Her entry begins:After being sucker punched by Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, I have been an Unreliable Narrator junkie, devouring books like The Silent Wife, The Girl on the Train, and Disclaimer. I love being surprised by a story. It’s same thrill I used to get when, as a child, I watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents on TV, with those surprising twists at the end. After all these years, I still can’t resist them.About Death by Tiara, from the publisher:
But there was one book I recently read without an unreliable narrator that absolutely blew me away. It’s called Moving Day, by Jonathan Stone, about an elderly man who loses all his possessions, swindled by a psychotic con artist who preys on the elderly, knowing they’ll never fight back. Only...[read on]
Freelance writer Jaine Austen thought she knew what she was getting herself into when she landed a gig working behind the scenes at a teen beauty pageant. But between the vicious stage moms, exacting judges, and trash-talking teens, she’s not sure she’s the woman for the job—especially when the catfights turn deadly…Visit Laura Levine's website.
Jaine has been hired by über-pushy stage mom Heather Van Sant to write lyrics for her daughter Taylor’s song in the talent competition for the Miss TeenQueen America pageant. It’s different from anything Jaine has done before, but if nothing else, she’s looking forward to a free weekend in a swanky hotel and a chance to see what really goes on backstage at a beauty pageant. But the hotel is a dump, the cattiness is out of control, and Candace—the perfectly-coiffed, whip-cracking pageant director—is making even Jaine’s life miserable.
When Candace’s assistant Amy is found bludgeoned to death with a silver tiara, there are more suspects than sequins on a pageant gown—and Heather is first on the list. Taylor begs Jaine to help clear her mom’s name, but the search for the killer hits a dead end as Jaine quickly realizes that finding the culprit is going to be trickier than walking the stage in stilettos….
The Page 69 Test: Killing Cupid.
My Book, The Movie: Death by Tiara.
Writers Read: Laura Levine.
--Marshal Zeringue
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