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The Adventures of Bianca Dangereuse #1
The Wrong Girl
They say a life well-lived is the best revenge...
Blanche Tucker longs to escape her drop-dead dull life in tiny Boynton, Oklahoma. Then dashing Graham Peyton roars into town. Posing as a film producer, Graham convinces the ambitious but naive teenager to run away with him to a glamorous new life. Instead, Graham uses her as cruelly as a silent picture villain. Yet by luck and by pluck, taking charge of her life, she makes it to Hollywood.
Six years later, Blanche has transformed into the celebrated Bianca LaBelle, the reclusive star of a series of adventure films, and Peyton's remains are discovered on a Santa Monica beach. Is there a connection? With all of the twists and turns of a 1920s melodrama, The Wrong Girl follows the daring exploits of a girl who chases her dream from the farm to old Hollywood, while showing just how risky—and rewarding—it can be to go off script.
Blanche Tucker longs to escape her drop-dead dull life in tiny Boynton, Oklahoma. Then dashing Graham Peyton roars into town. Posing as a film producer, Graham convinces the ambitious but naive teenager to run away with him to a glamorous new life. Instead, Graham uses her as cruelly as a silent picture villain. Yet by luck and by pluck, taking charge of her life, she makes it to Hollywood.
Six years later, Blanche has transformed into the celebrated Bianca LaBelle, the reclusive star of a series of adventure films, and Peyton's remains are discovered on a Santa Monica beach. Is there a connection? With all of the twists and turns of a 1920s melodrama, The Wrong Girl follows the daring exploits of a girl who chases her dream from the farm to old Hollywood, while showing just how risky—and rewarding—it can be to go off script.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2019
44 people are currently reading
362 people want to read
About the author
Donis Casey
13 books90 followersDONIS CASEY was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A third generation Oklahoman, she and her siblings grew up among their aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents on farms and in small towns, where they learned the love of family and independent spirit that characterizes the population of that pioneering state. Donis graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in English, and earned a Master’s degree in Library Science from Oklahoma University. After teaching school for a short time, she enjoyed a career as an academic librarian, working for many years at the University of Oklahoma and at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.
Donis left academia in 1988 to start a Scottish import gift shop in downtown Tempe. After more than a decade as an entrepreneur, she decided to devote herself full-time to writing. The Old Buzzard Had It Coming is her first book. For the past twenty years, Donis has lived in Tempe, AZ, with her husband.
Donis left academia in 1988 to start a Scottish import gift shop in downtown Tempe. After more than a decade as an entrepreneur, she decided to devote herself full-time to writing. The Old Buzzard Had It Coming is her first book. For the past twenty years, Donis has lived in Tempe, AZ, with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
September 14, 2019
Assigned- Very nice historical cozy/ coming of age tale. Old Hollywood, silent films, the jazz age- right up my alley!!
November 15, 2019
3.5 stars for this spin-off from the author's Alafair Tucker series.
I had a great deal of fun reading this. The story is told in alternating chapters: 1926 Hollywood, featuring Bianca LaBelle, star of the hit 'Bianca Dangereuse' serials, and 1920 Oklahoma (and points west) featuring 15 year old Blanche Tucker--desperate for adventure! excitement! and yearning to be a movie star. Well, young Blanche gets rather more than she bargained for when she runs off with Graham Peyton, who presents himself as one who can make her a Hollywood star; Bianca finds herself being questioned by a PI who has been hired by a notorious gangster to find out what, exactly, happened to Peyton.
The story unfolds, just like a silent movie melodrama. I loved all of the small, boxed. interjections from the off-screen? off-page? commentator--most of them variations of "oh, no!", "the cad!", and so forth. The author drops a number of genuine movie stars into the narrative; Tom Mix, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks all have conversations with star-struck Blanche.
There is a satisfactory solution to the mystery surrounding Peyton. However, a number of plot threads are left dangling. The reader is invited to stay tuned for Episode 2. I definitely will.
I had a great deal of fun reading this. The story is told in alternating chapters: 1926 Hollywood, featuring Bianca LaBelle, star of the hit 'Bianca Dangereuse' serials, and 1920 Oklahoma (and points west) featuring 15 year old Blanche Tucker--desperate for adventure! excitement! and yearning to be a movie star. Well, young Blanche gets rather more than she bargained for when she runs off with Graham Peyton, who presents himself as one who can make her a Hollywood star; Bianca finds herself being questioned by a PI who has been hired by a notorious gangster to find out what, exactly, happened to Peyton.
The story unfolds, just like a silent movie melodrama. I loved all of the small, boxed. interjections from the off-screen? off-page? commentator--most of them variations of "oh, no!", "the cad!", and so forth. The author drops a number of genuine movie stars into the narrative; Tom Mix, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks all have conversations with star-struck Blanche.
There is a satisfactory solution to the mystery surrounding Peyton. However, a number of plot threads are left dangling. The reader is invited to stay tuned for Episode 2. I definitely will.
October 30, 2019
Donis Casey has launched a new series. If you are a fan of Casey’s ten Alafair Tucker mysteries, you’ll know that she’s one of the best at writing dialogue and setting that plunges the reader into a very particular time and place. Her plots excite and entice. All that writing skill goes full speed ahead in the new series. The place has changed and moved forward (a little) in time. We’re (mostly) not in Oklahoma anymore, Toto.
It’s Hollywood and the films are silent. There are some truly brutish cads in the cast of characters, but the novel’s villainy is far more subtle than a silent flicker’s stereotypical bad guy. Nothing’s simple here and the wrongdoings have a way of creeping up on the reader in twisty, unsettling ways.
In the opening scene, a private detective, Ted Oliver, drives up to the luxurious estate of Bianca LaBelle, the star of “the biggest money-making movie franchise in the entire Western world.” The star, unlike her fellow actors who live “to see their names in print,” is an enigma. Rumors swirl about her origins. Is she from a noble French family, escaped to America to avoid an arranged marriage? She lives with Alma Bolding—an actress twenty years her senior and famous and wildly successful long before she took Bianca in. Salacious suggestions arise about the two women. Oliver rather doubts the scuttlebutt. He even doubts her name is Bianca LaBelle.
He’s come to ask her about a recent discovery of bones in a hillside along the coast, exposed by a recent storm. This is not the usual dead body in a murder mystery. Bianca answers Oliver’s inquiry with the slightly snide, “I’m as interested as anyone in Mr. Carter’s recent discoveries in Egypt,” but she denies knowing anything about bones. But those bones are trouble—that much we can guess, but the untangling of why and to whom will be ever so entertaining.
If this elegant young woman feels faintly familiar to Casey’s longtime readers, there’s a reason. After the first three gripping chapters, the novel shifts from 1926 Hollywood back to Boynton, Oklahoma in 1920. Bianca is Blanche, one of Alafair’s daughters. You will have met her if you read The Wrong Hill to Die On, but it won’t matter a bit if you haven’t. She isn’t content with her lot. Worse, she thinks she’s more worldly and wily than it turns out she is. Naivete can be dangerous—or perhaps dangereuse, if we’re going to stay in character. The novel quickly leaves Boynton behind and from there masterfully intertwines two timelines of events six years apart.
There’s both nail-biting suspense and humor in this mystery. The humor often lies in clever word play: “Southern California was chock-a-block with good looking men. Most of them with the character of a weasel, and in certain cases that comparison was insulting to weasels everywhere.”
Casey has a special talent for total reader immersion in the world of her novel through the speech patterns and word choices of each character. At one point someone we don’t like at all throws a small delay tactic with this bit of slang that puts us squarely in 20’s Hollywood, “let me go to the can and change my threads.” Blanche holds the job of narrator for parts of this tale, and her youth and innocence comes through vividly in her narrative voice, “Blanche had thought she couldn’t be more over the moon when she found out she was going to meet Alma Bolding, but Tom Mix was just the berries.” ‘Just the berries’? It’s enough to make the reader’s heart break with worry for this child. And the idea that a girl who is over the moon over a movie star can later be the cool, restrained woman of the opening scene? That puzzle laces this book with tension that will keep you turning pages.
Much as I love Alafair and will miss her fictional presence in my reading life, I am happy to report that Donis Casey’s extension westward and onward will not disappoint. I highly recommend The Wrong Girl. It’s the right book.
It’s Hollywood and the films are silent. There are some truly brutish cads in the cast of characters, but the novel’s villainy is far more subtle than a silent flicker’s stereotypical bad guy. Nothing’s simple here and the wrongdoings have a way of creeping up on the reader in twisty, unsettling ways.
In the opening scene, a private detective, Ted Oliver, drives up to the luxurious estate of Bianca LaBelle, the star of “the biggest money-making movie franchise in the entire Western world.” The star, unlike her fellow actors who live “to see their names in print,” is an enigma. Rumors swirl about her origins. Is she from a noble French family, escaped to America to avoid an arranged marriage? She lives with Alma Bolding—an actress twenty years her senior and famous and wildly successful long before she took Bianca in. Salacious suggestions arise about the two women. Oliver rather doubts the scuttlebutt. He even doubts her name is Bianca LaBelle.
He’s come to ask her about a recent discovery of bones in a hillside along the coast, exposed by a recent storm. This is not the usual dead body in a murder mystery. Bianca answers Oliver’s inquiry with the slightly snide, “I’m as interested as anyone in Mr. Carter’s recent discoveries in Egypt,” but she denies knowing anything about bones. But those bones are trouble—that much we can guess, but the untangling of why and to whom will be ever so entertaining.
If this elegant young woman feels faintly familiar to Casey’s longtime readers, there’s a reason. After the first three gripping chapters, the novel shifts from 1926 Hollywood back to Boynton, Oklahoma in 1920. Bianca is Blanche, one of Alafair’s daughters. You will have met her if you read The Wrong Hill to Die On, but it won’t matter a bit if you haven’t. She isn’t content with her lot. Worse, she thinks she’s more worldly and wily than it turns out she is. Naivete can be dangerous—or perhaps dangereuse, if we’re going to stay in character. The novel quickly leaves Boynton behind and from there masterfully intertwines two timelines of events six years apart.
There’s both nail-biting suspense and humor in this mystery. The humor often lies in clever word play: “Southern California was chock-a-block with good looking men. Most of them with the character of a weasel, and in certain cases that comparison was insulting to weasels everywhere.”
Casey has a special talent for total reader immersion in the world of her novel through the speech patterns and word choices of each character. At one point someone we don’t like at all throws a small delay tactic with this bit of slang that puts us squarely in 20’s Hollywood, “let me go to the can and change my threads.” Blanche holds the job of narrator for parts of this tale, and her youth and innocence comes through vividly in her narrative voice, “Blanche had thought she couldn’t be more over the moon when she found out she was going to meet Alma Bolding, but Tom Mix was just the berries.” ‘Just the berries’? It’s enough to make the reader’s heart break with worry for this child. And the idea that a girl who is over the moon over a movie star can later be the cool, restrained woman of the opening scene? That puzzle laces this book with tension that will keep you turning pages.
Much as I love Alafair and will miss her fictional presence in my reading life, I am happy to report that Donis Casey’s extension westward and onward will not disappoint. I highly recommend The Wrong Girl. It’s the right book.
November 2, 2019
A promising start to a historical mystery series set in Hollywood. The young heroine (Bianca) has a scrappy back story and has most certainly worked her way up in the studio circuit with a little help from an established queen of the screen (Alma Bolding). What does the dead body discovered on the Palisade cliffs have to do with these two women? Oliver has been hired to look into the matter and by the end of the book there is one question solved with many more to be resolved. I would read the next book and also plan to check out Donis Casey's other mystery series (Alafair Tucker Mysteries).
Thank you to Poison Pen Press and Edelweiss for digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. (less)
Thank you to Poison Pen Press and Edelweiss for digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. (less)
November 28, 2019
I enjoyed this book very much. A book that keeps my interest and one that I don't want to put down gets 5 stars from me.
I enjoyed the characters, the time period and the story of a farm girl who is drawn to Hollywood to seek her fame. Blanche is the 8th child of Alafair Tucker who is a crime solving farm wife and mother in a long running Donis Casey series. This is the start up of a new series about Blanche. Blanche is a teenager and bored with her life in Boynton Oklahoma. She has stars in her eyes when she goes to the silent movies and perceives a more exciting and glamorous life. So she was "easy pickings" when a man arrived into town driving a Pierce Arrow car. He claims to work in the movie industry. He sweet talks Blanche, buys her gifts, proclaims his love and soon she is in his Pierce Arrow leaving her family and Boynton Oklahoma behind.
The beginning of the book starts out in 1926 with the body/skeleton of this man buried under some cliff boulder along the ocean road. He is the cad who had taken Blanche from Oklahoma. He disappeared 5 years earlier but it was rumored he had taken off with some money. The story goes back and forth between 1920 when Blanche's life changed when she met him to 1926 when his body was found. The author used dialogue cards at times like would have been used in the silent movies to change into a new theme or at the point of exciting action.
Blanche has changed. She is now a very famous movie star with a movie star name. She still makes mistakes but is resourceful in getting out of situations. There were movie stars, slang from the 20's , great location and interesting characters. I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to reading the 2nd book in the series to keep up with Blanche and her friends.
I enjoyed the characters, the time period and the story of a farm girl who is drawn to Hollywood to seek her fame. Blanche is the 8th child of Alafair Tucker who is a crime solving farm wife and mother in a long running Donis Casey series. This is the start up of a new series about Blanche. Blanche is a teenager and bored with her life in Boynton Oklahoma. She has stars in her eyes when she goes to the silent movies and perceives a more exciting and glamorous life. So she was "easy pickings" when a man arrived into town driving a Pierce Arrow car. He claims to work in the movie industry. He sweet talks Blanche, buys her gifts, proclaims his love and soon she is in his Pierce Arrow leaving her family and Boynton Oklahoma behind.
The beginning of the book starts out in 1926 with the body/skeleton of this man buried under some cliff boulder along the ocean road. He is the cad who had taken Blanche from Oklahoma. He disappeared 5 years earlier but it was rumored he had taken off with some money. The story goes back and forth between 1920 when Blanche's life changed when she met him to 1926 when his body was found. The author used dialogue cards at times like would have been used in the silent movies to change into a new theme or at the point of exciting action.
Blanche has changed. She is now a very famous movie star with a movie star name. She still makes mistakes but is resourceful in getting out of situations. There were movie stars, slang from the 20's , great location and interesting characters. I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to reading the 2nd book in the series to keep up with Blanche and her friends.
December 12, 2019
Nowhere on the cover of this edition does it state “ Bianca Dangereuse Hollywood Mysteries Book 1”.
So I was surprised to find that it reads like part 1 of a series. It has no ending. Quite literally the last line says: “Join us next time to find the answers to these questions and many others as we continue…” (Pg. 231)
Ending a book in this manner is a form of trickery and I don’t like to be tricked.
In the first place the book is a bore. No atmosphere whatsoever. Feel free to skip all you want – you won’t miss a thing.
This was a waste of my time as I have zero interest in reading another book to find out anything about anything.
So I was surprised to find that it reads like part 1 of a series. It has no ending. Quite literally the last line says: “Join us next time to find the answers to these questions and many others as we continue…” (Pg. 231)
Ending a book in this manner is a form of trickery and I don’t like to be tricked.
In the first place the book is a bore. No atmosphere whatsoever. Feel free to skip all you want – you won’t miss a thing.
This was a waste of my time as I have zero interest in reading another book to find out anything about anything.
February 16, 2020
Excellent read. Looking forward to the next in the series
November 14, 2019
I read a review of this on Kittling Books and was pleased to find it still offered on NetGalley. Since I've recently had a run of books that ended up in the DNF pile, it was nice to find a book that caught and held my interest. I haven't read any of the Alafair Tucker mysteries by Casey, but The Wrong Girl was an enjoyable historical mystery.
What is it about?
A young girl is fascinated by Hollywood and the film industry which is still in its infancy in 1926. Blanche is fifteen when a predator pretending to be a producer finds her in a small Oklahoma town. Charming and skilled at the seduction of young women, Graham Peyton persuades Blanche that he loves her and that he can get her into the movies. Blanche doesn't take a great deal of convincing and agrees to run off with him, but it doesn't take long before Blanche must confront her mistake.
Luckily, Blanche is more than a silly, star-struck adolescent; she has skills from growing up on a farm with brothers and is able to escape a "fate worse than death" and find friends that support and encourage her.
Withing six years, Blanche becomes Bianca LaBelle whose character Bianca Dangereuse is the adventurous heroine of several silent films. Blanche has been inordinately lucky in her friendships. In fact, Mrs. Gilbert and Alma Bolding are a rich part of the story.
Private investigator Ted Oliver has been hired to investigate the death of a man who disappeared five years ago and whose skeletal remains have recently been discovered. What does this have to do with Bianca and her friends?
An interesting beginning to a new series.
NetGalley/Poisoned Pen Press
Historical Mystery. Nov. 11, 2019. Print length: 256 pages.
What is it about?
A young girl is fascinated by Hollywood and the film industry which is still in its infancy in 1926. Blanche is fifteen when a predator pretending to be a producer finds her in a small Oklahoma town. Charming and skilled at the seduction of young women, Graham Peyton persuades Blanche that he loves her and that he can get her into the movies. Blanche doesn't take a great deal of convincing and agrees to run off with him, but it doesn't take long before Blanche must confront her mistake.
Luckily, Blanche is more than a silly, star-struck adolescent; she has skills from growing up on a farm with brothers and is able to escape a "fate worse than death" and find friends that support and encourage her.
Withing six years, Blanche becomes Bianca LaBelle whose character Bianca Dangereuse is the adventurous heroine of several silent films. Blanche has been inordinately lucky in her friendships. In fact, Mrs. Gilbert and Alma Bolding are a rich part of the story.
Private investigator Ted Oliver has been hired to investigate the death of a man who disappeared five years ago and whose skeletal remains have recently been discovered. What does this have to do with Bianca and her friends?
An interesting beginning to a new series.
NetGalley/Poisoned Pen Press
Historical Mystery. Nov. 11, 2019. Print length: 256 pages.
March 23, 2020
Lackluster plot with a unsatisfying end
November 24, 2019
What a fun novel! The Wrong Girl is the start of a new series by Donis Casey starring 1920s silent movie actress Bianca LaBelle. Bianca plays journalist Bianca Dangereuse in a series of action movies that take advantage of her athleticism. She performs stunts and escapes from peril in exotic locations. Good thing Bianca is used to narrow escapes.
Five years before, Bianca was a teenager in Oklahoma named Blanche Tucker. Blanche was beautiful, brave, ambitious, and incredibly naive. A con man named Graham Peyton convinced her to run away with him. He attempted to sell her into prostitution. Blanche, however, escaped, changed her name, and managed to become the Hollywood film star she felt destined to be. But now Peyton has been found dead, and a private detective, Ted Oliver, keeps coming around to ask way too many questions. What really happened to Graham? And can Bianca, with the help of her friends, save herself one more time?
Casey combines colorful characters, historical research, and a rollicking, energetic style in the Wrong Girl. Some mysteries are solved, but others are left open for the next episode. Bianca is engaging and sympathetic, but not above breaking legal or ethical boundaries to take care of herself. Alma, an older actress, is an alcoholic guardian angel for Bianca. Real Hollywood personalities like Mary Pickford and Doug Fairbanks also make appearances. Bianca is set to get herself into scrape after scrape...and I, for one, am ready to follow as eagerly as Bianca Dangereruse's silent film fans.
Five years before, Bianca was a teenager in Oklahoma named Blanche Tucker. Blanche was beautiful, brave, ambitious, and incredibly naive. A con man named Graham Peyton convinced her to run away with him. He attempted to sell her into prostitution. Blanche, however, escaped, changed her name, and managed to become the Hollywood film star she felt destined to be. But now Peyton has been found dead, and a private detective, Ted Oliver, keeps coming around to ask way too many questions. What really happened to Graham? And can Bianca, with the help of her friends, save herself one more time?
Casey combines colorful characters, historical research, and a rollicking, energetic style in the Wrong Girl. Some mysteries are solved, but others are left open for the next episode. Bianca is engaging and sympathetic, but not above breaking legal or ethical boundaries to take care of herself. Alma, an older actress, is an alcoholic guardian angel for Bianca. Real Hollywood personalities like Mary Pickford and Doug Fairbanks also make appearances. Bianca is set to get herself into scrape after scrape...and I, for one, am ready to follow as eagerly as Bianca Dangereruse's silent film fans.
January 4, 2022
A fabulous first installment!
Set in the early age of Hollywood, this series follows Blanche Tucker in her quest for adventure, fame and fortune. And she finds all three in spades!
I love the way the author gave the story the feel of an old time movie serial.
To be continued...and while I'm not usually a fan of cliffhangers, (especially in books) this book has me dying to know what "Bianca Dangereuse" is going to do next!
Set in the early age of Hollywood, this series follows Blanche Tucker in her quest for adventure, fame and fortune. And she finds all three in spades!
I love the way the author gave the story the feel of an old time movie serial.
To be continued...and while I'm not usually a fan of cliffhangers, (especially in books) this book has me dying to know what "Bianca Dangereuse" is going to do next!
May 20, 2024
An interesting she dunnit set in the heyday of the silent film era where Valentino is already a retired legend and the Mann Act is still the subject of white slave narratives. This novel leaves the mysteries in the unfolding of a story you largely surmise in the opening chapters. As it turns out, the big twists set up the next "episode" of Bianca LaBelle's saga with the biggest hood on the west coast. If you enjoy stepping back into the moments when Hollywood was becoming Hollywood, and following a resourceful detective and an even more resourceful movie star and her pals (who also know some famous people from the era) around--then you will much enjoy this mystery.
May 17, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of the novel "The Wrong Girl" by Donis Casey in exchange for an honest review. This book isn't my normal genre but it sounded intriguing and I'm very glad I had the opportunity to read it. This is the story of a murdered man and then story of a young lady easily taken advantage of and how she rises to stardom. I love a good mystery and I love a good historical tale which is what made me want to read "The Wrong Girl". The mystery here isn't all that deep and I didn't really get much from the parts of the story that were about the investigation into the skeletal remains of a man who disappeared five years earlier. I didn't care for the investigator at all. However the book shines when it tells the tale of the young girl who is taken advantage of and sold by a criminal pervert. As the story shows her overcome that situation and we see her grow and evolve the book truly becomes a page turner. Then when that chapter is over and we are thrown back in the investigation, the pace dramatically slows again and my engagement with the book fades off. But as I plug along and get to another chapter about young Blanche I am again entranced. So yes, I liked the story at the heart of the book. There are some answered questions at the end of the book but it feels very open ended and a future book is introduced. I just don't think I enjoyed this book enough to continue. It is a mystery series and the mystery itself was the book's weak point.
November 22, 2019
The Wrong Girl is the first of serial adventure featuring Bianca Dangereuse. Well, Dangereuse is the character played by Bianca LaBelle whose rise from Oklahoma farmgirl to Hollywood star is the foundation for this new series. It begins when Ted Oliver is hired to investigate a murder of a man who disappeared five years ago and whose body was just discovered. How the murder of a mobbed up trafficker connects to the story of Bianca is something Oliver hopes to uncover, though readers may hope he fails.
The Wrong Girl is a pleasant historical mystery set in the wild Hollywood of silent films and Prohibition, or evading Prohibition to be more accurate. There are amusing chapter interstitia that mimic the inserts in silent films that advance the plot. Bianca is a plucky young heroine that overcomes adversity with daring and savoir fair. Alma, her mentor and patron, is a silent film star wtih a heart of gold. Ted Oliver is the early iteration of the noir detective. However, even though ending with questions that feed into a second installment is a perfect homage to silent films, it disappointed me. The book felt incomplete because too little was resolved. Yes, we learn the who, what, where, when, how, and why of the murder, but that’s the tip of the iceberg which seems to be waiting ominously for the second book.
I received an e-galley of The Wrong Girl from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
The Wrong Girl is a pleasant historical mystery set in the wild Hollywood of silent films and Prohibition, or evading Prohibition to be more accurate. There are amusing chapter interstitia that mimic the inserts in silent films that advance the plot. Bianca is a plucky young heroine that overcomes adversity with daring and savoir fair. Alma, her mentor and patron, is a silent film star wtih a heart of gold. Ted Oliver is the early iteration of the noir detective. However, even though ending with questions that feed into a second installment is a perfect homage to silent films, it disappointed me. The book felt incomplete because too little was resolved. Yes, we learn the who, what, where, when, how, and why of the murder, but that’s the tip of the iceberg which seems to be waiting ominously for the second book.
I received an e-galley of The Wrong Girl from the publisher through NetGalley.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
February 9, 2020
A spin-off from the Alafair Tucker series. This one starts in 1920, and finds Blanche (8th Tucker child) 15 and antsy to exchange her dusty ranch-and-small-town-Oklahoma life for something more exciting. What she finds is Graham Peyton, a charming con man who trawls small towns looking for bored and beautiful teenagers. He promises them love and marriage and Hollywood stardom in "the flickers", but then he sells them into whoredom.
Blanche manages to escape and prosper, in true Hollywood fashion. By 1926 she is Biana LaBelle, star of a popular action serial. Graham Peyton's bones appear at the base of a Malibu cliff after a heavy rain. Did Blanche have a hand in his demise?
Blanche manages to escape and prosper, in true Hollywood fashion. By 1926 she is Biana LaBelle, star of a popular action serial. Graham Peyton's bones appear at the base of a Malibu cliff after a heavy rain. Did Blanche have a hand in his demise?
September 8, 2020
I was looking forward to this bookprevious And a cliff hanger to boot Wont be reading the nxt two in te trilogy as I've read the whole series What a disappointment not up to her
August 29, 2019
It's the early 1930s and 15-year-old Blanche is enthralled with the flickers/ movies. From Oklahoma, she dreams of being a movie star.
One day, while sneaking off to the movies Blanche meets a handsome man, Graham Peyton. He eventually professes his love for Blanche and promises to take her to California so she can become an actress.
But the things are not as they appear, and Blanche finds herself abandoned.
Blanche does make it to Hollywood and becomes a successful actress. Graham Peyton, however, did not have as much luck. His skeletal remains were found.
A private detective was hired by a mobster to find out how Graham died.
The story is told mostly through the detective point of view. But the reader also gets glimpses into the other characters.
This was a fun read with great characters. There were suspense and surprising twists.
I particularly liked the references to the movie stars within the story, it added to its authenticity of the time.
One day, while sneaking off to the movies Blanche meets a handsome man, Graham Peyton. He eventually professes his love for Blanche and promises to take her to California so she can become an actress.
But the things are not as they appear, and Blanche finds herself abandoned.
Blanche does make it to Hollywood and becomes a successful actress. Graham Peyton, however, did not have as much luck. His skeletal remains were found.
A private detective was hired by a mobster to find out how Graham died.
The story is told mostly through the detective point of view. But the reader also gets glimpses into the other characters.
This was a fun read with great characters. There were suspense and surprising twists.
I particularly liked the references to the movie stars within the story, it added to its authenticity of the time.
March 31, 2021
I was initially disappointed that Casey had apparently dropped her Alafair Tucker series to write these, but it turns out that they are a spinoff. I find the attempt to make them read like the serial "Bianca LaBelle," stars in to be silly, but the whole thing is pretty much over the top, so you might as well just hang on and enjoy the ride. The reason I am giving this three rather than four stars is that I really don't like the cliffhanger style of the ending. That too is patterned after the old time serials, but it doesn't work well in a book. Fortunately the second volume is also available, so you can at least read some more of the story right now.
August 24, 2019
A fun little read! I enjoyed the way this story was told through flashbacks as we learned about the life of Blanche/Bianca and what exactly happened to Graham Peyton. This book had my attention from the first to last page. I appreciated the historical setting and enjoyed the surprises along the way! Many thanks to Poison Pen Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
March 18, 2020
Okay, nothing special
May 14, 2021
A historical mystery series set during 1920s Hollywood has all the makings of a fun, thrilling story. Unfortunately, this was such a dud for me. It's just not good. I honestly think giving this book 2 stars is being generous.
The central mystery is so predictable, I figured out who the killer was after 2 chapters. The formatting is awful. For whatever reason, the writing style is modeled after 1920s serial films. Casey attempts to capture the cadence of silent film title cards which results in parts of the text randomly having larger, centered, bolded sentences
~in the middle of paragraphs like this.~
It's so bizarre. I understand why the stylistic choice was made, but it makes such an awful reading experience. And the ending is so abrupt. It's as if the author just gave up on writing the story.
This is such a boring and forgettable book. I did like the references to 1920s Hollywood but that's about it.
The central mystery is so predictable, I figured out who the killer was after 2 chapters. The formatting is awful. For whatever reason, the writing style is modeled after 1920s serial films. Casey attempts to capture the cadence of silent film title cards which results in parts of the text randomly having larger, centered, bolded sentences
~in the middle of paragraphs like this.~
It's so bizarre. I understand why the stylistic choice was made, but it makes such an awful reading experience. And the ending is so abrupt. It's as if the author just gave up on writing the story.
This is such a boring and forgettable book. I did like the references to 1920s Hollywood but that's about it.
March 30, 2020
This is the story of how Oklahoma farm girl Blanche Tucker is transformed into glamorous silent film star Bianca LaBelle. The present day of the story is 1926, but in 1920 Blanche ran away from home and into a might of trouble culminating, apparently, in the death of a no-good-teenage girl-despoiler Graham Peyter. In alternating time lines, Blanche's story comes forward from her escape from Oklahoma towards the night Graham Peyton dies, as private detective Ted Oliver's timeline moves backwards from the present to the same event. There are no big surprises in the plot, its clear that Blanche must be involved in some way in Peyter's death. But the details of what happened that night, how Blanche handled them, and how she handles the present day investigation show how far naive Blanche has come to become Bianca. Will Oliver figure it out?
October 19, 2020
I have read the entire Alafair Tucker series by Donis Casey. I really enjoyed this new addition to that series, focusing on one of her many children-Blanche Tucker. I would never have imagined this journey for Blanche-so this was a real surprise for me. I have always had an interest in the 1920s time frame the story is set in an din early Hollywood-so it was fun to get a sort of insider look at the early industry-even through this fictional accounting. The mysteries were many and varied, and kept intrigued until the end. I look forward to the next book in this series!
April 4, 2021
Interesting, smoothly written mystery takes you back to the danger, allure, and daring escapades of the Roaring '20s. Love the characters and how they develop. It does leave you with a solution, but also a continuing cliffhanger. Has me hooked to read the new book, Valentino Must Die, hoping the storyline is continued. Besides who can resist the great Valentino? Enjoyed discovering the start to a great series!
November 7, 2019
I think this is quite a good start for a story but I'm in two minds about it: I found the plot enjoyable and entertaining but the style of writing seemed a bit weird to me.
I liked the cast of characters, the background and the solid mystery.
I'm curious about the next instalment in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I liked the cast of characters, the background and the solid mystery.
I'm curious about the next instalment in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
November 12, 2019
This was slow starting for me and it took a few chapters before I felt like I was into the story. It felt like I was reading the script of an old, old movie. I guess maybe that was the author's intent. The story picked up and kept me entertained - - until the ending. I was not a fan of the way it ended and knocked off a star because of that.
April 6, 2020
This was a fun read, just like a silent movie. The titles to each chapter that are set up as silent movie stills enhance the feeling of early Hollywood perfectly. A body has been found on a Santa Monica beach and private detective Ted Oliver is hired to investigate. How is the movie star Bianca LaBelle involved? To find out we are taken back through Bianca's life.
February 27, 2021
Hollywood, 1920s, glamour, wealth and more wealth. Saw Book 2 advertised, and found this to read first. Since I'm able to read Book 2 right way, I'm ok with the sudden ending. If I thought I was going to have to wait months for the second book to get published, I would be very critical of the story being dropped like a hot potato.
March 4, 2022
It was an okay book though when I bought it, I didn't realize it was part of a series. I was more interested in the 1921 timeline than the 1926 one. Some items that were revealed in the 1926 timeline and then played out in more detail in the 1921, I felt should have been switched but that's more a personal preference. The ending was a little cheesy with the "join us next time to....".
February 9, 2024
Ya lost me with being a dick about the ambiguously gendered person. Call them "it" really is beyond the pale. Is that how someone from back then would've talked about them? Sure. People suck. There's still people that do bigoted shit. But that doesn't mean I want to read it. Especially when it's by the main character that I'm supposed to root for.
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