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Overview
New Year's Eve, 1931: Marlene Dietrich, as the reigning queen of Hollywood, sees fit to throw a royal bash in order to show off her legendary legs - and her secret-recipe potato pancakes. Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, and Jean Harlow are only a few of the luminaries who grace Marlene's star-studded guest list, and an astrologer's warning of danger serves only to heighten the Blue Angel's spirits. The only danger Marlene foresees avoiding is Groucho Marx after a bit too much revelry. The danger, however, centers upon the astrologer herself, who upstages her hostess with a dire prediction about a new world war - and is subsequently murdered. But while death may be a show-stopper in some houses, it makes Marlene a detective for the prosecution. Marlene is convinced that the culprit lies among the astrologer's clientele of show-biz greats and political heavies, and with Dietrich determination, the screen siren takes on Hollywood gossips, European power brokers, and Nazi sympathizers in order to find a star-crossed killer. In the barbed and wickedly witty style for which he is known, George Baxt has brought Marlene Dietrich to life in all her riveting charm, lively humor, and hausfraulich love of cooking.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Baxt's seventh Tinseltown celebrity mystery , following last year's The Greta Garbo Murder Case , earns high marks for style and a passing grade for plot. It's New Year's Eve 1931 and a party at the plush Dietrich spread is in full swing. Groucho and Cary and the rest of the crew are there in force, as are the requisite fictional characters who serve as suspects, sleuths and stiffs. The party's featured attraction is Mai Mai Chu, a lady stargazer, who after obliquely predicting the Lindbergh kidnapping and the emergence of Adolf Hitler, fixes her glazed eyes on a group of seven party people and expires--poisoned by strychnine in her glass of bubbly. Cop Herb Villon must sort through the motley septet comprising an aristocratic Russian couple, a violinist, a munitions manufacturer and three others to find the killer. At his best serving up juicy movie lore and sly character studies, Baxt skillfully paints the Hollywood famous as catty, often cute and never less than frighteningly believable. But the surface sparkle doesn't quell our niggling sense that we already know a little too much of the narrative. (June)Emily Melton
Baxt's latest celebrity mystery features the legendary Marlene Dietrich sleuthing her way through the decadent, glamorous Tinseltown of pre-World War II. Baxt would have readers believe Dietrich was a closet hausfrau who loved playing cook and hostess. She uses her domestic talents to throw a lavish New Year's bash complete with tuxedoed orchestra, glamorous guest list (including Constance Bennett, Gloria Swanson, and John Barrymore), and a buffet of homemade Teutonic delicacies. Unfortunately, the party ends in disaster when one of the guests, a famous astrologer, is murdered after predicting that another world war is about to erupt. Dietrich attacks the case with the same gusto she whips up gourmet meals, eagerly delving into the secret lives of Hollywood's show-biz folk, interviewing the astrologer's celebrity clients, and confronting Nazi sympathizers. This refreshingly original idea, the historic Hollywood lore, and a devious plot don't always balance the sometimes florid and corny dialogue and the uneven pacing, but mystery buffs who wax nostalgic over the romance and glamour of an earlier Hollywood will enjoy it anyway.Book Details
Published
May 1, 1993
Publisher
New York : St. Martin's Press, 1993.
Pages
224
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780312093341