Alan Beechey's "This Private Plot," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: This Private Plot by Alan Beechey.

The entry begins:

My mystery series features a trio of crime-solvers: Oliver Swithin, an author of children’s books; his girlfriend Effie Strongitharm, a detective sergeant at Scotland Yard; and his uncle, Tim Mallard, who’s a detective superintendent and also Effie’s boss.

Oliver’s appearance is partly based on a real actor, Robert Longden, as he looked in a 1980 TV adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?—blond floppy hair, not the firmest features, and (a quote from This Private Plot) “looking as if he had just removed his glasses, even while he was still wearing them.” A more recent choice? See the way James Spader was groomed in 1994’s Stargate.

Effie is the hardest to cast. She looks like a much-loved girlfriend from my teenage years, especially her amazing display of naturally curly hair. Nancy Allen in 1980’s Dressed to Kill has an uncanny resemblance. Keri Russell with her Felicity locks gets close. So does Frieda from...[read on]

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--Marshal Zeringue