Hooray for
Hollywood! The early 1960s was the end
of the Golden Age of Hollywood, where big studios ruled and the “star system” determined
who would be featured in movies and publicity.
It was also a time of projecting a certain image that was “clean” from
any “undesired” behavior of associations.
The image could make you or break you.
Why all this talk about Hollywood in an Ellie Stone review? Well, that’s because Cast the First Stone,
such a clever title for many reasons for this story, is set in Hollywood. Discovering those reasons is discovering the
essence of the novel. In the fifth entry
into the series, our Ellie finds herself transported from small-town New
Holland, New York to the fast-paced
thrills of Tinseltown, where the glitter and the glam are often just a sham.
Former hometown
boy and high school drama star Tony Eberle is on the cusp of Hollywood fame, with
a co-starring role in a new summer beach movie, and Ellie’s editor sends her to
get an interview with Tony and provide the paper with a scoop on their local
celebrity, a much-needed boost for their economically suffering community. However, when Ellie arrives at the Paramount
Studios lot to conduct that interview, Tony is a no-show, and nobody seems to
have a clue to his where-abouts. Of
course, Ellie is determined to do the job she was sent to do, so she sets out
to find Tony, interview him, and get him back to his job and acting career. Concerned that Tony’s career might be over
before it begins, and her own career in its constant dangle, Ellie knows that
time is critical. She is not the only
one concerned with damage control. After
all, it is Hollywood and damage control is part of the game.
One of the
last places that Tony was seen was at the producer’s house attending a party, a
party at which homosexuality was the open secret, where movie roles were
rewards for sexual favors, but where denial of conduct was paramount to
survival. Ellie is no stranger to
discrimination, being a woman reporter in a male dominated career and being
just being a woman in the early 1960s.
But, even as she confronts and condemns the sexual discrimination of the
movie studios and the L.A. police, Eli is conflicted in her feelings that Tony
could be gay, with her mind not having quite caught up with her heart on the
matter. That author James Ziskin doesn’t
shy away from her uneasiness lends authenticity that readers have come to
expect from this series
The
situation of the missing Tony quickly escalates as the producer of his movie, Bertram
Wallis, is found dead outside the producer’s lavish Nichols Canyon home. The police, who want a solution to what is
determined murder as quickly as the movie studio does, are only too happy to
put Tony’s disappearance and Wallis’ murder together for an open and shut
case. Now finding Tony has become a
matter of life and death, and Ellie isn’t sure who to trust in a town of smoke
and mirrors. She does finally enlist the
help of a fellow reporter and a photographer, but it’s a play by play
alliance. The studio liaison/studio
president’s assistant/power behind the throne named Dorothy Fetterman convinces
Elly to collaborate, too, in finding, or rather, holding on to Tony, but that
alliance is on shifting ground. It is a
wild and twisted ride through the façade that is Hollywood, and Ellie will have
to be especially fearless and clever to find the answers to Wallis’ murder and
Tony’s vanishing act.
James Ziskin
has once again constructed a tale that brings alive the early days of the 1960s
decade in a convincing and spellbinding fashion. Ellie Stone is the driving force behind the
action, and her fluidity and adaptation to her job and to the times are a part
of the authenticity and intrigue. She
is, in short, maturing as the stories continue.
Although Ellie still enjoys her Dewar’s White Label Scotch whiskey, she
seems to be controlling her excess of it, deferring to the demands of her
job. This book was a book of firsts for
Ellie in certain areas, and she assimilates the additional information with the
fairness and wisdom she is continually building upon. Her first trip to a gay bar, her first flirt
from a woman, and her first recognition that sometimes a byline isn’t the most
important part of story. James Ziskin’s
presentation of the brutality visited upon the gay community in the early 60s
and the false life they were forced to lead is a major part of this book’s
success. And, as always, Ziskin nails
the 60s setting with references to that era, cementing the story’s power to connect.
Casting the First Stone is so well
written, and the best praise I can give it is to say that it is as excellent as
all the other books in the series, and they are all brilliant.
I did
receive an advance copy from the publisher, and it was instrumental only in
facilitating my early reading of the book for review.
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