The Dead Hollywood Moms Society

Lucy Freers Mystery #1

by Lindsay Maracotta

When a glamorous neighbor is found dead in Lucy Freer's pool, the animation filmmaker and Hollywood mom goes beneath the veneer of Tinseltown family values into a world of greed, ruthlessness, and sex to find a killer

Genres: Mystery, Cozy

Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Before making a living as a writer, Lindsay held a wide variety of jobs: waitress in a trendy club; waitress in a funky dive; catalogue model; assistant to a soap opera diva; cat sitter (required many of the same skills as previous job); fact checker for Esquire Magazine; and briefly -- and unwittingly -- a bag man for the mob. Drawing on these experiences, she began writing for magazines and the non-fiction book "The Sad-Eyed Ladies." Her first novel, "Hide and Seek:, was a mass market best seller. "Everything We Wanted" was a Publisher’s Weekly bestseller, a Literary Guild selection, an English and translated into six languages. Next was the critically acclaimed “Dead Hollywood” series (ebook: “Dead Fabulous” series). Accolades: Mystery Ink Book of the Year; People Magazine Beach Book of the Week; a Sisters in Crime Best Book, and various Ten Best Mystery lists.
Writing as Lindsay Graves, she published The Ex-Wives series with Ballentine Books. She currently lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband, a feature film producer, and two cats who are always ready for their close-ups.

Reviews

[Khanson919 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is always strange to read a modern day book where not everyone has a cell phone, and are checking their answering machines for messages. That aside, the book was enjoyable. Good story, with realistic plot twists. Did not love the relationship between Lucy and her husband, Kit. She has this great career and is successful, but then she seems like a bit of a doormat for her husband but she is also thinking about having an affair to get back at him. She paints her husband as a person who wants expensive shoes and cars to fit in with Hollywood society, and is so focused on his career he does not seem to care that he left her at home alone during a murder investigation. I found it strange that after all the negative things the author writes about him, he comes in at the end to comfort her and declare that everything will be okay. It just did not fit with how he was portrayed during the book.

[Massanutten Regional Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda, Elkton patron, July 2018, 4 stars:

This is a funny book and a good mystery.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once in awhile you pick up a bargain book that turns out to be a real gem. I definitely got my fifteen cents worth and then some out of this beat up paperback I picked up at a used bookstore.

The title intrigued me from the beginning and Maracotta did not disappoint. She skewers Hollywood's excesses while penning an interesting mystery that lampoons (exposes) the "school of barracudas" she writes about. No holds are barred as she mocks Hollywood society, has been actresses and actors, Hollywood social climbing, actors,agents, morals (or lack thereof), children, drugs, movie sets, plastic surgeons,the festival of Santa Lucia, fashion, plastic surgery, famous Hollywood eaterys, charity fundraisers, mud slides, autombiles, directors, producers, pets, television, and Real Estate. Meanwhile, our heroine, a film animator/Hollywood wife, has to deal with the fact that the nude murdered body of a female neighbor was found in her swimming pool.

Maracotta keeps the reader amused and interested in both the things she is skewering and the murder mystery. The proper requisite number of red herrings are present along with a petualant movie star filming a Science fiction movie who has to return to his trailer in order to get back into character when the set gets disrupted. In other words, about the time the reader gets interested in the murder, Maracotta drops a good natured rib at another side of Hollywood.

This one was a lot of fun, and though it shows some dating (1996 copyright) while it deals with the Hollywood of a decade past, it still held up well in my nightlight as I completed it in the wee hours of this morning.

[Sicilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good detailed book, but not very interesting

[Trisa Ibarra]

This book is about a girl, Lucy Freers, who lives on the upper end of the society. Her husband is a movie producer and she's a cartoonist. She lives in a posh neighborhood with rich neighbors. Her daughter goes to a rich school up the road that she describes as the Emmys for school functions, everyone who's anyone is there. You get introduced to her at a party at her neighbors. You find out that they are unable to continue to afford to live in the house they are living in unless her husband gets this big deal. So they put their house on the market. During a showing of their house, Lucy is supposed to be out running errands but something happens that causes her to come home. She eventually reaches the swimming pool and finds her debutante neighbor floating in the pool. Lucy involves herself in this case and decides to take it upon herself to get her family cleared as suspects. I really enjoy this book because it had twists and turns that make you want to keep reading. I've never found myself interested in reading mysteries but this one captivated my attention. It really amazes me that this is the first book that Lindsay Maracotta has written. It's such a well-written one. You are thinking that the killer is one person, and then you change your mind. Eventually it ended up, to me, being the first person that I expected it not to be. Which really intrigued me. With the multiple murders, suicides and attempts in this book, it's just a page turner.

[Alannah Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this gem at a Goodwill store for $.89. Best 89 cents I've ever spent! This cozy mystery is hilariously entertaining. Lucy Freers, an animated filmmaker, and her Hollywood producer husband, Kit, are slipping off the A-list thanks to Kit's last two flops. She's not sure anymore that her marriage is in such good shape, either. Then a faded starlet's body is found in the Freers' swimming pool, and Lucy finds herself and her husband on the cops' A-List of suspects.

I enjoyed the characters and the author's devastatingly witty style. This book is a lot of fun. I was sorry when it ended because I was having such a good time reading it.

[LJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

THE DEAD HOLLYWOOD MUMS - DNF
Maracotta, Lindsay - 1st Lucy Freers

An animation film-maker whose marriage to a Hollywood producer has developed a widening rift, yearns only for normality. Though life becomes anything but normal when the naked body of her glamorous neighbour is found in her swimming pool.

The wealthy So-Cal lifestyle just doesn't do anything for me. Beyond that, the book was very light, no depth to the characters and painfully cozy. I couldn't get through it.

[Margaret]

Loved the L.A. setting (I'm originally from L.A.) and the book was a quick, fun read. Thought that Lucy had some major character flaws - a little flaky, and why isn't her family more of a priority to her? - but that seems to go with the territory for an amateur detective (or wannabe) in a cozy mystery!

[Jackie Simons]

Read 3/97