Shooting Hollywood: The Diana Poole Stories

Melodie Johnson Howe

Feb 2013 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

DIVA forty-year-old actress tries to make a comeback—but death keeps getting in the way /divDIV
Diana Poole was the last of the starlets. A vibrant blonde with a quick wit and sharp intelligence, she was on her way to the top when Colin Hudson changed her mind about being famous. He was the finest screenwriter in Hollywood, and loved her well enough that she lost the acting bug forever. When he dies, he leaves Diana lonely, broke, and verging on middle age—a combination that’s difficult anywhere, but toxic in Hollywood./divDIV /divDIVThankfully, Diana still knows how to play the game. Working her old contacts and hustling for a job, she contends with crazy young ingenues, lecherous studio heads, and the cutthroat attention of her fellow fading beauties. But there’s an added twist: On and off the set, she can’t help stumbling over dead bodies. Tragedy follows Diana Poole, and in Hollywood, tragedy comes cheap. /div

About the author

DIVMelodie Johnson Howe is a mystery author and former actress. She began writing as a child, composing plays such as Nevada—a western that ended with the villain being sent to his room—and began acting in the mid-1960s. For a decade, she worked in movies alongside actors such as Clint Eastwood, Alan Alda, and James Caan. In the early 1980s, she left the Hollywood grind to pursue her dream of writing mysteries./divDIV /divHowe’s first novel, The Mother Shadow (1989), featured Claire Conrad and Maggie Hill, whom Howe describes as “the female answer to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.” It was nominated for an Edgar Award, and was followed by a sequel, Beauty Dies (1994). Howe is also acclaimed for her short fiction. Her most recent book, Shooting Hollywood: The Diana Poole Stories (2012), is a collection of short stories starring a forty-year-old actress trying to make a comeback.