Death in Her Face: A Lauren Atwill Mystery

Set in 1946, York’s third Lauren Atwill mystery (after 2010’s A Good Knife’s Work) offers an intriguing look at the filmmaking of the day. When Mala Demara, a major film star with a shadowy past, goes missing, her employer, Marathon Studios, turns for help to screenwriter Lauren and her lover, PI Peter Winslow. Mala was secretly seeing Mickey Triton, a former boxer with mob connections, whose Malibu cabin was recently destroyed in a fire. A body found at the burned cabin, believed to be Mickey’s, has a bullet in the skull. A slew of studio people, including security chief Mack Pace and military consultant Major McCann, and others roil the waters before the murder of a man at Marathon brings in the FBI. York does a fine job detailing the ins and outs of Hollywood’s studio system while unfolding the satisfactory solution to the murders and the star’s disappearance. (Sept.)