doyen of crime writers Agatha Christie. There are no wasted words or padding, short sweet and straight to the point and the imagery given is so clear. Claire Conrad is a mixture of Miss Marple and Hercule Poroit with more money a couple of servants living in the cottage of a closed hotel.

Maggie Hill is working as a temporary secretary for Ellis Kennilworth at the home he shares with his mother, brother and sister. Maggie has been asked to report an hour earlier and duly turns up to find that Ellis is meeting with an ambulance chasing seedy lawyer. Maggie is required to type up a codicil to his will giving his coin collection worth over $4million to Claire Conrad for services yet to be rendered. Later that day Ellis kills himself then the mystery and twists kick in.

Maggie finds that the codicil is missing; her apartment has been turned over in burglary in search for the codicil and the suicide letter which also has gone missing. It is when Maggie goes to meet Claire Conrad to advise her of the missing codicil things start to get interesting. In the course of the investigation we uncover incest, blackmail, murder and financial double dealing and the hidden love child.

Throughout this thriller the shadow of Eleanor Kennilworth looms large over the story and how she is not only the head of the household but has what seems like unseen powers. It is only when her family is threatened that she reacts and when she does it is devastating. Eleanor Kennilworth is a ball breaking no nonsense matriarch whose will must be observed at all times.

The Mother Shadow is an excellent introduction to Melodie Johnson Howe’s work and her upright and correct private detective Claire Conrad and leads to more Conrad-Hill mysteries which I look forward to reading. This is sleuth writing at its finest and deserves a wider audience.… (mer)

Like a sophisticated Hollywood drama, City of Mirrors exudes atmosphere and style. It’s hard for a 40-something actress to find work in Hollywood, but determinedly blond Diana Poole needs the money and acting is all she knows how to do. She recently buried both her mother, a famous actress and shrewd woman but not a great role model, and her husband, a fellow actor she had given up her own acting career for. Their ghosts continue to haunt her, and though Diana has managed to land a part in a movie, making a film is a collaborative effort and certain people on the set are insuring that progress is difficult. Then murder upends everything, putting her career, her friends, and her life in jeopardy. Everyone involved is keeping secrets, but Diana uses skills she developed as an actress to assess the players in this tragedy like they are characters in a script.

I was thrilled to discover City of Mirrors because I’ve been waiting for a new novel from Melodie Johnson Howe since the mid-1990’s. She’s acted in films herself and she knows how to set a scene, reveal character, and build suspense. Howe has also written Shooting Hollywood, a moody and entertaining book of short stories featuring Diana Poole, and her books from the 1990’s, The Mother Shadow and Beauty Dies, remain among my favorite mysteries.

Besides having a great story, the jacket design shimmers with eerie beauty and those who love attractive, evocative covers would enjoy having City of Mirrors on their shelves.… (mer)

Before I discovered Shooting Hollywood, I had been looking and hoping for a new book from Melodie Johnson Howe since 1994. I enjoyed her two previous mysteries, The Mother Shadow and Beauty Dies, so much that I have read each several times in the years since then. Though I knew what would be happening in the books, I still loved Ms. Howe’s smart writing style and the well realized characters she created, and I especially enjoyed the interactions of those characters. Those qualities from her two novels also appear in this series of short stories, though because of their length the qualities aren’t quite as well developed.

The murder mystery stories in Shooting Hollywood all feature Diana Poole, whose disillusioned but still wistful sophistication sets their tone. She’s a former Hollywood starlet now in her forties and trying to get work again because her husband has died. Since all the stories are about her, each one has a few sentences covering the same backstory, and a lot of people do seem to be killed around her, but those are minor issues because the stories are fun to read. There is a paragraph before each story explaining what ideas or circumstances inspired the plot, and I found these descriptions almost as interesting as the stories themselves. Ms. Howe herself is an actress, and she’s made movies with many big name Hollywood stars, so it’s fascinating to have her behind the scenes perspective.… (mer)