This is the third book in a series of seriously unserious mysteries starring Cece Caruso. The first of the series was I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason and the second Not a Girl Detective. Cece is in her 40's, tall, beautiful, and writes biographies of dead mystery writers for a living. She lives in L.A., and the setting is really detailed and vivid. I have no real desire to ever visit that city, but it is so sunny and fun in her books, it's almost tempting. In this outing, Cece's first book about Dashiell Hammett is being made into a movie, and Cece has been hired by the studio to help prep the handsome star to play Hammett. The star is a handsome but lazy movie star named Rafe Simic. Cece and Rafe are on a research trip to Hammett haunts in San Francisco when he gets called back to LA to identify a dead body. He identifies it as that of his childhood sweetheart. The story has a few twists and turns as Cece plays amateur detective to find out what happens.(Now I love mysteries, but occasionally I have to say that the sub-genre of the "amateur detective" sometime makes me laugh when I stop to think about it. I mean, come on! Doesn't anyone wonder why people keep dying around these women? I would certainly keep my distance if I knew one of these literary descendent's of Miss Marple. Still, the key is not to stop and think about it!)The side characters of Cece's grown daughter, and her cop boyfriend, and Rafe's best friend and manager (who happens also to be the brother of the dead girl) help round out the cast. The author's descriptions of the setting, including her charmingly dilapidated vintage hollywood home and the author's love of vintage fashion help with the appeal. It was light, but very fun. After reading this book, I think I will try and find a good real biography of Dashiell Hammett. I think he must have been fascinating.
The narrator is CeCe Caruso, a biographer of mystery story authors. I love the subtle way Susan Kandel pays tribute to the author her narrator is researching. In "I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason", CeCe is writing about Erle Stanley Gardner and Susan includes plot elements and characters typical of Gardner's mysteries--oil leases, divorcees, tidelands, 1940's California history. In Shamus in the Green Room (also released as "Sam Spade in the Green Room"), heroine CeCe Caruso has written a biography of Dashiel Hammett and now been hired to consult on a film called "Dash!". Sure enough, this book pays homage to Hammett without drawing attention to that fact, subtly weaving in plot elements and characters who could have stepped right out of "The Dain Curse" (if The Dain Curse had taken place in 1960's California and included surfers.) I loved how Kandel captured Hammett's narrative style without slipping into parody. I look forward to reading all Kandel's mysteries. New: My husband, a big Dashiell Hammett fan, said I'm all wet. Nothing about this book reminded him of Hammett!
What do You think about Shamus In The Green Room (2007)?
I plodded through Shamus in the Green Room even though I read it in a large-print version, which usually goes faster for me. Whether it was the characters (the film people were just plain annoying and I didn't enjoy spending time with them) or the plot, which involved a shadowyfigure -- victim or villain?, I'm not sure. Protagonist Cece Caruso is a mystery-writer biographer and the writer in question in this book is Dashiell Hammett, subject of her first book. Cece is hired to consult on a film about Hammett for a film star who doesn't read much. When he's called to identify a body, real-life crime steps in. I liked the subsequent book much better.
—Nikki
My brother loaned me this book because he loves chick lit (the sassier the single girl, the better), and I love noir (especially Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler). He suggested that this book may be as close as our literary interests will ever get. I can see his point - the book is full of Hammett trivia, along with details about the California that gave birth to so many rich noir stories, both in books and in life. I learned entertaining details about noir film stars, the studio system, and Los Angeles geography. The majority of the book, though, is relatively unremarkable chick lit, and that overwhelms the noir sensibilities and values. It's kind of funny, the characters are mostly likable, and the various mysteries are intriguing (although the conclusion is unsatisfying), so by chick lit standards this is pretty good, but by noir standards, it just doesn't work like it should.
—Kurt
