This uneven fifth novel in the Joseph Antonelli series (The Legacy, etc) has the colorful trial lawyer defending a legendary Hollywood director and studio mogul accused of murdering his movie star wife. Mary Margaret Flanders is killed just before filming the final scenes of a major new movie with her husband's studio. Stanley Roth, her husband, is known for his volatile temper, and becomes the leading suspect. Antonelli takes the case, and though he is sure that his client is innocent, he can't pin down the real killer. The list of suspects includes Roth's partner, who wants to take control of the studio; Flanders's college professor ex-hubby (father of the star's only child); and a blackmailing wannabe screenwriter cop, who had once been to the couple's house to look into Flanders's domestic violence complaint. Central to all this is Roth's obsessive conviction that the entire crime is a replay of his own masterpiece screenplay, Blue Zephyr, which he has yet to make into a movie. While the plot is solid, the first half of the thriller is considerably slowed by windy, repetitious description and exposition ("That's what she was: a young woman in love, but not with a man—with a camera: any camera, not just a motion picture camera.... That's what she lived for: to be on camera, to be on film..."). The pace does pick up when the action shifts to the courtroom, but this effort isn't up to Buffa's best. (May)
