I really liked this book and hope the author creates more in this series about real life star, Mary Pickford, and her driver/bodyguard, Billy. This first book combines several plots, starting with a man who's been shot and finds his way to Ms. Pickford's bungalow retreat backyard. Add in several more murders, an abandoned baby, and its a great story that combines real people with life in 1919, just after the Great War, when Hollywood was controlled by just a few wealthy men. A good mystery with strong characters and an interesting storyline.

This novel starring former silent movie superstar Mary Pickford was quite a delightful read. Even though I'm already very familiar with the actress's background, I enjoyed delving into the historical aspect of it. It's always a pleasure to read and reread about the life of the original cinema legend, and to see her embark on a puzzling mystery case was quite fun and entertaining.
On the downside, I felt the advancement of the story was sometimes stalled by the parts where the author gives more historical context for the readers who aren't familiar with that period and that industry. But I understand it's necessary because these people lived over a century ago and much got lost and forgotten by the general public.
As for the investigation, I thought it was a bit overshadowed by all the historical context in the first half of the novel. But it really got exciting, eventful and full of suspense in the second half of the novel. The writing style was easy-going and pleasant, depicting efficiently this yesteryears' atmosphere.
Recommended!

This uses Mary Pickford and a mystery perfectly together, I enjoyed the historical element to this. I thought the overall concept was unique and well written. The characters felt like real people and that they were supposed to in this universe and old Hollywood. I hope there is more in this world and enjoyed how good William Baer wrote this.

historical-figures, historical-mystery, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture, local-law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, murder, investigations, cover-up, entertainment-scene, entertainers, suspense*****

I was really tempted to opt out of writing a review because it was only offered to me as PDF without TTS and I often need that. So I confess to skipping a lot of the book to avoid my problem. But. The stuff I read was a lot of good historical research into the people (riddled with name dropping), culture, and attitudes in the Hollywood entertainment scene in 1919. Also. The murder investigation was well thought out and executed. I really liked it and would enjoy audiobook very much, so I'll give it a 5* anyway.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from BooksGoSocial via NetGalley. Thank you!

I don't know if this book is based on true mystery but I loved how the tale is based with real people.

I loved the mystery, it is well developed and I just adored the setting and the era.

It has an air of glamour along with the whodunnit and questions raised and it ended well. I loved this book. It is escapism at its finest and I enjoyed my reading time