Cast the First Stone
An Ellie Stone Mystery
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
February 1962: Tony Eberle has just scored his first role in a Hollywood movie, and the publisher of his hometown newspaper in upstate New York wants a profile of the local boy who's made good. Reporter Ellie Stone is dispatched to Los Angeles for the story. But when she arrives on set to meet her subject, Tony has vanished. The director is apoplectic, Tony’s agent is stumped, and the producer is found murdered. Ellie is on the story, diving headfirst into a treacherous demimonde of Hollywood wannabes, beautiful young men, desperately ambitious ingénues, panderers, and pornography hobbyists. Then there are some real movie stars with reputations to protect. To find the killer, Ellie must separate the lies from the truth, unearthing secrets no one wants revealed along the way. But before she can solve the producer’s murder, she must locate Tony Eberle.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in February 1962, Edgar-finalist Ziskin's riveting fifth Ellie Stone mystery (after 2016's Heart of Stone) takes the intrepid reporter from New Holland, N.Y., to Hollywood, Calif., to profile Tony Eberle, a New Holland native recently cast in his first film. Tony has disappeared with no explanation, however, and when the police find the body of the movie's producer, he quickly becomes the prime murder suspect. With her own career at stake, Ellie races to solve the crime and prove Tony's innocence. Her search is complicated by the machinations of a conniving female studio executive, whose own career hinges on concealing actors' and producers' unsavory activities. Ziskin's depiction of the era's everyday sexism, homophobia, and racism is pitch-perfect, and Ellie's narration adds compassion and humanity to sensitive topics. Complex, richly drawn supporting characters a crude but conscientious cop; Tony's roommate, who prostitutes himself to help the actor's career; their wickedly funny landlady; a middle-aged reporter struggling after a recent layoff round out the cast.
