Plot Twist

Cat Austen #4

by Jane Rubino

This motto of screen goddess Tommi Ann Butler becomes the mantra for entertainment reporter Cat Austen, when Cat is attached to Tommi Ann's latest project: the Oscar nominee is Cat's alter-ego, amateur sleuth Kate Auletta, in Death of a Shock Jock, a TV movie based on the Jerry Dudek murder. Cat's status as "the real Kate Auletta" gives her an advantage over all but one of her rabid colleagues, fellow reporter Ron Spivak, dying for an inside scoop, has snagged the bit part of the victim, which will have him playing out the DJ's murder scene with the celebrated actress. During the recreation of the fatal quarrel between Cat and Dudek, the prop gun misfires and art imitates death.Mishap or murder?

Rubino once again offers a brilliant blend of the domestic with the deadly in this fourth Cat Austen mystery, which offers a gutsy and hilarious satire on reality vs. illusion and celebrity obsession -- and her own debut novel, Death of a DJ.

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Jane Rubino is a graduate of New York University with a BA in Dramatic Literature, Theatre History, and Cinema. She has been a stringer, feature writer, and film columnist and is author of a contemporary mystery series set at the New Jersey shore and featuring entertainment reporter Cat Fortunati Austen and Sherlock Holmes-quoting cop Lt. Victor Cardenas. Jane and her husband live in New Jersey, 'down the shore'. She is a mother of three, a fan of silent and classic films, and a serious reader of Jane Austen and the Sherlock Holmes canon.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The covid situation has me going back to a lot of my "comfort reads", which are usually classics or my favorite female-centric mysteries.
"Plot Twist" is the 4th book in a series that features Cat Austen, a Jersey shore entertainment reporter and Lt. Victor Cardenas, a homicide cop in the Atlantic City area. The cast expands with Cat's extended family (six older brothers, five cops, one priest,) her spunky mother, her kids, her best friend, nutty boss and Victor's sisters and co-workers. High marks for the way every character is fleshed out, not just a generic type.
Do you have to read the earlier books to "get" "Plot Twist." Yes and no, because the plot revolves around a TV production company that comes to the Atlantic City area to shoot an episode based on the shock jock's murder that took place in the first book ("Death of a DJ") The character of Cat is played by an enigmatic star, Tommi Ann Butler, who is well protected by her husband/manager and her friend/personal assistant. A lot of fun watching the "real" people interact with their TV alter egos, and I liked the interesting structure a lot (the murder doesn't take place right off) A surprising secret (the reveal had me yelling "What?!") - but I can't say more or I'd give it away.
As always, Jane Rubino combines good plotting with hilarious dialogue and a thoughtful ending. One of my favorite mystery series that ended too soon.
As it is with a lot of books published in the late 1990s, early 2000s, the technology isn't what it is now but not worth taking off a star for that.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason this lost a star was that you have had to read Rubino's earlier Cat Austen books, and recently, to get through the plot complications of this one. Between Cat's large Italian family and the murders she's solved in the past, it's hard to keep up with what's going on. Widowed journalist and mother of two, Cat has been hired as technical advisor for a heavily fictionalized television movie of a previous case, but she finds events around the filming bring back her memories of previous happenings. Meanwhile, she's pulled into the orbit of the beautiful, kind movie star who is playing Cat. Cat is dismayed to realize that the star is hiding secrets, which could earn Cat a lot of much-needed money, but which could also destroy the star's career.