Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 978-0-7432-9171-2

The Song is You is set in Hollywood in 1951, where Gil Hopkins is a Hollywood publicist. To keep the images of his studio stars clean, he has to be one step ahead of the media, more than a little sneaky, and very manipulative. Because in this noir style mystery, everyone in Hollywood seems to get into trouble when they think no one is looking and they all have indiscretions they want hidden from the movie going public.

Hopkins is approached by a singer named Iolene, who accuses him of covering up the mysterious disappearance of her friend two years earlier. He immediately goes into high gear to make sure that everyone still has their stories straight about what happened that night. But Iolene is persistent and Hopkins’ activities attract the attention of a young and determined female reporter who senses a big story. Hopkins begins to suspect that this scandal may not stay nicely swept under the rug for very much longer. To protect both his job and to save his own life, he needs to find out what really did happen that night.

I enjoyed this book. The Song is You is a vintage mystery with a heavy dose of Hollywood gossip. You want to know whether that famous actress really did make a blue movie and if so-and-so was gay. And just which entertainers are the models for the characters in question, anyway? Abbott does a great job of mingling scandal and mystery in this book and keeping the reader turning the pages to see what other salacious details will be revealed as the plot twists and turns right up until the end.

For those of you who usually avoid the noir mystery sub-genre, this is a good book to sample. It is sort of “noir lite” and very approachable – lots of good description of the times and surroundings, but without the heavy despair some noir mysteries impart to the reader.

Favorite character? Hopkins, a player who is slowly overtaken by guilt. Did I guess it? No. Will I read another? Yes. Abbott paints a very vivid picture that makes me want to seek out her other works.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Buy it from Amazon