‘The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black’ by Lisa Hall.

Published by Hera Books,
21st September 2023. 
ISBN: 978-1-80436594-6 (PB)

It’s 2019 and Lily Jones is working as a cleaner in the prestigious Beverly Hills Hotel.  It’s not exactly what she was hoping to do when she left the UK to look for a job in the movies, but she is enjoying herself.  She is particularly thrilled when she gets the opportunity to see (and clean) the renowned Paul Williams suite, which 70 years before had been the scene of the murder of Honey Black, an up-and-coming movie star. 

However, whilst Lily is cleaning she bumps her head and suddenly finds herself, still a chambermaid and still in the Paul Williams suite, but in 1949.  As she struggles to accept that the amazing period clothes she sees around her are actually the latest fashion, a chance meeting and conversation leads to her becoming Honey Black’s PA.  But then she remembers that, according to the story she has heard, Honey will be killed in a fortnight’s time.  Has this time-slip happened to enable her to save Honey?  Lily gets to know Honey and finds herself rubbing shoulders with many of the stars that she and her mother had loved to watch.  Could one of them actually be plotting Honey’s death?  There are accidents, threats, and attempts on Honey’s life, and Lily joins forces with Louis, a barman at the hotel, and his sister Tilda and they set out to save Honey.

Lily is constantly aware of the lack of mobile phones and the internet, and the many pitfalls of knowing what is going to happen to the people she now works with and sees about the streets - a glimpse of a young and undiscovered James Dean saddens her.  Her 21st century language puzzles people and her views on women in the home and workplace surprise and, in some cases, cause other young women to reconsider their own situations.  As she tries to find out who might want to murder Honey, she finds herself in an environment where the stars sparkle, the journalists hover, the gossip is intriguing - and there are lots of secrets.

This is the first in the Hotel Hollywood Mysteries series.  It’s an interesting, well-paced story.  The information about the period, the place and the atmosphere of the times provides a good background, and the problems of knowing the past/future add some poignant moments.  

Other books by this author are:  Between You and Me, Tell Me No Lies, The Party, Have You Seen Her, The Perfect Couple, The Woman in the Woods (all standalones).
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood

Lisa Hall loves words, reading and everything there is to love about books. She has dreamed of being a writer since she was a little girl and is now the bestselling author of Between You and Me, The Perfect Couple and The Woman in the Woods. Lisa lives in a small village in Kent, surrounded by her towering TBR pile, a rather large brood of children, dogs, chickens and ponies, and her long-suffering husband. She is also rather partial to eating cheese and drinking wine.

www.lisahallauthor.co.uk

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham.