Description
A tale inspired by the true unsolved disappearance of actress Jean Spangler in 1949 finds former stenographer and OSS spy Lily Kessler secretly investigating the murder of a Hollywood starlet, a case that is further complicated when other aspiring actresses meet a similar demise. By the author of Sugar Skull. Simultaneous. 25,000 first printing.
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Los Angeles 1949. A city of big dreams and dark shadows... Lily Kessler, a former stenographer and spy for the OSS, comes to Los Angeles to find her late fiancé's sister Kitty, an actress who is missing from her Hollywood boardinghouse. The next day, Kitty's body is found in a ravine below the Hollywood sign. Unimpressed by the local police, Lily investigates on her own. As she delves into Kitty's life, she encounters fiercely competitive starlets, gangsters, an eccentric special-effects genius, exotic denizens of Hollywood's nightclubs, and a homicide detective who might distract her from her quest for justice. But the landscape in L.A. can shift kaleidoscopically, and Lily begins to see how easily a young woman can lose her balance and fall prey to the alluring city's dangers.... With vibrant characters and unerring insight into the desires and dark impulses that can flare between men and women, The Last Embrace showcases Denise Hamilton at the height of her storytelling powers as she transports readers to a fascinating, transitional time in one of America's most beguiling cities.
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