‘The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl’ by Lisa Hall.

Published by Canelo Hera,
20 June 2024. 
ISBN: 978-1-80436659-2 (PB)

Unsettled by the realisation that her best friend Eric is moving on with his life and moving in with his girlfriend, Lily’s thoughts are pulled back to a very strange experience she had had eighteen months before.  She had accidently

time-slipped back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and, with the help of brother and sister, Louis and Tilda, had saved the life of a young film actress.  She goes on-line to look up some of the people she had met then and sees with horror that Evelyn (Louis’ girlfriend at one point) had been murdered by her husband.  She wonders if she should try to return - to leave behind her humdrum life as a cleaner and waitress and try to save Evelyn. The answer is yes.  So, Lily slips back to the 1950s via the bath in a posh hotel suite (the way in which she had first made such a journey).

Lily’s returned is welcomed by the friends that she had made on her previous visit to the past.  They are hurt that she left so suddenly but had assumed she had gone home to London.  She soon fits in and is able to persuade Louis and Tilda to become involved in her attempts to find out what is going on and why Evelyn might be under threat.  They get jobs in Vegas, and see well-known figures like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ava Gardner, gossip writer Louella Parsons – Lily even manages to start the rumour that Frank and Ava are well on the way to being an ‘item’.

As they gradually gather information, they realise that this is not the glitzy world of Hollywood, but the far rougher world of gambling and the Mob.  Their attention starts to focus on a popular singer who seems to have dubious associates.  Their activities are noticed, and they receive warnings, but carry on to make some surprising discoveries. 

This, like the first book, is an easy read. The early fifties are brought to life with good descriptions of people, habits and clothing (the mixture of cigarette smoke, perfume and glamorously clad individuals is particularly evocative of the films of the time).  The fictional characters are intertwined with the real-life characters in a believable way and the reader is aware of how difficult investigations must have been without the help of mobiles phones and the internet.  The story moves along at a fair pace and leaves the reader wondering what Lily will do next.
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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 Society