‘Final Cut’ by Kit Sloane

Published by Deadly Alibi Press,
1 September 2000.
ISBN: 978-1-886199-10-8 (PB)

Margot O’Banion Lake and her lover Max Skull are in the film business. When an opportunity arises for Max to shoot his final scenes at the home of Letitia Evans, widow of the greatest film editor of his time, Amory Evans, Margot is swept along with Max’s enthusiasm and her desire to ‘cut’ in the studio of the master.

On arrival the ranch is more than Margot had envisaged, and when she meets Letitia in the flesh, she is with her twin sister Bernice, and Margot is then not certain with whom she has been speaking on the telephone. The twins are identical, and decidedly weird.

The guest cottage is disappointing after her tour of the man house, which is lavishly furnished. In contrast the guest house is sparsely furnished and there is no telephone.

While Margot is quiet and shy, Max is flamboyant, and he waves away her reservation’s intent only on the wonderful location for his film.

In this book, nothing is as it seems, and no one should be taken at face value. Cut off from everyone, with half of her fascinated to be working in the studio of the great artist Amory Evans, and the other half of her wanting to run like hell. Margot is torn by her love for Max and the impending dread that seems to be overtaking her.

When Margot runs the film she has put together, it is different. The cut’s made are not her work. Is someone sabotaging Max’s film? And how are they doing it? And who is doing it?

An incredible novel of suspense. Kit has me totally confused and sucked in. One of those books you cannot out down.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes
Earlier books in the series are, Bad Actors, Last Words, Grape Noir, Extreme Cuisine Location, Location,  The Fat Lady Sings and The Magicians.

Kit Sloane  is a graduate in Art History from Mills College, Oakland, California. She is the author of the Margot O’Banion & Max Skull mystery series, Kit Sloane’s offbeat stories chronicle the intricacies of Hollywood filmmaking from the point of view of her protagonist, feature film editor Margot O'Banion and her significant other, director Max Skull.  Kit has published short stories and many articles on the art of writing and the writing business. She served as first fiction editor for Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine. She especially enjoys lecturing about the writing world and mentoring new writers. She is a long-time member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Mystery People of the UK and was named one of Mills College’s Literary Women for 2007.
Kit and her professor husband live on a small hilltop horse ranch in Northern California's sublime wine country.