GIFnotes: Giving you the basic plot summary of an upcoming book with the help of the Graphics Interchange Format.
This week, blonde starlet actresses have had their fair share of fun … and tragedy, as Valentino tries to solve the mysterious death of his friend and former actress Beata Limerick in the 5th Valentino Mystery, Brazen! Take a visual tour with GIFnotes!
UCLA film archivist and sometime film detective Valentino doesn’t take friend and former actress Beata Limerick very seriously when she tells him that she quit acting because of the curse on blond actresses.
Marilyn Monroe…
Jayne Mansfield…
Thelma Todd…
Sharon Tate…
They all had more fun, but none of them made it out of the business alive, and according to Limerick, she wasn’t taking any chances.
But when Valentino finds Beata’s body staged the way Monroe was found, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” playing on repeat; he knows Limerick's death was no accident.
Police detective Ray Padilla doesn’t quite suspect Valentino is the killer, but he can’t let him off that easy.
After all, the film archivist seems to be involved in more than his share of intrigue and death, which makes him a prime suspect.
But Valentino is also a walking encyclopedia of Hollywood knowledge.
When another washed-up actress is killed, the crime scene a copy of Thelma Todd’s last moments, Padilla enlists Valentino’s help in catching a serial killer of doomed blondes before he can strike again.
See also: Glow of Death by Jane K. Cleland: A Visual Guide
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Loren D. Estleman has written Frames, Alone, Alive! and more than seventy books all told. Winner of four Shamus Awards, five Spur Awards, and three Western Heritage Awards, he lives in Central Michigan.