Benedict Canyon

by Laura Van Wormer

The failing publishing firm of Bennett, Fitzallen & Coe has one last hope – the tell-all autobiography by glamorous television star Lydia Southland. Unfortunately, after three years in the making, the book is a mess, and the temperamental Lydia has chewed up and spat out three of B, F & C’s top editors.

Executive editor Kate Weston flies to California, knowing if she doesn’t bring back a terrific book, she shouldn’t bother coming back. She’s prepared for a beautiful, bitchy Hollywood prima donna – and gets one. But things are not quite what they seem.

Lydia is actually a loving, intriguing, and complicated woman with a crippling fear about letting the public see her real self. But with gentle coaxing from Kate and her own delightfully offbeat entourage, Lydia returns to the book. Secrets – perhaps too painful to reveal – have shaped her life. But in helping the actress find the courage to confront her past, Kate, too, discovers she must face her own….

Genres: Romance, Fiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1992

About the author

Laura Van Wormer grew up in Darien, Connecticut, graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and has spent most of her adult life working in publishing. She is the author of eleven previous novels. The Kill Fee is the fifth in the Sally Harrington series, although some of the characters - most notably the group at DBS News - are in her earlier novels Riverside Drive, West End, Any Given Moment and Talk.

Laura divides her time between Manhattan and Meriden, Connecticut.

Reviews

[Melissa Allen-Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a nice read. Not bad but not great. Kept me busy when I was down.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, Hollywood/New York publishing world.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet little book, decently written, and just perfect for vacation. Kate is a New York book editor, sent out to L.A. to help famous actress Lydia Southland write her memoirs. Lydia, Kate and all the people around them have had struggles they've kept secret and all these come out during the process. Both ladies find love, and though it's all terribly predictable, it's also very sweet. The ending is tied up in a nice little bow and they all live happily ever after, which is just what one expects from this type of book. A worthwhile read, if you're going to a beach, or that's the kind of thing you're into.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

A dud. The story was cliche, the characters were flat, and the ending was in bad taste, in that when Lydia reunites with the child she gave birth to, they talk about how fate brought them back together, ignoring that fate had had to kill off Lydia's sister and brother-in-law to do that. Lydia hardly seemed to care that fate would toss away those good people's lives, and put the child through such pain and grief of losing the people who loved and took care of her, just to give Lydia her happily ever after.

If there are any who would want to read Laura Van Wormer, I would point them to Jury Duty or the Sally Harrington books, and suggest they skip this one.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little too predictable. But a decent beach read.

[Jackie Simons]

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