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Where the Truth Lies
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
O’Connor, a vivacious, free-spirited young journalist known for her penetrating celebrity interviews, is bent on unearthing secrets long ago buried by the handsome showbiz team of singer Vince Collins and comic Lanny Morris. These two highly desirable men, once inseparable (and insatiable, where women were concerned), were driven apart by a bizarre and unexplained death in which one of them may have played the part of murderer. As the tart-tongued, eye-catching O’Connor ventures deeper into this unsolved mystery, she finds herself compromisingly coiled around both men, knowing more about them than they realize and less than she might like, but increasingly fearful that she now knows far too much.
O’Connor, a vivacious, free-spirited young journalist known for her penetrating celebrity interviews, is bent on unearthing secrets long ago buried by the handsome showbiz team of singer Vince Collins and comic Lanny Morris. These two highly desirable men, once inseparable (and insatiable, where women were concerned), were driven apart by a bizarre and unexplained death in which one of them may have played the part of murderer. As the tart-tongued, eye-catching O’Connor ventures deeper into this unsolved mystery, she finds herself compromisingly coiled around both men, knowing more about them than they realize and less than she might like, but increasingly fearful that she now knows far too much.
432 pages, Paperback
First published June 24, 2003
73 people are currently reading
816 people want to read
About the author
Rupert Holmes
31 books933 followersRupert Holmes was born on February 24, 1947, in Northwich, Cheshire, England. Soon after, he ventured forth to America (New York) with his British mum and Air Force dad. After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Holmes delved into the art of melodious sound. A successful piano player for both the Cuff Links and the Buoys, with whom he had his first international hit, "Timothy," in 1971, Rupert also wrote and arranged songs for Gene Pitney, The Platters, The Drifters and the Partridge Family.
With the new millennium, Holmes added novel writing to his repertoire. His critically-acclaimed mystery, Where the Truth Lies, was a Booklist Top Ten Debut Novel; his second, Swing, was a San Francisco Chronicle Top Ten Best Seller, called “imaginative, smart, sophisticated and impressively elaborate” by Janet Maslin of the New York Times. His short stories have been anthologized in such prestigious collections as Best American Mystery Stories, On a Raven’s Wing, A Merry Band of Murderers and Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop. He was also commissioned by The New York Times to write the Arts and Leisure tribute celebrating the one hundredth birthday of Irving Berlin.
With the new millennium, Holmes added novel writing to his repertoire. His critically-acclaimed mystery, Where the Truth Lies, was a Booklist Top Ten Debut Novel; his second, Swing, was a San Francisco Chronicle Top Ten Best Seller, called “imaginative, smart, sophisticated and impressively elaborate” by Janet Maslin of the New York Times. His short stories have been anthologized in such prestigious collections as Best American Mystery Stories, On a Raven’s Wing, A Merry Band of Murderers and Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop. He was also commissioned by The New York Times to write the Arts and Leisure tribute celebrating the one hundredth birthday of Irving Berlin.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
February 25, 2012
Okay, I fully admit the main reason I sprang this book from its nice, warm home on the library shelf was because the author's name caught my eye. Rupert Holmes? Surely not the same Rupert Holmes who wrote one of most iconic soft rock hits of the '70's, and, incidentally, one of my favorite songs from my childhood, even though it surely must have pained my mother to hear her nine year old sing about "making love at midnight in the dunes of a cape?" Yes, the same Rupert Holmes, and, yes, based on his name (and song) alone I checked out this book.
Well, this is a great story! I was hooked from the first page. Well, maybe the second. O'Conner, a young, female journalist, is the narrator of this tale, and her voice is so strong that she jumps off the page, and I can envision her as my pal chatting with me over cocktails. Set in the '70's, hers is the story of a smart woman who gets a little overly involved with two "rat-pack"-esque stars past their prime, one of whom she is interviewing for a biography that she's hoping will include details about a shady episode in his past. I was more than pleasantly surprised by this novel's complexity of plot and the fullness of its characters. The word duplicitious can be applied to both, and I found myself at once both loving and loathing O'Conner and the men she investigates.
A page turner until the very end, this book is very fun to read has twists and turns to make one giddy, and amazingly Holmes is able to wrap them all up tightly at the end. Wonderful read!
February 13, 2018
Read this quite a while ago, but was thinking about it today and wanted to put a review out there because this is an absolutely gripping book. (PLEASE skip the movie. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't the book and changing one of the main characters from a suave Dean Martin to a suave Brit just didn't do it. No offense to Colin Firth who is a great actor, but it just didn't work.) The fact that I can remember reading it at lunch over 10 years ago and not being able to put it down speaks volumes. (This was in pre-e reader days.) I had work to do, but I just couldn't stop reading. I had it in my lap and was sneak reading it. I stayed at the office LATE on a Friday because I couldn't put it down. It had so many twists and turns and I couldn't help but get caught up with it.
I've re-read it, even knowing how it ends (and who the killer is and how it happened...which is pretty amazing) and it STILL grips me every time.
Put simply: I LOVE this book and it takes suspense and mystery to a new (and sometimes kinky level). Plus if you love the 1970s and Disneyland, you'll want to check this out too.
I've re-read it, even knowing how it ends (and who the killer is and how it happened...which is pretty amazing) and it STILL grips me every time.
Put simply: I LOVE this book and it takes suspense and mystery to a new (and sometimes kinky level). Plus if you love the 1970s and Disneyland, you'll want to check this out too.
October 6, 2008
I picked this up on whim while I was mourning the fact that I had finished "Rebecca." I thought it might be in somewhat of the same drama, mystery, suspense, love, etc... 22-pages in, it referenced "Rebecca," and I knew I was in for a good time.
Full of wonderfull, albeit dark, comedy, thrilling suspense, and a shocking-reveal at the end, this book more than met my expectations. Scenes and questions are still realing within my head, as I can't seem to let go of the characters.
O'Connor tells her story and pulls you in. My emotions traced right along with hers as she got tangled in her own lies, uncovered dark secrets, was wooed by two very differnet men, and watched her world crash down around her.
This novel was satisfying on every level... an indulgence that was suspenseful, funny, and sexy.
Full of wonderfull, albeit dark, comedy, thrilling suspense, and a shocking-reveal at the end, this book more than met my expectations. Scenes and questions are still realing within my head, as I can't seem to let go of the characters.
O'Connor tells her story and pulls you in. My emotions traced right along with hers as she got tangled in her own lies, uncovered dark secrets, was wooed by two very differnet men, and watched her world crash down around her.
This novel was satisfying on every level... an indulgence that was suspenseful, funny, and sexy.
January 19, 2016
This was actually a good mystery. I loved the depictions of Disneyworld and old Hollywood. I gave it 3 stars because I thought it was a little too raunchy, but otherwise, it was enjoyable.
September 2, 2018
It’s been a long time since I read it but I remember being highly entertained by it. I should perhaps say that my feelings towards it are prejudiced by the subject matter. Taking place in the 70s, it’s based loosely, though not terribly subtly, on the partnership between comedy act Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, though they are obviously renamed here. In a fictionalized version of events Rupert Holmes explores through the eyes of a young investigative journalist what transpired between the two that ultimately broke them up. Having read Dean and Me: A Love Story by Jerry Lewis, I don’t think Holmes is far off the mark, either.
November 8, 2018
This was NUTS. Starts off kinda slow and easy and ramps up to crazytown, especially for the last 50 pages which just keep whipping out twists until the last sentence. As somebody who's been in her own personal crazytown this year, reading and watching Martin and Lewis media like a fiend, I enjoyed a lot of this, and seeing just how much these guys matched up to the real thing. That said, it was also had a hard time imagining these characters as separate entities. Lanny truly felt like middle-age Jerry, down to the nastiness and manipulative generosity, but Vince was definitely a bit further from Dean in multiple ways... I mean, Also thought it was a bit much to have Vince .
I also had mixed emotions about the narrator, though I largely thought she felt pretty real and not too Mary-Sue. Her 'dates' with the two of them are wonderful and get your heart fluttering in the right spots – shoutout to Doyers Street and Disneyland – but also she's too indulgent and it's a bummer about how she undercuts her own professional working relationships. But I know I'm not meant to be thinking about furthering the cause of working women when I'm reading a noir-esque love triangle novel so. All in all, there's a lot dopey here but it gets so far into it it's fun as heck to read. I didn't even try to piece anything together, I just enjoyed the ride.
I also had mixed emotions about the narrator, though I largely thought she felt pretty real and not too Mary-Sue. Her 'dates' with the two of them are wonderful and get your heart fluttering in the right spots – shoutout to Doyers Street and Disneyland – but also she's too indulgent and it's a bummer about how she undercuts her own professional working relationships. But I know I'm not meant to be thinking about furthering the cause of working women when I'm reading a noir-esque love triangle novel so. All in all, there's a lot dopey here but it gets so far into it it's fun as heck to read. I didn't even try to piece anything together, I just enjoyed the ride.
February 15, 2009
‘The village doesn’t always take to grockles.’
Kings Duncombe is a village small enough for everyone to know everyone else’s business, or so it seems, and insular enough to turn a blind eye to many transgressions. Josie Welford, the widow of one of Britain’s most notorious criminals, hopes to make a fresh start in the village as the licensee of the local pub: the White Hart. Josie is more or less accepted because she has left the White Hart largely unchanged ... for now.
The status quo is changed, though, when a former policeman from Josie’s past makes an appearance. Nick is now an Inspector for the Food Standards Agency and causes Josie to wonder about the quality and provenance of the meat she is buying. As a consequence, Josie changes meat suppliers and this leads to a series of events which test Josie’s determination and seem to turn the village upside down. Who is involved in what, and why?
Josie is perhaps an unlikely but likeable hero. A feisty woman who is 50+, can keep secrets and is fighting a weight problem while maintaining a keen interest in what is going on around her is someone that many readers could relate to. Josie is not perfect and not super human, but she is very observant and highly organised. It took me a few pages to get caught up in this novel, but once I did I read through to the end because I wanted to see how it would all end. Some aspects were predictable and others were not. Put it this way: I’m off to read the second novel to feature Josie Welford. It is called ‘The Chinese Takeout’.
Kings Duncombe is a village small enough for everyone to know everyone else’s business, or so it seems, and insular enough to turn a blind eye to many transgressions. Josie Welford, the widow of one of Britain’s most notorious criminals, hopes to make a fresh start in the village as the licensee of the local pub: the White Hart. Josie is more or less accepted because she has left the White Hart largely unchanged ... for now.
The status quo is changed, though, when a former policeman from Josie’s past makes an appearance. Nick is now an Inspector for the Food Standards Agency and causes Josie to wonder about the quality and provenance of the meat she is buying. As a consequence, Josie changes meat suppliers and this leads to a series of events which test Josie’s determination and seem to turn the village upside down. Who is involved in what, and why?
Josie is perhaps an unlikely but likeable hero. A feisty woman who is 50+, can keep secrets and is fighting a weight problem while maintaining a keen interest in what is going on around her is someone that many readers could relate to. Josie is not perfect and not super human, but she is very observant and highly organised. It took me a few pages to get caught up in this novel, but once I did I read through to the end because I wanted to see how it would all end. Some aspects were predictable and others were not. Put it this way: I’m off to read the second novel to feature Josie Welford. It is called ‘The Chinese Takeout’.
January 24, 2016
Author Rupert Holmes is a real renaissance man. A musician early on, famous for "Escape(The Pina Colada Song)", he's written 2 novels(this book was his first), and plays, including the Tony winning "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", which was based on Dickens last, incomplete, novel. So, he's won a Grammy, a couple of Edgars, and several Tonys. I read his second novel, "Swing", aka "The Musician's Daughter", a couple years ago, and really enjoyed it. When I spotted this one, at the library, I grabbed it immediately. The story is set in the '70's, told in first person, by a female writer, who wants to write a book about the break up, under unusual circumstances, of one of the great comedy acts of the '50's(who are very much like Martin & Lewis). The prime circumstance seems to be the finding of a dead woman, in the bathtub of their hotel room, upon their arrival, in New Jersey, from Miami. There's much more to this than meets the eye, and the writer gets in over her head very quickly. There's a lot of suspense, and a twisted plot, which makes for some serious page-turning. I would recommend this book, to any serious mystery fan.
March 8, 2008
I LOVED this book--twists and turns--gangsters, drugs and murder. However, the movie made me want to turn in my membership card for the Colin Firth Fan Club. STAY AWAY from the movie.
August 14, 2016
Loved it, loved Holmes' writing style enough to make me seek out his other work. Don't want to spoil what is a top-notch read, but it was excellent!!
February 1, 2020
After reading the first 138 pages of this 538 work, something novel occurred in my juice experiences whereby a gust of wind send my bright red copy to the bottom of a pool. I retrieved it, and dried it over many days. Thereafter there were sections that made me question why the effort - mine at retrieval and the authors for engagement. However, read a few more and useful plot twists made up for the plot dips where the read ebbed and flowed like the waters from whence the book was retrieved.
But this is a story told by the multi talented lyricist that asked the world if we liked pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. Just as in that Escape song where there is a climax, so too in this story where we have the moment of “oh, it’s you”. The heroine explored by the author in varying depth is at times part Jessica Jones part Bridgette Jones with many laugh out loud moments in the solving of a long forgotten murder and cover up. A definite cover to cover read.
But this is a story told by the multi talented lyricist that asked the world if we liked pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. Just as in that Escape song where there is a climax, so too in this story where we have the moment of “oh, it’s you”. The heroine explored by the author in varying depth is at times part Jessica Jones part Bridgette Jones with many laugh out loud moments in the solving of a long forgotten murder and cover up. A definite cover to cover read.
September 2, 2018
4.5 stars
A crackerjack of a read!
Story rocked along like a pressed vinyl 78 record, taking us to and from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s with ease and good pace. Our main gal was believably flawed, she was likeable and did enough intelligent things to forgive her the stupidities that had you groaning and saying silently "Watch out - trouble ahead!"
Excellent writing. Just like the other Rupert Holmes novel The Musician's Daughter, I thoroughly enjoyed this style of writing, so smart with enough sass and wit added in to keep it really interesting, but not too much that it lost itself in its own cleverness.
Great stuff!
A crackerjack of a read!
Story rocked along like a pressed vinyl 78 record, taking us to and from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s with ease and good pace. Our main gal was believably flawed, she was likeable and did enough intelligent things to forgive her the stupidities that had you groaning and saying silently "Watch out - trouble ahead!"
Excellent writing. Just like the other Rupert Holmes novel The Musician's Daughter, I thoroughly enjoyed this style of writing, so smart with enough sass and wit added in to keep it really interesting, but not too much that it lost itself in its own cleverness.
Great stuff!
May 21, 2020
Funny, my copy came from friends of the library sale and its cover is pretty boring blue & white, no picture. :) Murder mystery undertaken by a young female journalist. What a time she had! There is just enough sex to keep that side of the brain interested, there are several fun twists and the ending was a huge right turn from what I could ever imagine. For this author's first novel I thought it was a pretty good read.
July 5, 2024
I'd wanted to read this after seeing the film with Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth. Set primarily in the '70s as events that have happened some time ago, it's the story of a journalist researching a washed-up comedy team who split up over a major scandal. A very good read; I almost wished I hadn't known the denouement due to the movie. Note: the author is the same guy who wrote and performed "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)." Don't hold that against him.
August 4, 2024
This was a fantastic read. So clever and engaging. I thought the characters were portrayed in a very real, honest, and intriguing way. They truly came alive for me.
Overall, just wonderful storytelling, with a killer ending. And I don't know anyone who creates metaphors like Rupert Holmes did in this book. I have a couple more of his novels on the shelf and know I'll be in for a treat when I crack them open as well.
Overall, just wonderful storytelling, with a killer ending. And I don't know anyone who creates metaphors like Rupert Holmes did in this book. I have a couple more of his novels on the shelf and know I'll be in for a treat when I crack them open as well.
January 29, 2019
This is the first book I have read by Rupert Holmes but I do like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. The story line is very interesting and really has some unexpected twists that could have been predicted if I were really paying attention. However, there are some explicit sex scenes that are worth reading. And, the book was surprising.
May 3, 2023
A fun piece, with a barely fictionalized version of the comedy team of Martin & Lewis front and center in this fairly complicated who did what to whom? Type detective novel. I loved the voice of the narrator, a young, attractive, sexually-randy, writer who pens tell-all type articles for local mags, and now is going for a big book prize. Clever, busy, quick and very entertaining.
June 9, 2023
Perhaps the most stupid book I have ever read and I still don't know why I finished it. Perhaps the same phenmomen that causes us to look at traffic accidents plays here. The clue was that simply written prose should have been a breeze not a slog. Whoever told a man he could write chicklit lied. That's the truth
August 4, 2024
I picked up this book because I read “Murder Your Employer” and loved it. This one I just can’t decide how I feel about it. I can’t say I would recommend it but also would not say it was bad. Also, I had it figured out but I liked how the issue was taken care of.
December 7, 2017
Some really clever/amusing phrasing and descriptions made this a guilty pleasure for me. Some of it seemed a bit dated/sexist/problematic, but I found the book consistently entertaining...
abandoned
June 24, 2019I am boo boo the fool... I really did think I was going to rediscover this for gays who like Golden Age Hollywood but it was hot garbage
April 6, 2020
None of the characters are particularly likable. Maybe I should say "remotely likeable"......
September 27, 2020
I watched the movie and loved it so I decided to read the book. I was totally engrossed in the story even though I knew how it ended. A must read.
July 4, 2023
Disappointing. I didn't like anyone or care what happened to them. Meh.
Read
July 27, 2023dnf for me
August 24, 2023
Still thinking about it, this bi-coastal twisty tale needs to filter down before I decide whether I "liked" this story.
March 5, 2024
The guy who wrote Pina Colados also wrote a pretty good Martin and Lewis fanfiction.
March 12, 2024
I enjoyed the premise but the characters were sometimes annoying.
April 17, 2025
LOVED this book! Do not sleep on Rupert (Pina Coladas)Holmes! Yes he is that guy and yes he is a good writer. All the books are good but this was my favorite!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews