Star Struck: A Hollywood Mystery

Hollywood costume designer McCown squanders her backstage expertise in the unwieldy second mystery featuring costumer Joey Jessop (after Final Cut). For her latest gig, Joey is sourcing 1930s looks for a period drama starring A-list actors Gillian Best and Andrew de Rossi. Near set one day, Joey witnesses a young woman flee across a busy L.A. street, only to be mowed down and killed by a silver SUV that quickly drives away. While trying to ascertain who the victim was fleeing from, and why she was so terrified, Joey learns that the SUV belonged to Best. Her suspicions ratchet up another level when Best’s disgruntled former assistant is found dead of an apparent suicide after a fight with her old boss. With the police uninterested in investigating any connection between the deaths, and Best well-protected by the Hollywood machine, Joey tries to determine whether she’s working with a certified monster before the body count rises higher. McCown captures the mundane operations of the movie business with a welcome wink, but her storytelling is tangled: a subplot about Joey uncovering nonunion costume labor goes nowhere, and the mystery is resolved with an unsatisfying contrivance. This misses the mark. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary. (May)