Solving their own murders is the least of their problems…and the beginning of Stone & Steele, a reluctant yet surprisingly skilled investigative team.
The Golden Age of Hollywood, 1938. Vivian Steele moved to California to start a new life. She opened a fashion boutique in Beverly Hills, befriended Carole Lombard, the actress, and married a successful banker. But when her husband is murdered, Vivian discovers she isn’t the only one hiding a few secrets.
An anonymous phone call lures Vivian to a plush hotel room where she stumbles upon the dead body of a beautiful young actress – her husband’s mistress. To add fuel to the fire, she’s not alone.
Preston Stone, her adversary and Hollywood’s notorious playboy, is standing beside her. Suspiciously, they part ways only to find themselves alone again at a movie premiere two days later, and the message becomes brutally clear. They’re both the next targets of a cold-blooded killer.
Together, Vivian and Preston are thrown into a deadly race to find a missing collection of valuable coins and stop a vicious killer before they become the next murder victims. But first, they need to stop pointing their fingers at each other.
A Perilous Premiere is the first book in this exciting new 1930s Stone & Steele mystery series starring a great cast of characters ranging from the rich and famous to Bella, a Boston Terrier, her new friend, Boris, a Saint Bernard, and a few other endearing folks. (A pretty clean read)
Award-winning author Gail Meath writes historical romance novels that will whisk you away to another time and place in history where you will meet fascinating characters, both fictional and real, who will capture your heart and soul. Meath loves writing about little or unknown people, places and events in history, rather than relying on the typical stories and settings.
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My thoughts: brand new series set in 1930s Hollywood, where our lead character is best friends with Carole Lombard (actress and wife of Clark Gable), and has an adorable canine sidekick? Yes please!
And bonus, it’s from the always enjoyable Gail Meath.
I loved Perilous Permiere, the setting, the characters, the investigation, the bickering between our two protagonists, the secrets and mystery that swirls round them. It was delicious.
I love classic Hollywood movies (Bringing Up Baby is my favourite) so this era is perfect for me. It’s a time of huge change, the Great Depression is finally drawing to an end, in Europe rumblings of war, and women are starting to be more independent. Just like our girl here, Vivian owns a high end fashion boutique and dresses film stars and the wealthy alike, aided by her assistant Nora and cute pooch Bella.
When her husband is tragically shot dead during what appears to be a robbery gone wrong, she hires a PI to do what the corrupt LAPD haven’t, and find the killer. But there seems to be more to it than she first thought.
Preston Stone, playboy and scion of a wealthy family, although he too appears to have plenty of secrets, crosses paths with her and the pair team up to solve the case and prevent more people being killed.
They bicker in the best screwball cinematic way, there’s another (enormous) dog called Boris, who helps save the day, because of course he does. Such a good boy.
I cannot wait for more!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
