Murder Movie

McGown ( Gone to Her Death ) conjures surprises from the well-worn murder scene and the familiar character types intentionally featured in her latest mystery. The splendid setting, a movie location on the cliffs of Scotland's western coast, is as stormy as the on- and off-screen relationships among actors and crew filming the story of a 19th-century murder. Dictatorial director Frank Derwent, known as FD, lords it over a wonderfully drawn cast, including his starlet/mistress Barbara Slaney; assistant director Howard Maxwell, who can deliver everything from bedmates to proof of long-standing scandal; handsome leading man John Landers; heartthrob Mark Ingram who specializes in action scenes; aging soap star Susan Quentin; and Wanda Derwent, FD's wife, at work on a volume of memoirs sure to skewer all and sundry. But when Barbara is found dead in Wanda's car and two more deaths follow, FD encounters two whose actions he cannot direct: the excellently portrayed detective superintendent Patterson and his constable, Baxter. A thoroughly unexpected ending adds an element of fun to this accomplished novel. (Jan.)