Make Believe: An Edna Ferber Mystery

Set in 1951, Ifkovic’s enjoyable third Edna Ferber mystery (after 2011’s Escape Artist) deposits the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer in Hollywood just before the premiere of the movie Show Boat, based on the musical adapted from her 1926 novel of the same name. Edna has come to support musical arranger Max Jeffries, a friend who’s been blacklisted as a result of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunts, and to meet Ava Gardner, who plays mulatto Julie LaVerne in the film and is involved with Frank Sinatra. Five days after Edna’s arrival, someone shoots Max dead while he’s alone in his bungalow. A prime suspect is an erratic Sinatra, who had a recent fight in a restaurant with Max witnessed by columnist Louella Parsons. A host of Hollywood and Broadway personalities from Hedda Hopper to George S. Kaufman provide period color as a sharp-witted Edna probes for the reason behind Max’s murder. (Nov.)