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Silver Screen Historical Mystery #1
Scandal in Babylon
"You shall never have a penny of my money. Leave me alone or I will shoot you dead!"
1924. After six months in Hollywood, young British widow Emma Blackstone has come to love her new employer, glamourous movie-star Kitty Flint - even if her late husband's sister is one of the worst actresses she's ever seen. Looking after Kitty and her three adorable Pekinese dogs isn't work Emma dreamed of, but Kitty rescued her when she was all alone in the world. Now, the worst thing academically-minded Emma has to worry about is the shocking historical inaccuracies of the films Kitty stars in.
Until, that is, Rex Festraw - Kitty's first husband, to whom she may or may not still be married - turns up dead in her dressing room, a threatening letter seemingly from Kitty in his pocket.
Emma's certain her flighty but kind-hearted sister-in-law has been framed. But who by? And why? From spiteful rivals to jealous boyfriends, the suspects are numerous. But as Emma investigates, she begins to untangle a deadly plot - and there's something Kitty's not telling her . . .
This gripping first in a brand-new series from NYT-bestselling author Barbara Hambly brings the sights and sounds of Hollywood to life and is a perfect pick for fans of female-fronted historical mysteries set in the roaring twenties.
1924. After six months in Hollywood, young British widow Emma Blackstone has come to love her new employer, glamourous movie-star Kitty Flint - even if her late husband's sister is one of the worst actresses she's ever seen. Looking after Kitty and her three adorable Pekinese dogs isn't work Emma dreamed of, but Kitty rescued her when she was all alone in the world. Now, the worst thing academically-minded Emma has to worry about is the shocking historical inaccuracies of the films Kitty stars in.
Until, that is, Rex Festraw - Kitty's first husband, to whom she may or may not still be married - turns up dead in her dressing room, a threatening letter seemingly from Kitty in his pocket.
Emma's certain her flighty but kind-hearted sister-in-law has been framed. But who by? And why? From spiteful rivals to jealous boyfriends, the suspects are numerous. But as Emma investigates, she begins to untangle a deadly plot - and there's something Kitty's not telling her . . .
This gripping first in a brand-new series from NYT-bestselling author Barbara Hambly brings the sights and sounds of Hollywood to life and is a perfect pick for fans of female-fronted historical mysteries set in the roaring twenties.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published August 1, 2021
65 people are currently reading
419 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Hambly
204 books1,580 followersaka Barbara Hamilton
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
April 22, 2025
‘Good heavens, is that how they film cinema shows?’
Emma Blackstone, war widow and suicidally depressed, is saved from a dead end job in Manchester by her glamorous sister-in-law Kitty and brought to Prohibition Era Hollywood [1924].
Emma, an Oxford graduate with experience from archaeological digs in Mesopotamia, is brought into the studio as Kitty’s assistant, but soon graduates to script doctor when they start shooting one of those big silent productions titled Temptress of Babylon
Emma has her hands full with taking care of the diva’s three Pekingese dogs, keeping her thermos filled with gin and running cover for Kitty’s promiscuous love life before her nominal lover, the head of the studio, takes notice.
After nearly six months in Hollywood she still felt rather like Alice stepping through the looking glass, tall and prosaic and a little gawky in her Oxford tweeds among the shadowy splendor of moonlight in Babylon ...
The production is as hectic, irreverent and historically inaccurate as you could expect. Before Emma could adapt to the zaniness of the dream factory, a dead body is discovered in Kitty’s cabin, complete with obvious evidence like smoking gun and revealing letters, suggesting Kitty has killed her ex-husband who was trying to blackmail her. The lack of an alibi complicates things even further before the studio boss and the company’s fixer can smooth things over with the police.
When Emma sees who is hired to uncover the truth [ Just about he least competent private investigator in LA. But the most photogenic. ] she decides to do her own private digging, with a little help from her maybe-boyfriend-material Zal, the cameraman for the movie.
‘I’ll back a proper educated Englishwoman against the Keystone Kops any day of the week.’
>>><<<>>><<<
Barbara Hambly is one of the most reliable ‘fixers’ in my stable of authors guaranteed to take me out of a reading slump, not mainly for her sense of humour, but for the way she takes care of her characters, adding depth , nuance, empathy.
For readers less familiar with the author, Scandal in Babylon is not an original story, but a re-make or re-boot of her 1994 novel Bride of the Rat God . The same cast of characters, the same movie studio setting, the same sort of screwball comedy with a touch of romance.
To be honest, I liked the original story better than this one, mostly for its horror-supernatural focus and its zanier plot that put the three Pekingese dogs to better use.
my review here
I also understand why the author felt the need to revisit the premise and to ditch the fantasy elements for a more classical murder investigation with feminist highlights. It allows for a more careful characterization and for more highbrow jokes and local colour.
The story is narrated by Emma Blackstone, who uses her very British common sense and pragmatic approach in counterpoint with the sort of Lewis Carroll world she finds herself in. Her past studies will come in handy when the investigation becomes similar to the piecing-together of puzzles from manuscripts and old poems and bits of pots and tombs.
There is no shortage of leads and of suspects for Emma to follow and interview, starting right inside the house where she lives: Camille de la Rose a.k.a, Kitty Flint, a.k.a. Mrs Chava Festraw is clearly dissembling about where she was hiding at the time the murder took place. Since one of the major newspapers in town is running a Silver Screen Goddess sweepstakes with Kitty seen as one of the frontrunners, every other diva in Hollywood with a chance at the title is also a suspect. The East Coast millionaire that Kitty sees behind the back of the studio head, as well as the multitude of casual lovers Kitty likes to play with may be just red herrings, but a visit from the bootleggers who supply most of the illegal alcohol in Hollywood must be taken seriously. A hysterical giggle accompanies Emma’s internal monologue as she tries to unravel the mystery.
Baroque scenarios of Gloria Swanson taking a murderer for her lover and then shooting him herself (What would she do with the body?) flitted briefly through Emma’s mind ... I think I’ve been in Hollywood too long ...
Peggy Donovan – the red-haired hot tomato over at Enterprise who was Kitty’s bosom friend – would probably consider that a perfectly reasonable plan.
And it did occur to her to save the idea for a future scenario ...
Now I KNOW I’ve been in Hollywood too long ...
The most reliable help in the investigation comes from Zal, a bespectacled geek with hidden resources and charm: His glance was like a smiling kiss, and her eyes received it like one . He points out to Emma that Hollywood is an illusion machine where sleigh-of-hand is needed to create the desired effect in the audience:
‘It’s Madge’s job, and Kitty’s job, and my job, to make them not realize that what they’re seeing, isn’t what’s really going on at all.’
It’s all an optical illusion ... We’re forcing their point of view ...
A peep show, Mr Madison had said.
He was there all the time ... you just need to know the secret ...
She thought, Yes. We’re only seeing what’s in the shot lines. A Silver Screen Goddess award. A powerful man’s jealousy.
What’s beyond those lines?
Aren’t you curious who killed Kitty’s former partner? who is pulling the strings? and who won the Silver Screen Goddess sweepstakes? And if Emma will grab the chance to return to sedate and boring England or if she will embrace the zaniness of Babylon?
I’m not going to reveal the answers here. Read the damn book. It’s smart and funny and fast-paced. It’s also surprisingly well researched and able to reference a poet like Constantine Cavafy:
Ithaca will not make you rich;
it’s the road that makes you rich.
Emma Blackstone, war widow and suicidally depressed, is saved from a dead end job in Manchester by her glamorous sister-in-law Kitty and brought to Prohibition Era Hollywood [1924].
Emma, an Oxford graduate with experience from archaeological digs in Mesopotamia, is brought into the studio as Kitty’s assistant, but soon graduates to script doctor when they start shooting one of those big silent productions titled Temptress of Babylon
Emma has her hands full with taking care of the diva’s three Pekingese dogs, keeping her thermos filled with gin and running cover for Kitty’s promiscuous love life before her nominal lover, the head of the studio, takes notice.
After nearly six months in Hollywood she still felt rather like Alice stepping through the looking glass, tall and prosaic and a little gawky in her Oxford tweeds among the shadowy splendor of moonlight in Babylon ...
The production is as hectic, irreverent and historically inaccurate as you could expect. Before Emma could adapt to the zaniness of the dream factory, a dead body is discovered in Kitty’s cabin, complete with obvious evidence like smoking gun and revealing letters, suggesting Kitty has killed her ex-husband who was trying to blackmail her. The lack of an alibi complicates things even further before the studio boss and the company’s fixer can smooth things over with the police.
When Emma sees who is hired to uncover the truth [ Just about he least competent private investigator in LA. But the most photogenic. ] she decides to do her own private digging, with a little help from her maybe-boyfriend-material Zal, the cameraman for the movie.
‘I’ll back a proper educated Englishwoman against the Keystone Kops any day of the week.’
>>><<<>>><<<
Barbara Hambly is one of the most reliable ‘fixers’ in my stable of authors guaranteed to take me out of a reading slump, not mainly for her sense of humour, but for the way she takes care of her characters, adding depth , nuance, empathy.
For readers less familiar with the author, Scandal in Babylon is not an original story, but a re-make or re-boot of her 1994 novel Bride of the Rat God . The same cast of characters, the same movie studio setting, the same sort of screwball comedy with a touch of romance.
To be honest, I liked the original story better than this one, mostly for its horror-supernatural focus and its zanier plot that put the three Pekingese dogs to better use.
my review here
I also understand why the author felt the need to revisit the premise and to ditch the fantasy elements for a more classical murder investigation with feminist highlights. It allows for a more careful characterization and for more highbrow jokes and local colour.
The story is narrated by Emma Blackstone, who uses her very British common sense and pragmatic approach in counterpoint with the sort of Lewis Carroll world she finds herself in. Her past studies will come in handy when the investigation becomes similar to the piecing-together of puzzles from manuscripts and old poems and bits of pots and tombs.
There is no shortage of leads and of suspects for Emma to follow and interview, starting right inside the house where she lives: Camille de la Rose a.k.a, Kitty Flint, a.k.a. Mrs Chava Festraw is clearly dissembling about where she was hiding at the time the murder took place. Since one of the major newspapers in town is running a Silver Screen Goddess sweepstakes with Kitty seen as one of the frontrunners, every other diva in Hollywood with a chance at the title is also a suspect. The East Coast millionaire that Kitty sees behind the back of the studio head, as well as the multitude of casual lovers Kitty likes to play with may be just red herrings, but a visit from the bootleggers who supply most of the illegal alcohol in Hollywood must be taken seriously. A hysterical giggle accompanies Emma’s internal monologue as she tries to unravel the mystery.
Baroque scenarios of Gloria Swanson taking a murderer for her lover and then shooting him herself (What would she do with the body?) flitted briefly through Emma’s mind ... I think I’ve been in Hollywood too long ...
Peggy Donovan – the red-haired hot tomato over at Enterprise who was Kitty’s bosom friend – would probably consider that a perfectly reasonable plan.
And it did occur to her to save the idea for a future scenario ...
Now I KNOW I’ve been in Hollywood too long ...
The most reliable help in the investigation comes from Zal, a bespectacled geek with hidden resources and charm: His glance was like a smiling kiss, and her eyes received it like one . He points out to Emma that Hollywood is an illusion machine where sleigh-of-hand is needed to create the desired effect in the audience:
‘It’s Madge’s job, and Kitty’s job, and my job, to make them not realize that what they’re seeing, isn’t what’s really going on at all.’
It’s all an optical illusion ... We’re forcing their point of view ...
A peep show, Mr Madison had said.
He was there all the time ... you just need to know the secret ...
She thought, Yes. We’re only seeing what’s in the shot lines. A Silver Screen Goddess award. A powerful man’s jealousy.
What’s beyond those lines?
Aren’t you curious who killed Kitty’s former partner? who is pulling the strings? and who won the Silver Screen Goddess sweepstakes? And if Emma will grab the chance to return to sedate and boring England or if she will embrace the zaniness of Babylon?
I’m not going to reveal the answers here. Read the damn book. It’s smart and funny and fast-paced. It’s also surprisingly well researched and able to reference a poet like Constantine Cavafy:
Ithaca will not make you rich;
it’s the road that makes you rich.
June 12, 2021
Emma Blackstone finds herself in California after a string of family tragedies. Her husband dies in WWI after only weeks of marriage, her brother dies after suffering injuries in the same conflict, and her parents die of influenza shortly after the war. Having lived in Oxford, with her academic father, financial issues led her to have to take a post as a companion and so she is grateful to her sister in law, Kitty Flint, stage name Camille de la Rose, who offered her a position as secretary and general helper.
Kitty is acting in the, "Temptress of Babylon," while Emma does her best to avert her eyes from the historical inaccuracies and smooth her sister in law's path. When Rex Festraw, Kitty's first husband, turns up out of the blue, she immediately hustles him into her dressing room and sets out in search of her - when they make it back, it is to find Rex shot dead and Kitty as the suspect.
With Emma's beloved Aunt Estelle, who has just heard of Emma's difficulties, planning to swoop down and carry her back to Oxford, she finds herself torn between her old life and the new. Along with cameraman Zal, Emma sets out to find out who murdered Rex and rescue her sister in law from suspicion.
This is a fairly gentle mystery, with gangsters, bootleggers, contracts and religious fundamentalists all involved, as Emma tries to untangle the truth. It was an enjoyable, if undemanding read, but I did find that there was little real feeling for the historical period. Although it was set in early Hollywood, the characters themselves seemed fairly modern and as though they had simply been transplanted there. However, a fun read, which I received from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review. Rated 3.5.
Kitty is acting in the, "Temptress of Babylon," while Emma does her best to avert her eyes from the historical inaccuracies and smooth her sister in law's path. When Rex Festraw, Kitty's first husband, turns up out of the blue, she immediately hustles him into her dressing room and sets out in search of her - when they make it back, it is to find Rex shot dead and Kitty as the suspect.
With Emma's beloved Aunt Estelle, who has just heard of Emma's difficulties, planning to swoop down and carry her back to Oxford, she finds herself torn between her old life and the new. Along with cameraman Zal, Emma sets out to find out who murdered Rex and rescue her sister in law from suspicion.
This is a fairly gentle mystery, with gangsters, bootleggers, contracts and religious fundamentalists all involved, as Emma tries to untangle the truth. It was an enjoyable, if undemanding read, but I did find that there was little real feeling for the historical period. Although it was set in early Hollywood, the characters themselves seemed fairly modern and as though they had simply been transplanted there. However, a fun read, which I received from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review. Rated 3.5.
March 30, 2022
If this was a book by a new author, I probably would’ve given it 4-stars. But Hambly is a vet and I think it’s ok to have a slightly higher expectation for her. She does a great job bringing 20s Hollywood to life and the mystery is decent. But her protagonist’s backstory takes up way too much space. It’s good groundwork if she wants to use the character for a larger series. But as a self-contained book, it weighed down what was otherwise a fun tale.
May 2, 2022
I loved Barbara Hambly’s Bride of the Rat God, a fantasy set in Roaring 1920s Hollywood. Now she returns to that era, with its glamorous silent film stars, bootleggers, gangsters, drug use, widespread corruption, and the frenzied exuberance that followed World War I. In this story, a murder mystery (without Bride’s supernatural elements) the viewpoint character is Emma, a young British widow who now works as a companion and secretary for her superstar sister-in-law, Kitty. Classically trained, Emma is constantly affronted by the wildly inaccurate movie scripts (Kitty is currently starring in The Empress of Babylon), many of which she is called upon to rewrite on the spur of the moment. She’s also embarked on a possible new romance with cameraman Zak. To complicate matters further, Kitty’s real life is as melodramatic as her screen characters. She is a generous person for all her antics, especially loving to her three adorable Pekinese. When Kitty’s dissolute ex-husband, Rex, is found murdered, it looks very much as if someone is trying to set Kitty up to take the blame and is doing a very bad job of it. A deliberately bad job?
Drenched in atmosphere and fascinating historical details, featuring vivid characters and snappy dialog, Scandal in Babylon is Hambly at the top of her form. The pacing and depth of the scenes are wonderful, just the right combination of page-turning action, whodunit tension, and moments of reflection and personal growth.
Rumor has it that Scandal in Babylon will be the first of a new series. If so, sign me up!
Drenched in atmosphere and fascinating historical details, featuring vivid characters and snappy dialog, Scandal in Babylon is Hambly at the top of her form. The pacing and depth of the scenes are wonderful, just the right combination of page-turning action, whodunit tension, and moments of reflection and personal growth.
Rumor has it that Scandal in Babylon will be the first of a new series. If so, sign me up!
December 23, 2021
This was kind of like "Bride of the Rat God" played straight, and frankly, I preferred the version with rat gods. The characters seemed a little thin here, and I wasn't all that invested in them.
March 11, 2022
This is a review of the audio version of Scandal in Babylon, book #1 in the Silver Screen series, by Barbara Hambly and narrated by Pilar Witherspoon.
Barbara Hambly has been one of my favorite authors ever since I read her first fantasy book. The characters are always well developed with complete back stories. Locations are so well described you feel you are there. And Scandal in Babylon is no exception. Emma Blackstone comes to life with the author’s words and Pilar Witherspoon’s voice. The British widow, her star sister-in-law, and a cast of crazy characters bring the story to life.
This story was full of humor, intrigue, danger, self discovery, and even love.
It was wonderful! Barbara Hambly and Pilar Witherspoon did a fantastic job! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and want to read more of the author’s books.
Barbara Hambly has been one of my favorite authors ever since I read her first fantasy book. The characters are always well developed with complete back stories. Locations are so well described you feel you are there. And Scandal in Babylon is no exception. Emma Blackstone comes to life with the author’s words and Pilar Witherspoon’s voice. The British widow, her star sister-in-law, and a cast of crazy characters bring the story to life.
This story was full of humor, intrigue, danger, self discovery, and even love.
It was wonderful! Barbara Hambly and Pilar Witherspoon did a fantastic job! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and want to read more of the author’s books.
November 8, 2021
I think how you will feel about this depends if you have read Bride of the Rat God which is this book with a touch of urban fantasy thrown in. I have, and loved it, so this retred didn’t do anything for me. If you haven’t, then give it a go. Hambly’s writing is as lyrical as ever.
September 7, 2021
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Severn House for this opportunity to review Scandal in Babylon. All opinions are my own.
Our heroine, Emma Blackstone helps to solve a murder in Hollywood while contemplating a move back to her home in England, in Scandal in Babylon, the first in a new historical mystery series by Barbara Hambly, the author of the excellent Benjamin January books. Will Oxford prove more of a pull?
A very big problem shows up for our big star – a man claiming to be her husband, who supposedly she divorced. Well, since she’s involved with the head of Foremost Productions, this is a problem that needs to go away. And he does – he’s murdered. And Kitty is framed for it. Immediately the studio people want to cover everything up -- just as they would do many times, in real life -- but this by a quirk of fate doesn’t happen. This also being (fictional) Hollywood, Emma will have the chance to do her own sleuthing, added by her own best bud Zal.
At the start we meet many of the players who will loom large in our story, set in 1924 Hollywood, time of the “silents.” Emma is general factotum to her sister-in-law Kitty Flint AKA Camille de la Rose, shining star of the Silver Screen. There’s Zal the cameraman, who’s sweet on Emma. There’s a bumbling but gorgeous PI. Later on, even a gangster. And of course, others from and around the studio, many of whom only have eyes for Kitty, jealous ones and otherwise. And you’ll get an idea of what it mean to be part and parcel of movie life in the 20’s. Wanna be an extra in the silents? No, you probably don’t.
Emma Blackstone starts out as a character oh so subtly, a quiet narrator. She has a backstory that’s filled in as the pages goes by (and quite free with the Latin quotations, which are translated for you, thanks very much), while working to prove her sister-in-law innocent of murder. She does become quite the detective, slipping in to the role surprisingly easy.
Along the way, our author weaves beautiful word pictures for us. We get references to old Hollywood landmarks like the Trocadero, Café Montmartre, and the Coconut Grove. Can you feel the fresh winds swaying the tall Hollywood palms? Smell the heavy makeup under the key lights? You will, after reading Scandal in Babylon.
Of course, it’s all a cover-up for what the real story is, what is really behind the whole thing. Emma and Zal take matters into their own hands and save the day. Hooray for Hollywood!
This was a very entertaining book, filled with humor, straightforward crime detection, great dialog and above all, characterization. And a wonderful description of what makes a movie star, as Ms. Hambly has a character say:
“These are people who have what that is, whatever that fire inside is called that brings other people to warm themselves when they bring these stories to life….”
And life goes on in Tinseltown. And Emma makes a decision. Will she leave the klieg lights and the script rewrites and the Canadian gin behind? Oh, and the three Pekingese? You’ll have to read Scandal in Babylon to find out.
Our heroine, Emma Blackstone helps to solve a murder in Hollywood while contemplating a move back to her home in England, in Scandal in Babylon, the first in a new historical mystery series by Barbara Hambly, the author of the excellent Benjamin January books. Will Oxford prove more of a pull?
A very big problem shows up for our big star – a man claiming to be her husband, who supposedly she divorced. Well, since she’s involved with the head of Foremost Productions, this is a problem that needs to go away. And he does – he’s murdered. And Kitty is framed for it. Immediately the studio people want to cover everything up -- just as they would do many times, in real life -- but this by a quirk of fate doesn’t happen. This also being (fictional) Hollywood, Emma will have the chance to do her own sleuthing, added by her own best bud Zal.
At the start we meet many of the players who will loom large in our story, set in 1924 Hollywood, time of the “silents.” Emma is general factotum to her sister-in-law Kitty Flint AKA Camille de la Rose, shining star of the Silver Screen. There’s Zal the cameraman, who’s sweet on Emma. There’s a bumbling but gorgeous PI. Later on, even a gangster. And of course, others from and around the studio, many of whom only have eyes for Kitty, jealous ones and otherwise. And you’ll get an idea of what it mean to be part and parcel of movie life in the 20’s. Wanna be an extra in the silents? No, you probably don’t.
Emma Blackstone starts out as a character oh so subtly, a quiet narrator. She has a backstory that’s filled in as the pages goes by (and quite free with the Latin quotations, which are translated for you, thanks very much), while working to prove her sister-in-law innocent of murder. She does become quite the detective, slipping in to the role surprisingly easy.
Along the way, our author weaves beautiful word pictures for us. We get references to old Hollywood landmarks like the Trocadero, Café Montmartre, and the Coconut Grove. Can you feel the fresh winds swaying the tall Hollywood palms? Smell the heavy makeup under the key lights? You will, after reading Scandal in Babylon.
Of course, it’s all a cover-up for what the real story is, what is really behind the whole thing. Emma and Zal take matters into their own hands and save the day. Hooray for Hollywood!
This was a very entertaining book, filled with humor, straightforward crime detection, great dialog and above all, characterization. And a wonderful description of what makes a movie star, as Ms. Hambly has a character say:
“These are people who have what that is, whatever that fire inside is called that brings other people to warm themselves when they bring these stories to life….”
And life goes on in Tinseltown. And Emma makes a decision. Will she leave the klieg lights and the script rewrites and the Canadian gin behind? Oh, and the three Pekingese? You’ll have to read Scandal in Babylon to find out.
October 3, 2021
This period mystery set in Hollywood after World War I was a wonderful surprise. Tightly written, smart, funny and very satisfying. Mainly because I loved the main character, Emma, an English woman at loose ends after several tragedies in the war who is assisting her sister-in-law, the madcap star of an epic retelling of the Empress of Babylon. Emma is grieving serious losses and really has no home left, but she is starting to find a home in this very odd circumstance, when murder breaks out. I liked that all characters had some depth and were not stock types. I liked that they all were given human qualities both good and bad. And I loved the running joke that our main character, who was classically trained by her archeologist father in Latin and Greek, is writing the script for a production that is mixing up eras and Biblical stories willy-nilly as she tries her best to keep a small semblance of historical integrity. A solid mystery anchors it all.
December 27, 2024
I enjoyed this historical mystery for its atmosphere and the main character, an English lady who has fallen on hard times and now works as an assistant to a flamboyant Hollywood actress.
We see the crazy world of movie making through her slightly amused eyes and learn to love it alongside her. She also has to solve a murder, of course.
Very good audio narration.
We see the crazy world of movie making through her slightly amused eyes and learn to love it alongside her. She also has to solve a murder, of course.
Very good audio narration.
May 16, 2023
I enjoyed this. Hambly's quirks are on full display (Latin! Spectacles! Leaps in logic!), but I don't mind them.
April 17, 2023
Scandal in Babylon is Bride of the Rat God if you stripped away the fantasy elements and made it a historical mystery. Which is fine! But in the end, I didn't enjoy it as much as the earlier book--perhaps because so much time is spent on Emma's backstory and Emma's dilemma about whether she should stay in LA or not.
August 30, 2021
Emma Blackstone, British widow of an American soldier finds herself in 1920's Hollywood when her sister-in-law rescued her from an awful situation. Kitty, known on the Silver Screen as Camille de la Rose, employees her to care for her three Pekinese dogs, on set and generally act as a lady's companion. In the six months of being in Hollywood, Emma has also got a side gig as screen writer/editor, making changes ion the script as needed during a shoot. When former husband of Kitty shows up unexpectedly and he is shot in Kitty's dressing room with forged correspondence hidden about, Emma and Zal (a cameraman) are suspicious. Between the two of them, the studio owner, a millionaire, and a local bootlegger, they cracked the case. Plenty of action, red herrings, and local color to make this a satisfying read.
P.S. If you read Barbara Hambly's The Bride of the Rat God, you will find her first take on a similar situation, but in an urban fantasy setting. Both are good reads!
Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this title!
P.S. If you read Barbara Hambly's The Bride of the Rat God, you will find her first take on a similar situation, but in an urban fantasy setting. Both are good reads!
Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this title!
March 21, 2022
Not a sterling effort
I love all of the BH stories I’ve read,but this one just missed the mark for me. While I did enjoy the book, it was riddled with awkward phrasing and word use; could have been poor editing, but felt like careless hyperbole. I understand the stylistic intent, but this book abused the style to it’s detriment, pulling me out of the story several times to try and make sense of the phraseology. It felt hastily written.
I love all of the BH stories I’ve read,but this one just missed the mark for me. While I did enjoy the book, it was riddled with awkward phrasing and word use; could have been poor editing, but felt like careless hyperbole. I understand the stylistic intent, but this book abused the style to it’s detriment, pulling me out of the story several times to try and make sense of the phraseology. It felt hastily written.
January 20, 2024
I cannot imagine what I was thinking when I checked this one out. It's too awful.
November 2, 2025
The strength of a cozy mystery often relies on a cute, quirky character who is in a unique position to solve the crime. Scandal in Babylon has all the eccentric, silly charm that is the hallmark of these books, but stretches disbelief too much, even by the loose standards of that genre, to be a great read.
California, 1924: The letter is a surprise. War widow Emma Blackstone had thought herself all but forgotten by her last living family member, but Aunt Estelle is offering her a home back in England. If she takes her up on it, Emma can return to her studies and pick up the threads of a life torn asunder by the deaths of her husband and brother in WWI and her parents' demise in the flu epidemic.
Working as a secretary and general dogsbody for her flighty, irreverent silent screen goddess sister in law, Camille de la Rose (real name, Kitty Flint), has been a step up from the unfortunate situation previously forced upon Emma by financial woes, but it has been shockingly different from what academic Emma was accustomed to. Still, caring for sweet, scatterbrained Kitty and her adorable Pekinese darlings has been a delightful challenge, just the tonic to make her forget past worries. Kitty is the queen of frivolity, and life with her is busy, demanding, but fun.
Today, they are on set, and Emma has no time to think through the ramifications of the letter. Kitty is currently filming "Temptress of Babylon," a ludicrous, historically inaccurate romp through the ancient world. When the volatile actress disappears from the stage, much to the ire of the director, Emma is dispatched to fetch her. As with all things Kitty, this simple task turns into an adventure in which Emma has to sneak a nasty ex-husband into Kitty's trailer before the guy sells Kitty's secrets to a roving gossip columnist who is not meant to be on the film lot and a couple of evangelists who are there to do a feature on the moral deprivation of the women of the silver screen. Once the columnist is sent on her way and the evangelists dodged, Emma finds Kitty and hustles her back to the trailer to deal with the blackmailing Ex. Which would be decidedly easier if he hadn't just been murdered.
The studio immediately wants to cover the whole mess up, and with the producers, company executives, and lawyers all involved, they might well have succeeded - if only the evangelists hadn't happened on to the scene at the exact worst moment. Now Kitty is being questioned by the police, and Emma has to figure out how to clear her name. Turning to her only friend in the city, the kindly cameraman Zal, Emma sets out to discover the real murderer of Rex the Ex.
Emma, Kitty, and Zal are all likable characters, and the look at the decadent, amoral early years of Hollywood is tremendous fun. The author mixes real historical characters and their infamous moments with the zany antics of our fictional trio to create a unique and intriguing setting for her mystery. The mystery is also tied to film industry players, millionaire interest in the bombshells of the cinema, and organized crime, really capturing that moment in history and how lives and fortunes were impacted by the exciting new art form known as the motion picture.
Emma and Kitty embody two distinct styles of feminine intelligence, which complement each other well. The ever-practical Emma chases down clues, discovers discrepancies in cover stories, and has a knack for connecting seemingly random dots. Kitty manipulates and cajoles so that everybody is doing just what they want when they want them to. Both are courageous, kind people who look out for those who are helping them. Zal, taciturn but brave, stalwart, and true, is the perfect partner for Emma. Emma has to weigh her growing feelings for them both with her desire to return to her previous life as she ponders how to clear Kitty's name and how to respond to Aunt Estelle.
As is typical of cozzies, the resolution of the crime requires suspects and witnesses to cooperate in ways that people would never do in real life. Especially egregious was the bootlegger whose information was vital to resolving the conundrum. Nuns wouldn't have been that forthcoming, much less criminals.
That said, the tone of Scandal in Babylon is meant to be easy-breezy, entertaining, and frothy, which the author smoothly blends with dollops of real history. I loved that the difficulties many faced in the era were contrasted with the glitz, glamour, and excess of those gracing the society pages of the day This isn't a perfect read but it is enjoyable and quick. If you like historical cozies, its definitely worth a try.
California, 1924: The letter is a surprise. War widow Emma Blackstone had thought herself all but forgotten by her last living family member, but Aunt Estelle is offering her a home back in England. If she takes her up on it, Emma can return to her studies and pick up the threads of a life torn asunder by the deaths of her husband and brother in WWI and her parents' demise in the flu epidemic.
Working as a secretary and general dogsbody for her flighty, irreverent silent screen goddess sister in law, Camille de la Rose (real name, Kitty Flint), has been a step up from the unfortunate situation previously forced upon Emma by financial woes, but it has been shockingly different from what academic Emma was accustomed to. Still, caring for sweet, scatterbrained Kitty and her adorable Pekinese darlings has been a delightful challenge, just the tonic to make her forget past worries. Kitty is the queen of frivolity, and life with her is busy, demanding, but fun.
Today, they are on set, and Emma has no time to think through the ramifications of the letter. Kitty is currently filming "Temptress of Babylon," a ludicrous, historically inaccurate romp through the ancient world. When the volatile actress disappears from the stage, much to the ire of the director, Emma is dispatched to fetch her. As with all things Kitty, this simple task turns into an adventure in which Emma has to sneak a nasty ex-husband into Kitty's trailer before the guy sells Kitty's secrets to a roving gossip columnist who is not meant to be on the film lot and a couple of evangelists who are there to do a feature on the moral deprivation of the women of the silver screen. Once the columnist is sent on her way and the evangelists dodged, Emma finds Kitty and hustles her back to the trailer to deal with the blackmailing Ex. Which would be decidedly easier if he hadn't just been murdered.
The studio immediately wants to cover the whole mess up, and with the producers, company executives, and lawyers all involved, they might well have succeeded - if only the evangelists hadn't happened on to the scene at the exact worst moment. Now Kitty is being questioned by the police, and Emma has to figure out how to clear her name. Turning to her only friend in the city, the kindly cameraman Zal, Emma sets out to discover the real murderer of Rex the Ex.
Emma, Kitty, and Zal are all likable characters, and the look at the decadent, amoral early years of Hollywood is tremendous fun. The author mixes real historical characters and their infamous moments with the zany antics of our fictional trio to create a unique and intriguing setting for her mystery. The mystery is also tied to film industry players, millionaire interest in the bombshells of the cinema, and organized crime, really capturing that moment in history and how lives and fortunes were impacted by the exciting new art form known as the motion picture.
Emma and Kitty embody two distinct styles of feminine intelligence, which complement each other well. The ever-practical Emma chases down clues, discovers discrepancies in cover stories, and has a knack for connecting seemingly random dots. Kitty manipulates and cajoles so that everybody is doing just what they want when they want them to. Both are courageous, kind people who look out for those who are helping them. Zal, taciturn but brave, stalwart, and true, is the perfect partner for Emma. Emma has to weigh her growing feelings for them both with her desire to return to her previous life as she ponders how to clear Kitty's name and how to respond to Aunt Estelle.
As is typical of cozzies, the resolution of the crime requires suspects and witnesses to cooperate in ways that people would never do in real life. Especially egregious was the bootlegger whose information was vital to resolving the conundrum. Nuns wouldn't have been that forthcoming, much less criminals.
That said, the tone of Scandal in Babylon is meant to be easy-breezy, entertaining, and frothy, which the author smoothly blends with dollops of real history. I loved that the difficulties many faced in the era were contrasted with the glitz, glamour, and excess of those gracing the society pages of the day This isn't a perfect read but it is enjoyable and quick. If you like historical cozies, its definitely worth a try.
August 17, 2021
Devoted fans of Hambly’s work will instantly recognize the cast of this murder mystery in the Hollywood silent film era as alternate-universe versions of the people in her delightful fantasy novel BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD. The principal characters—young English widow Emma, her glamorous actress sister-in-law Kitty (aka Camille de la Rose), and photographer Zal, Emma’s love interest—are their counterparts from BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD under different names. Many secondary characters even have identical names as in the earlier novel, including Kitty’s three Pekinese dogs. Although without any supernatural elements, SCANDAL IN BABYLON is equally captivating. Emma, still mourning her husband killed in the Great War and the loss of all her own immediate family, is nevertheless deeply grateful to Kitty for rescuing her from an oppressive existence as a paid companion. Emma has gradually realized Kitty is more than a beautiful featherhead who possesses “It” but can’t act worth a darn. Aching with homesickness for Oxford, where she’d shared her archaeologist father’s academic pursuits, Emma considers southern California as exotically fantastic as Oz, from the bizarre Hollywood culture right down to the unfamiliar climate and plant life. Yet it holds a certain fascination for her, and she’s rapidly falling in love with Zal, who makes no secret of his feelings but doesn’t push her. In addition to her tasks as Kitty’s all-purpose assistant, she does part-time work as a film scenarist (apparently the silent movie equivalent of a script writer), struggling to impose some order and sense upon the extravagant plots and historical blunders.
As the story begins on the set of TEMPTRESS OF BABYLON, Kitty’s latest anachronism-packed costume epic, Emma receives a letter from her one surviving relative, an aunt who’s returning from Asia with her husband and proposes to pick up Emma on their way back to England. Emma can live with them in Oxford if she wishes. Throughout the novel, this offer lingers in the back of her mind. Of course she wants to return to the world she considers home, but what about Zal, not to mention hard-drinking, drug-taking, sexually adventurous Kitty’s obvious need for a keeper? Then Kitty’s sleazy first husband, who may or may not have ever divorced her, turns up shot to death in her dressing room.
Between the publicity ramifications, dealings with the police and a private detective on the case, connections with bootleggers and other underworld figures, and the jealous oversight of Kitty’s lover, the head of the studio, Emma, Zal, and other members of the staff run in circles trying to keep everything from falling apart while the filming proceeds more or less as planned. While she and Zal probe for a solution to the murder in between film shots, Emma has to cope with Kitty’s cheerful debauchery, difficulty in sticking to any reasonable schedule, and romantic escapades (her patron’s jealousy being fully justified). Further violent incidents make it clear that Kitty herself is a target, possibly the main one. Along the way, Emma becomes acquainted with surprisingly polite mob enforcers and a courtly, elderly millionaire also infatuated with Kitty. Madcap chases and near-misses, fascinating details about the silent movie industry and southern California in the early 1920s, and a generous sprinkling of witty dialogue make the book unputdownable. I hope this novel proves to be the beginning of a series with the staying power of Hambly’s Benjamin January historical mysteries.
As the story begins on the set of TEMPTRESS OF BABYLON, Kitty’s latest anachronism-packed costume epic, Emma receives a letter from her one surviving relative, an aunt who’s returning from Asia with her husband and proposes to pick up Emma on their way back to England. Emma can live with them in Oxford if she wishes. Throughout the novel, this offer lingers in the back of her mind. Of course she wants to return to the world she considers home, but what about Zal, not to mention hard-drinking, drug-taking, sexually adventurous Kitty’s obvious need for a keeper? Then Kitty’s sleazy first husband, who may or may not have ever divorced her, turns up shot to death in her dressing room.
Between the publicity ramifications, dealings with the police and a private detective on the case, connections with bootleggers and other underworld figures, and the jealous oversight of Kitty’s lover, the head of the studio, Emma, Zal, and other members of the staff run in circles trying to keep everything from falling apart while the filming proceeds more or less as planned. While she and Zal probe for a solution to the murder in between film shots, Emma has to cope with Kitty’s cheerful debauchery, difficulty in sticking to any reasonable schedule, and romantic escapades (her patron’s jealousy being fully justified). Further violent incidents make it clear that Kitty herself is a target, possibly the main one. Along the way, Emma becomes acquainted with surprisingly polite mob enforcers and a courtly, elderly millionaire also infatuated with Kitty. Madcap chases and near-misses, fascinating details about the silent movie industry and southern California in the early 1920s, and a generous sprinkling of witty dialogue make the book unputdownable. I hope this novel proves to be the beginning of a series with the staying power of Hambly’s Benjamin January historical mysteries.
August 30, 2021
I’ve read Barbara Hambly’s books since the 80’s, so I was thrilled to see that she has started a new series set in pre-sound Hollywood. Her fictional biography of Mary Todd Lincoln, The Emancipator’s Wife, is one I’ve recommended repeatedly, but it’s a much more serious book than this frothy and fun Hollywood mystery. Apparently Bride of the Rat God (one of Hambly’s novels I hadn’t read) has many of the same features (the dogs and the British war widow, same time period, but different names), but I can’t speak to how much overlap there is between the two.
Although the Hays Code wouldn’t come about until 1934, the specter of censorship and scandal were haunting actors in the wake of the Fatty Arbuckle trial. The studios weren’t quite as affected in that all publicity was good publicity. So when the (former?) husband of Camille de la Rose, née Kitty Flint, is found shot dead in her trailer, her burgeoning career is threatened, even if she is oblivious to that threat, and her assistant, Emma Blackstone, is determined to clear her name.
The writing is clear and crisp, and the pace fast. Hambly’s ability to sketch memorable characters is at the fore, and there’s never a point where I had to suspend disbelief because of an improbable plot turn—she always does a great job of setting the groundwork so that the turns seem reasonable in the context of the story world. The characters are so believable that I had to double-check that they were all fictional (there is a Foremost Productions, but it wasn’t started until 1990). The larger context of the period, though, is dead on; every time I had a “wait a minute, is that right?” moment, Hambly had her facts in a row.
And that accuracy is pretty important in that there is a delightful running commentary about the historical inaccuracies of Hollywood. The protagonist, Emma Blackstone, is fluent in Latin and perhaps Greek as well, having gone to Oxford and assisted her father’s research. (I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a classical Greek quotation in a light-hearted murder mystery.) As a historical fiction reader who is also a fan of straight history, it tickled me to have the character roll her eyes at the Queen of Babylon going to Rome as it did in the script being filmed in the background of the story.
Readers of cozy mysteries will probably enjoy this as long as they don’t have an issue with salty language; that’s the only thing that made me rate this an R, as there was nothing particularly gory or oppressive about the novel.
Scandal in Babylon foretells a wonderful series from Hambly, and I can’t wait for the next one!
Post coming soon at https://bibliostatic.com/?p=2454
Although the Hays Code wouldn’t come about until 1934, the specter of censorship and scandal were haunting actors in the wake of the Fatty Arbuckle trial. The studios weren’t quite as affected in that all publicity was good publicity. So when the (former?) husband of Camille de la Rose, née Kitty Flint, is found shot dead in her trailer, her burgeoning career is threatened, even if she is oblivious to that threat, and her assistant, Emma Blackstone, is determined to clear her name.
The writing is clear and crisp, and the pace fast. Hambly’s ability to sketch memorable characters is at the fore, and there’s never a point where I had to suspend disbelief because of an improbable plot turn—she always does a great job of setting the groundwork so that the turns seem reasonable in the context of the story world. The characters are so believable that I had to double-check that they were all fictional (there is a Foremost Productions, but it wasn’t started until 1990). The larger context of the period, though, is dead on; every time I had a “wait a minute, is that right?” moment, Hambly had her facts in a row.
And that accuracy is pretty important in that there is a delightful running commentary about the historical inaccuracies of Hollywood. The protagonist, Emma Blackstone, is fluent in Latin and perhaps Greek as well, having gone to Oxford and assisted her father’s research. (I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a classical Greek quotation in a light-hearted murder mystery.) As a historical fiction reader who is also a fan of straight history, it tickled me to have the character roll her eyes at the Queen of Babylon going to Rome as it did in the script being filmed in the background of the story.
Readers of cozy mysteries will probably enjoy this as long as they don’t have an issue with salty language; that’s the only thing that made me rate this an R, as there was nothing particularly gory or oppressive about the novel.
Scandal in Babylon foretells a wonderful series from Hambly, and I can’t wait for the next one!
Post coming soon at https://bibliostatic.com/?p=2454
August 18, 2023
It's me, your local Barbara Hambly stan, here to ramble about this book.
First off: this is not on the level of a Benjamin January book. It doesn't feature the kind of themes that elevate those books so much--all the explorations of power regarding race and gender and how people are limited by those things and yet still fight to have agency and also how they try and both fail and succeed to build relationships across boundaries that society imposes. This series is clearly not going to be that ambitious, and it doesn't really need to be. But it is good to keep that in mind if you are coming to it with expectations that it might be as nuanced as her other mystery series. This is more like the James Asher series than the Ben January books in that regard.
Second: it's interesting seeing her take the basic framework that she used in Bride of the Rat God--reserved young British woman who married and was widowed by an American during WWI ends up going to Hollywood to live with her dead husband's sister who is a silent film star--and remove it from that extremely pulpy and fantasy-tinged world and root it all in a more realistic environment. But it works!
The mystery was perfectly fine, though the real joy of the book is just diving deeply into the world of Hollywood in the 1920. Hambly's signature deep research is on display here: she can evoke a historical moment so vividly because she knows all the details but also knows how to work them into the story itself. She doesn't overwhelm with exposition or explaining historical nuances to you. I think more historical writers should pay attention to how she handles this because she's really great at it.
The characterization is good if not nearly as great as in her other big series (there's no one here who's as fascinating as Rose or Hannibal or Lydia or Don Simon, though Kitty comes closest), though I did think that the Big Decision our protagonist has to make at the end of the book happened a little too swiftly and neatly. I didn't 100% buy it.
But on the whole, it's a very enjoyable mystery in a fascinating setting, and I am really excited that Hambly has taken on this new series. I'll gobble up all future installments as soon as I can get my hands on them.
First off: this is not on the level of a Benjamin January book. It doesn't feature the kind of themes that elevate those books so much--all the explorations of power regarding race and gender and how people are limited by those things and yet still fight to have agency and also how they try and both fail and succeed to build relationships across boundaries that society imposes. This series is clearly not going to be that ambitious, and it doesn't really need to be. But it is good to keep that in mind if you are coming to it with expectations that it might be as nuanced as her other mystery series. This is more like the James Asher series than the Ben January books in that regard.
Second: it's interesting seeing her take the basic framework that she used in Bride of the Rat God--reserved young British woman who married and was widowed by an American during WWI ends up going to Hollywood to live with her dead husband's sister who is a silent film star--and remove it from that extremely pulpy and fantasy-tinged world and root it all in a more realistic environment. But it works!
The mystery was perfectly fine, though the real joy of the book is just diving deeply into the world of Hollywood in the 1920. Hambly's signature deep research is on display here: she can evoke a historical moment so vividly because she knows all the details but also knows how to work them into the story itself. She doesn't overwhelm with exposition or explaining historical nuances to you. I think more historical writers should pay attention to how she handles this because she's really great at it.
The characterization is good if not nearly as great as in her other big series (there's no one here who's as fascinating as Rose or Hannibal or Lydia or Don Simon, though Kitty comes closest), though I did think that the Big Decision our protagonist has to make at the end of the book happened a little too swiftly and neatly. I didn't 100% buy it.
But on the whole, it's a very enjoyable mystery in a fascinating setting, and I am really excited that Hambly has taken on this new series. I'll gobble up all future installments as soon as I can get my hands on them.
August 27, 2021
As I have said before, I love reading about the roaring twenties and the golden age of Hollywood. It is one of my favorite historical eras. This book does not disappoint in setting the scene well. It has all the flavor of the Hollywood of yesteryear, with all the glitz, glamour, scandals and gossip you could ask for. To me this is what makes these stories about this era so enjoyable to read.
I thought the author did a fantastic job of painting a realistic view of what Hollywood was like during this time period. She captures the true essence of glitz and glamour that it was famous for back then. I felt transported in time as I read, I was backstage on the silent movie, or in the small diner with the formica countertops. Gangsters were on the street corners, and gossip flew through the air like fall leaves swirling off a tree. She does such a wonderful job with the details of the era it is a shame that I found the actual storyline, the plot somewhat lacking.
I don't know exactly what it was that put me off of the story itself, I mean everything else was spot on but the story I found lacking, weak. The murder mystery itself wasn't very captivating, or even that much of a mystery. And I found some of the characters to be weak or dull. Maybe because there were so many characters it was hard at times to keep them straight. And it did not help that some of them went by more than one name, which was confusing at best. If not for this I would have given this book a much higher rating, but as it is I can only give 3 stars. It isn't horrible, it does entertain, just not up there with the excitability factor. For a quick, light read, or just to enjoy the backdrop of 1920s Hollywood it is fine, just don't expect a complex mystery to abound!
Thank you to Canongate Books-Severn House and Net Galley for the free ARC of this novel, I am leaving my honest review in return.
I thought the author did a fantastic job of painting a realistic view of what Hollywood was like during this time period. She captures the true essence of glitz and glamour that it was famous for back then. I felt transported in time as I read, I was backstage on the silent movie, or in the small diner with the formica countertops. Gangsters were on the street corners, and gossip flew through the air like fall leaves swirling off a tree. She does such a wonderful job with the details of the era it is a shame that I found the actual storyline, the plot somewhat lacking.
I don't know exactly what it was that put me off of the story itself, I mean everything else was spot on but the story I found lacking, weak. The murder mystery itself wasn't very captivating, or even that much of a mystery. And I found some of the characters to be weak or dull. Maybe because there were so many characters it was hard at times to keep them straight. And it did not help that some of them went by more than one name, which was confusing at best. If not for this I would have given this book a much higher rating, but as it is I can only give 3 stars. It isn't horrible, it does entertain, just not up there with the excitability factor. For a quick, light read, or just to enjoy the backdrop of 1920s Hollywood it is fine, just don't expect a complex mystery to abound!
Thank you to Canongate Books-Severn House and Net Galley for the free ARC of this novel, I am leaving my honest review in return.
January 21, 2022
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in return for a fair and honest review.
My first Barbara Hambly books were the 1980s Darwath series, an interesting combo of fantasy and horror. I then dipped into some of her other fantasy series, then started reading the Benjamin January series - historical mysteries, without any fantasy elements. While I'll always have a soft spot for the Darwath books, Ms. Hambly has smoothly written in other genres as well, so I was delighted to receive an ARC of this historical mystery.
The plot is not particularly startling - Kitty, a rather feckless movie star gets herself into all sorts of trouble, mainly because of her overactive libido and fondness for good looking and/or rich men! But, she also has an extremely kind heart, and Emma, the actual heroine of the story, is an example of this. Emma is her impoverished widowed sister-in-law, who was forced into rather awful employment as a companion, when her husband, brother, and parents all died, leaving nothing for her to live on.
Emma is a sensible, quick thinking, woman, who is also a scholar and apparently a pretty good screenwriter, being called upon to make quick fixes in the script, to deal with problems that arise. She is also quite devoted to Kitty, and, with the help of Zal, the main cameraman on the set of the movie in which Kitty is staring, committed to helping Kitty get out of the troubles she finds herself in. Kitty is being clumsily framed for murder, and Emma becomes heavily involved in trying to determine what exactly is going on, and who's responsible.
I enjoyed reading this book - it flowed nicely, I liked the characters, and thought there were interesting takes on the time - a nice bootlegger who helped Emma get the info she needed, movie stars vying to be the most outrageous in the eyes of the scandal sheets, starlets who would do pretty much anything to become the mistress of the studio head!
It's not profound, but it's fun - I very much enjoyed it!
My first Barbara Hambly books were the 1980s Darwath series, an interesting combo of fantasy and horror. I then dipped into some of her other fantasy series, then started reading the Benjamin January series - historical mysteries, without any fantasy elements. While I'll always have a soft spot for the Darwath books, Ms. Hambly has smoothly written in other genres as well, so I was delighted to receive an ARC of this historical mystery.
The plot is not particularly startling - Kitty, a rather feckless movie star gets herself into all sorts of trouble, mainly because of her overactive libido and fondness for good looking and/or rich men! But, she also has an extremely kind heart, and Emma, the actual heroine of the story, is an example of this. Emma is her impoverished widowed sister-in-law, who was forced into rather awful employment as a companion, when her husband, brother, and parents all died, leaving nothing for her to live on.
Emma is a sensible, quick thinking, woman, who is also a scholar and apparently a pretty good screenwriter, being called upon to make quick fixes in the script, to deal with problems that arise. She is also quite devoted to Kitty, and, with the help of Zal, the main cameraman on the set of the movie in which Kitty is staring, committed to helping Kitty get out of the troubles she finds herself in. Kitty is being clumsily framed for murder, and Emma becomes heavily involved in trying to determine what exactly is going on, and who's responsible.
I enjoyed reading this book - it flowed nicely, I liked the characters, and thought there were interesting takes on the time - a nice bootlegger who helped Emma get the info she needed, movie stars vying to be the most outrageous in the eyes of the scandal sheets, starlets who would do pretty much anything to become the mistress of the studio head!
It's not profound, but it's fun - I very much enjoyed it!
June 20, 2023
British widow Emma Blackstone has found herself in Hollywood as a companion to her sister-in-law Kitty Flint aka Camille de la Rose. Kitty is a movie actress and Emma makes herself useful caring for Kitty's three Pekinese, balancing her checkbook, and writing some of the scripts for Kitty's movies.
While living in Hollywood in 1924 wasn't what the scholarly young woman from Oxford had in her future plans, the deaths of her husband in World War I and her brother in England of grave wounds he suffered during the war, and the loss of her parents in the flu epidemic along with her own case of the flu changed all of her plans.
After a horrible stint as a companion for a woman in England, being swept off to Hollywood by Kitty was a welcome change. She enjoys riding herd on her free-spirited sister-in-law and helping to hide all of her romantic relationships from the press and her powerful lovers. She has even developed a friendship of her own with cameraman Zal Rokatansky. But things get complex in a hurry when Kitty's maybe-ex husband Rex Festraw is found shot to death in Kitty's dressing room.
The studio wants this covered up. They don't want to lose their star to a prison sentence, but Kitty isn't saying where she was during the crucial time period when Rex was shot. Emma wants to figure out who killed Rex and who is trying to frame Kitty for the crime. With the help of Zal and a mobster imported from New York, Emma is on the case despite being run off the road and shot at.
This was an excellent historical mystery set in a very glamorous time period and setting. I liked that Emma could see the underbelly of the world she was living in. I liked that she was smart and a nice person. I liked the conflict she was facing about whether to stay in Hollywood or accept her aunt's invitation to return to Oxford and the life she left behind.
While living in Hollywood in 1924 wasn't what the scholarly young woman from Oxford had in her future plans, the deaths of her husband in World War I and her brother in England of grave wounds he suffered during the war, and the loss of her parents in the flu epidemic along with her own case of the flu changed all of her plans.
After a horrible stint as a companion for a woman in England, being swept off to Hollywood by Kitty was a welcome change. She enjoys riding herd on her free-spirited sister-in-law and helping to hide all of her romantic relationships from the press and her powerful lovers. She has even developed a friendship of her own with cameraman Zal Rokatansky. But things get complex in a hurry when Kitty's maybe-ex husband Rex Festraw is found shot to death in Kitty's dressing room.
The studio wants this covered up. They don't want to lose their star to a prison sentence, but Kitty isn't saying where she was during the crucial time period when Rex was shot. Emma wants to figure out who killed Rex and who is trying to frame Kitty for the crime. With the help of Zal and a mobster imported from New York, Emma is on the case despite being run off the road and shot at.
This was an excellent historical mystery set in a very glamorous time period and setting. I liked that Emma could see the underbelly of the world she was living in. I liked that she was smart and a nice person. I liked the conflict she was facing about whether to stay in Hollywood or accept her aunt's invitation to return to Oxford and the life she left behind.
September 4, 2021
Until I read a couple of reviews which mentioned it, I hadn't thought of this story in relation to 1990s Barbara Hambly book Bride of the Rat God. That was sort of a fantasy story involving similar characters to this mystery novel, and I wonder if the original had been planned as a non-fantasy mystery as well. I need to go back and look at that again.
In any case, it's odd that the characters are so similar in the details, but with different names. It would be nice to know the reasons for that.
Anyway, this is a delightful story of the silent movie period of Hollywood. It takes place after Hays has become the first leader of an organization hoping to clean up the bad reputation that Hollywood was getting, due to the excesses of the industry leaders. A weird murder crops up, but one that doesn't make sense, either in terms of the clues or the murder itself. It's almost as if someone tried to stage a fake frame-up, one that couldn't possibly work, but who and why?
While there is, in fact, a detective on the case, he's not the brightest bulb in the marquee. The only one who seems to have a clue is the movie star's sister-in-law/personal assistant, who is a great character, and I hope this becomes the start of a series just so we can read more of her. Trained in the classics, along with a background in history and archeology, her viewpoints about the way the movies were portraying history were a real treat.
The mystery itself was weird, and didn't make sense until the final unravelling, but it was good, and I think the final resolution explained everything. Well, everything except maybe why the one dog was so shy and such a picky eater...
In any case, it's odd that the characters are so similar in the details, but with different names. It would be nice to know the reasons for that.
Anyway, this is a delightful story of the silent movie period of Hollywood. It takes place after Hays has become the first leader of an organization hoping to clean up the bad reputation that Hollywood was getting, due to the excesses of the industry leaders. A weird murder crops up, but one that doesn't make sense, either in terms of the clues or the murder itself. It's almost as if someone tried to stage a fake frame-up, one that couldn't possibly work, but who and why?
While there is, in fact, a detective on the case, he's not the brightest bulb in the marquee. The only one who seems to have a clue is the movie star's sister-in-law/personal assistant, who is a great character, and I hope this becomes the start of a series just so we can read more of her. Trained in the classics, along with a background in history and archeology, her viewpoints about the way the movies were portraying history were a real treat.
The mystery itself was weird, and didn't make sense until the final unravelling, but it was good, and I think the final resolution explained everything. Well, everything except maybe why the one dog was so shy and such a picky eater...
March 31, 2023
Originally published at Reading Reality
Welcome to Hollywood, circa 1924, in the heady days before the content crackdown of the Hays Code, and just a few short years before Al Jolson’s famous line in the original Jazz Singer, when the audience first heard an actor in a movie say, “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
Movies may not talk yet, but everyone in the movie industry, from the gossip columnists to the extras, certainly has plenty to say. And as our story begins, they’re all saying it about silent screen temptress Kitty Flint – better known to her legions of fans as Camille de la Rose.
Kitty’s sister-in-law, the young widow Emma Blackstone, isn’t so much a fan as she is a personal assistant, general factotum and confidant to the woman who rescued her from desperation in the form of serving as a paid companion to an ill-tempered, irascible old woman who was driving Emma into an early grave. Literally.
After six months in Tinseltown with Kitty, Emma isn’t sure whether she’s happy or not, fulfilled or not, content or not, but she’s sure that Kitty needs her and that taking care of Kitty and her three spoiled Pekingese, writing last-minute scene treatments for Kitty’s movies, has both exhausted her and given her a new lease on life.
At least until someone ends up dead in Kitty’s dressing room, with Kitty unwilling to reveal her alibi – probably because she was two-timing at least two of her powerful and well-heeled lovers with a handsome stagehand. Or so Emma believes, because that’s par for Kitty’s behavior even at the best of times – which this certainly is not.
The dead body belongs to Kitty’s long-absent husband. Or possibly her ex-husband. But whether or not a divorce ever occurred is not the biggest problem that Kitty has to deal with when it comes to her first husband’s death.
He died in her dressing room. He was shot with her gun. She has no alibi. When the police discover sloppily concealed threatening letters between Kitty and Rex, it’s a foregone conclusion that Kitty will be arrested for his murder.
The gossip columnists are going to have a field day. The fire-and-brimstone preaching protestors that surround the studio thank heaven for the ammunition in their fight to censor the movie industry. Kitty’s rivals start circling her like sharks who have spotten chum in the water.
But Emma isn’t so sure that the whole thing adds up nearly as well as the corrupt and incompetent police would like to believe it does. The setup for the crime is meticulously planned. The execution of the crime – and of Rex Festraw – is incredibly sloppy. It doesn’t make sense that Kitty did it, to the point where any competent lawyer is going to get her off – if this case ever comes to trial.
It’s a magician’s trick. Distract the audience with something big and flashy over here, so no one looks at what’s really going on behind the curtain – or under the hat – or being pulled from the magician’s sleeves.
It’s up to Emma to figure out just who the magician is behind this particular trick and why they are out for Kitty – before it’s too late.
Escape Rating A: Scandal in Babylon is simply a delicious read on so many levels. It’s such a juicy, gossipy story, and even if all the characters are fiction, it’s impossible not to wonder if they’re more “fictionalized” than truly imaginary. Certainly there were plenty of real-life scandals in Hollywood in the 1920s, and every decade thereafter, to make this fictional portrayal of that imaginary world wrapped in a fake world keeping the real world at bay feel, well, real.
Emma and Kitty are both survivors, and that’s a big chunk of what bonds their relationship. Emma is English, grew up in the household of an Oxford don, assisted her father with his research into ancient civilizations, attended Oxford herself and planned to follow in her father’s footsteps. Then the war happened and the flu epidemic of 1918 followed on its heels. By the time Emma recovered from her illness her young husband was dead on the battlefields, as was her brother, and her parents were carried off by the flu. She was alone and destitute, the last survivor of a veritable shipwreck that took her family and her future.
Kitty ran away from home, a wild child who made terrible choices in men and jobs and everything else but who kept picking herself up and reinventing herself until she found Hollywood – the ultimate reinvention machine.
Emma and Kitty are holding each other up in more ways than one. But it’s clear that Emma is the brains of this outfit, and it’s her brain that’s needed. She’s the first person who sees the puzzle, and she’s the one who eventually solves it.
But as fascinating as the mystery is – and it certainly is that, complete with oodles of misdirection and a whole net full of tasty red herrings – it’s the portrait of Hollywood in the 1920s, as the star making machinery is being exploited and invented with each new day and new film and new star that makes this story sing and dance.
Even if Kitty can do neither. She doesn’t really need to. Movies haven’t become talkies yet. And whatever Kitty lacks in acting talent, she makes up for in sheer star power. Kitty has “It” whatever “It” is. It’s up to Emma to make sure that she gets to keep it.
One last thing – as I was reading Scandal in Babylon, and wading through all the many scandalous events it touches on, there were three books that it reminded me of, one of which I had to hunt for a bit.
Even though it’s a different war and a different aftermath, Emma Blackstone and Gwen Bainbridge from The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair would have gotten along like a house on fire. A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott, is set more than a decade later during the filming of Gone with the Wind, but it has a similar feel to it. A story about Tinseltown and its scandals and gossips, as seen through the eyes of someone close to the action but not directly a part of it. And last but not least, The Pirate King by Laurie R. King, set in the same period as Scandal in Babylon and displaying the rackety nature of the fledgling movie industry while murder travels in the wake of an utterly farcical production. One even more farcical, in its way, than the historical farce, Temptress in Babylon, that Kitty is filming.
Scandal in Babylon is billed as the first book in a new Silver Screen Historical Mystery series. While this particular case is over, the way that the story wraps up does leave room for Emma to find herself in the middle of another investigation. And I certainly hope that turns out to be the case!
Welcome to Hollywood, circa 1924, in the heady days before the content crackdown of the Hays Code, and just a few short years before Al Jolson’s famous line in the original Jazz Singer, when the audience first heard an actor in a movie say, “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.”
Movies may not talk yet, but everyone in the movie industry, from the gossip columnists to the extras, certainly has plenty to say. And as our story begins, they’re all saying it about silent screen temptress Kitty Flint – better known to her legions of fans as Camille de la Rose.
Kitty’s sister-in-law, the young widow Emma Blackstone, isn’t so much a fan as she is a personal assistant, general factotum and confidant to the woman who rescued her from desperation in the form of serving as a paid companion to an ill-tempered, irascible old woman who was driving Emma into an early grave. Literally.
After six months in Tinseltown with Kitty, Emma isn’t sure whether she’s happy or not, fulfilled or not, content or not, but she’s sure that Kitty needs her and that taking care of Kitty and her three spoiled Pekingese, writing last-minute scene treatments for Kitty’s movies, has both exhausted her and given her a new lease on life.
At least until someone ends up dead in Kitty’s dressing room, with Kitty unwilling to reveal her alibi – probably because she was two-timing at least two of her powerful and well-heeled lovers with a handsome stagehand. Or so Emma believes, because that’s par for Kitty’s behavior even at the best of times – which this certainly is not.
The dead body belongs to Kitty’s long-absent husband. Or possibly her ex-husband. But whether or not a divorce ever occurred is not the biggest problem that Kitty has to deal with when it comes to her first husband’s death.
He died in her dressing room. He was shot with her gun. She has no alibi. When the police discover sloppily concealed threatening letters between Kitty and Rex, it’s a foregone conclusion that Kitty will be arrested for his murder.
The gossip columnists are going to have a field day. The fire-and-brimstone preaching protestors that surround the studio thank heaven for the ammunition in their fight to censor the movie industry. Kitty’s rivals start circling her like sharks who have spotten chum in the water.
But Emma isn’t so sure that the whole thing adds up nearly as well as the corrupt and incompetent police would like to believe it does. The setup for the crime is meticulously planned. The execution of the crime – and of Rex Festraw – is incredibly sloppy. It doesn’t make sense that Kitty did it, to the point where any competent lawyer is going to get her off – if this case ever comes to trial.
It’s a magician’s trick. Distract the audience with something big and flashy over here, so no one looks at what’s really going on behind the curtain – or under the hat – or being pulled from the magician’s sleeves.
It’s up to Emma to figure out just who the magician is behind this particular trick and why they are out for Kitty – before it’s too late.
Escape Rating A: Scandal in Babylon is simply a delicious read on so many levels. It’s such a juicy, gossipy story, and even if all the characters are fiction, it’s impossible not to wonder if they’re more “fictionalized” than truly imaginary. Certainly there were plenty of real-life scandals in Hollywood in the 1920s, and every decade thereafter, to make this fictional portrayal of that imaginary world wrapped in a fake world keeping the real world at bay feel, well, real.
Emma and Kitty are both survivors, and that’s a big chunk of what bonds their relationship. Emma is English, grew up in the household of an Oxford don, assisted her father with his research into ancient civilizations, attended Oxford herself and planned to follow in her father’s footsteps. Then the war happened and the flu epidemic of 1918 followed on its heels. By the time Emma recovered from her illness her young husband was dead on the battlefields, as was her brother, and her parents were carried off by the flu. She was alone and destitute, the last survivor of a veritable shipwreck that took her family and her future.
Kitty ran away from home, a wild child who made terrible choices in men and jobs and everything else but who kept picking herself up and reinventing herself until she found Hollywood – the ultimate reinvention machine.
Emma and Kitty are holding each other up in more ways than one. But it’s clear that Emma is the brains of this outfit, and it’s her brain that’s needed. She’s the first person who sees the puzzle, and she’s the one who eventually solves it.
But as fascinating as the mystery is – and it certainly is that, complete with oodles of misdirection and a whole net full of tasty red herrings – it’s the portrait of Hollywood in the 1920s, as the star making machinery is being exploited and invented with each new day and new film and new star that makes this story sing and dance.
Even if Kitty can do neither. She doesn’t really need to. Movies haven’t become talkies yet. And whatever Kitty lacks in acting talent, she makes up for in sheer star power. Kitty has “It” whatever “It” is. It’s up to Emma to make sure that she gets to keep it.
One last thing – as I was reading Scandal in Babylon, and wading through all the many scandalous events it touches on, there were three books that it reminded me of, one of which I had to hunt for a bit.
Even though it’s a different war and a different aftermath, Emma Blackstone and Gwen Bainbridge from The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair would have gotten along like a house on fire. A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott, is set more than a decade later during the filming of Gone with the Wind, but it has a similar feel to it. A story about Tinseltown and its scandals and gossips, as seen through the eyes of someone close to the action but not directly a part of it. And last but not least, The Pirate King by Laurie R. King, set in the same period as Scandal in Babylon and displaying the rackety nature of the fledgling movie industry while murder travels in the wake of an utterly farcical production. One even more farcical, in its way, than the historical farce, Temptress in Babylon, that Kitty is filming.
Scandal in Babylon is billed as the first book in a new Silver Screen Historical Mystery series. While this particular case is over, the way that the story wraps up does leave room for Emma to find herself in the middle of another investigation. And I certainly hope that turns out to be the case!
June 8, 2023
Young British widow Emma Blackstone lost her husband in World War I. After losing both her brother and her father as well, she's reduced to taking a job as a companion until her husband's sister turns up with a better offer of employment. Kitty Flint is an actress in Hollywood, known more for her beauty and her charisma than her acting skills. Emma is again a companion, but with a much more agreeable employer. She is though in a place and situation utterly foreign to her scholarly upbringing. Hollywood in the 20s is so different from life as a research assistant to her father, translating and transcribing texts from archeological digs. Emma is pulled into writing or rewriting some of the scripts for Kitty's films, still in the silent era, so she uses her historical knowledge to try to keep some vestige of coherence and correctness in her work, when she can.
Interesting characters, including 3 Pekinese dogs belonging to Kitty. My main objection is Emma's frequent Latin quotes that aren't always translated or guessable from context.
Kitty's ex-husband (probably ex-) has turned up and is planning to blackmail her. But he's found dead in her dressing room with a note from Kitty implicating her. And she wasn't on the set and she won't say where she actually was, just "looking for her dog."
Hollywood in the 20s is full of scandals both found out and covered up. They have no problem getting liquor in spite of Prohibition.
Well written. Hambly has a long list of well done books before she tackled this one.
Recommended. There's a sequel which is also fun.
Interesting characters, including 3 Pekinese dogs belonging to Kitty. My main objection is Emma's frequent Latin quotes that aren't always translated or guessable from context.
Kitty's ex-husband (probably ex-) has turned up and is planning to blackmail her. But he's found dead in her dressing room with a note from Kitty implicating her. And she wasn't on the set and she won't say where she actually was, just "looking for her dog."
Hollywood in the 20s is full of scandals both found out and covered up. They have no problem getting liquor in spite of Prohibition.
Well written. Hambly has a long list of well done books before she tackled this one.
Recommended. There's a sequel which is also fun.
July 19, 2021
Thanks to Severn House Publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review. Scandal in Babylon by Barbara Hambly is set in 1924 Hollywood. Young British widow Emma Blackstone, whose husband died in the war and parents in the flu epidemic, is rescued by her husband’s sister, Kitty Flint, from a deplorable situation and brought to California. Kitty is a silent film star and she hires Emma to pay her bills and take care of her three prized Pekingese dogs. The academically minded Emma was raised as an assistant to her father, an archaeologist and authority on ancient history, and soon finds herself asked to rewrite scenes from Kitty’s movies, and is dismayed at the historical inaccuracies. But against all expectations she finds herself liking her glamorous and scatterbrained employer very much. When one of Kitty’s ex-husbands shows up unexpectedly and is murdered in her dressing room, Kitty finds herself the lead suspect. All of the evidence points to Kitty, but seems so obviously a setup, that Emma wonders what the real reason behind the murder could be. Could it be one of Kitty’s jealous lovers, or perhaps one of her rivals in a movie magazine’s search for the top screen goddess, a title worth it’s weight in gold in the highly competitive movie business. Filled with well drawn and likable characters the mystery also provides an interesting look at the early film industry. I highly recommend it.
September 28, 2021
I really enjoyed reading this, and hope there are more in the series, but also found it really weird because it is in many ways a reworking of an earlier book by Hambly ‘Bride of the Rat God’. Although Bride was ‘fantasy’ and had episodes of Chinese magic, where this is a straight crime caper. As other reviewers have noted, the characters seem to be the same, but with different names (one or two minor characters may have the same names in both books!). The setting is the same too. I really like ‘Bride..’, and it was a treat to be with the characters and setting once more - I didn’t mind they didn’t have the same names or the magic. It was like reading the next episode almost, but without the magic, not quite. It is definitely NOT a repeat of the story.
There is a short story written about the ‘Bride’ characters set after the action, and I read that quite recently which made reading this a peculiarly familiar but sort of different experience. I have no idea how much that has influenced my judgement. Is it a good story in its own right? or did I just love it because it was so good to meet Kitty (Christine) Emma (Norah) and Sal (Alec) again.
I listened to this on audiobook, and was a bit disappointed in the narrator, her voicing of Emma was horribly ‘posh’. The reading of the audiobook of Bride of the Rat God worked better for me, and Norah (Emma in this book!) fitted the written version better.
There is a short story written about the ‘Bride’ characters set after the action, and I read that quite recently which made reading this a peculiarly familiar but sort of different experience. I have no idea how much that has influenced my judgement. Is it a good story in its own right? or did I just love it because it was so good to meet Kitty (Christine) Emma (Norah) and Sal (Alec) again.
I listened to this on audiobook, and was a bit disappointed in the narrator, her voicing of Emma was horribly ‘posh’. The reading of the audiobook of Bride of the Rat God worked better for me, and Norah (Emma in this book!) fitted the written version better.
January 26, 2023
This is a reworking of an old Hambly novel called "Bride of the Rat God". In that novel, the threat was supernatural. This is a straight mystery set in Hollywood just when the idea of talking pictures was making an appearance. I missed the Pekingese dogs turning into Fu dogs at the end of the book, but the sweet little dogs still made an appearance here and did their jobs as protectors without coming to grief themselves.
Basically, Emma Blackstone works as an assistant to her sister-in-law Kitty. Emma's husband died during the First World War and Kitty saved Emma from a lifetime of erasure as a tyrannical old relative's helper. Emma misses her family and educational background of archaeology and Latin and is having difficulty adjusting to dusty, modern, venal Hollywood. But then a guy from Kitty's past pushes his way brutally into the present and is murdered shortly after! Emma loves Kitty despite Kitty's reckless ways and wants to help her get clear of these dangerous deeds.
As usual, Hambly does a superb job with her characters. Her romantic leads always diverge sharply from your average leading man and her heroines are smart and resourceful. I always adore her settings and early Hollywood is certainly a place and time that could be a gold mine for a mystery series. I'm happy to read the next one!
Basically, Emma Blackstone works as an assistant to her sister-in-law Kitty. Emma's husband died during the First World War and Kitty saved Emma from a lifetime of erasure as a tyrannical old relative's helper. Emma misses her family and educational background of archaeology and Latin and is having difficulty adjusting to dusty, modern, venal Hollywood. But then a guy from Kitty's past pushes his way brutally into the present and is murdered shortly after! Emma loves Kitty despite Kitty's reckless ways and wants to help her get clear of these dangerous deeds.
As usual, Hambly does a superb job with her characters. Her romantic leads always diverge sharply from your average leading man and her heroines are smart and resourceful. I always adore her settings and early Hollywood is certainly a place and time that could be a gold mine for a mystery series. I'm happy to read the next one!
November 8, 2023
A huge fan of BRIDE OF THE RAT GOD, I nevertheless must admit I haven't read anything else by Hambly before this. In returning to the silent film era--and sexy starlets with Pekinese dogs--she captures the craziness of that era, with genuine affection for the characters caught up in the reality behind the silver screen.
Kitty Flint is a star, and a mess. She's endured terrible treatment at the hands of terrible men, but is still on her feet despite still being reckless with her affections. She also has a great deal of heart, and isn't stupid, and has finally done something truly positive for herself: hired her super-sensible sister-in-law Emma to be her companion and secretary.
English widow Emma has tragically lost everyone formerly dear to her. She is determined to make a new life in LA, despite still longing for her old life as an Oxford don's daughter. She even has a new boyfriend. And now, thanks to Kitty's old shenanigans, she has a murder mystery to help solve. The mystery is fun to unravel, and Emma makes a convincing sleuth.
Hambly clearly loves the era she's writing about, the strange culture of the old movie studios, and the feeling of the wilderness that surrounded early Los Angeles. Emma's ruminations of the beauty of the desert hills and roads at night, the strangeness of it she's grown to love, are part of an enjoyable read.
Kitty Flint is a star, and a mess. She's endured terrible treatment at the hands of terrible men, but is still on her feet despite still being reckless with her affections. She also has a great deal of heart, and isn't stupid, and has finally done something truly positive for herself: hired her super-sensible sister-in-law Emma to be her companion and secretary.
English widow Emma has tragically lost everyone formerly dear to her. She is determined to make a new life in LA, despite still longing for her old life as an Oxford don's daughter. She even has a new boyfriend. And now, thanks to Kitty's old shenanigans, she has a murder mystery to help solve. The mystery is fun to unravel, and Emma makes a convincing sleuth.
Hambly clearly loves the era she's writing about, the strange culture of the old movie studios, and the feeling of the wilderness that surrounded early Los Angeles. Emma's ruminations of the beauty of the desert hills and roads at night, the strangeness of it she's grown to love, are part of an enjoyable read.
July 14, 2021
The year is 1924. Emma Blackstone was barely married to her husband when he was shipped off to war and was killed. Followed by her brother and more tragedy with her parents' deaths. So young for so much death.
Emma is a curious and scholarly sort. She cringes at the inaccuracies in the Roman piece they are filming.
While Emma is getting an education in America and Hollywood in particular, she has nothing to go back to in England. And things could be worse.
Such as Kitty’s first husband, Rex showing up unexpectedly in her dressing room with a bullet through the head. Kitty may be flighty and naughty but a killer she is not.
This being the twenties in Hollywood, there are gangsters, slick movie producers, shady cops, and insane competition for the title of IT girl. Is that what this is about? A frame? Or has Kitty dallied with the wrong man?
I loved all of the old Hollywood gossip and petty jealousy. These women were so young and vulnerable. They worked hard hours and partied the rest of the time.
I enjoy Hollywood Historical Fiction. I liked Emma, although there was a bit too much quoting of Latin phrases. And I just didn’t feel we really knew her. I am sure she will grow and entertain us as the series goes on.
NetGalley/ September 7th, 2021 by Severn House Publishers
Emma is a curious and scholarly sort. She cringes at the inaccuracies in the Roman piece they are filming.
While Emma is getting an education in America and Hollywood in particular, she has nothing to go back to in England. And things could be worse.
Such as Kitty’s first husband, Rex showing up unexpectedly in her dressing room with a bullet through the head. Kitty may be flighty and naughty but a killer she is not.
This being the twenties in Hollywood, there are gangsters, slick movie producers, shady cops, and insane competition for the title of IT girl. Is that what this is about? A frame? Or has Kitty dallied with the wrong man?
I loved all of the old Hollywood gossip and petty jealousy. These women were so young and vulnerable. They worked hard hours and partied the rest of the time.
I enjoy Hollywood Historical Fiction. I liked Emma, although there was a bit too much quoting of Latin phrases. And I just didn’t feel we really knew her. I am sure she will grow and entertain us as the series goes on.
NetGalley/ September 7th, 2021 by Severn House Publishers
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