Dial H for Hitchcock (Cece Caruso Series #5)

by Susan Kandel

Overview

The indomitable Cece Caruso is back in Susan Kandel’s Dial H For Hitchcock. The vintage clothes enthusiast, biographer of masters of mystery, and amateur sleuth who has flourished her skills in Christietown and I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason now tackles a murderous puzzle full of twists, turns, and mistaken identities worthy of maestro Hitchcock himself. Readers will be Spellbound by this latest investigation by sometime-detective Cece, whom reviewers have called, “Delightful” (Boston Globe) and “A hoot” (Denver Rocky Mountain News). True mystery fans would have to be Psycho to miss Dial H For Hitchcock.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061826672
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/27/2009
Series:	CeCe Caruso Mysteries , #5
Pages:	306
Sales rank:	1,070,789
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 5.38(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Susan Kandel is a former art critic for the Los Angeles Times. She has taught at New York University and UCLA, and served as editor of the international journal artext. She lives in West Hollywood, California, with her husband, two daughters, and dog.

Editorial Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock fans should love Kandel’s fifth Cece Caruso mystery, a terrific tribute that’s also wickedly funny . . . Kandel keeps the action tight all the way to a delightful denouement that Hitch no doubt would have appreciated.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[B]reezy, entertaining . . . Brisk prose, a pistol of a protagonist, and nice riffs on Hitch—both biographical and psychological.” — Booklist

“[R]eal charmers . . . [a] clever series.” — New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

[R]eal charmers . . . [a] clever series.

New York Times Book Review

[B]reezy, entertaining . . . Brisk prose, a pistol of a protagonist, and nice riffs on Hitch—both biographical and psychological.

Booklist

[B]reezy, entertaining . . . Brisk prose, a pistol of a protagonist, and nice riffs on Hitch—both biographical and psychological.

Booklist

Alfred Hitchcock fans should love Kandel's fifth Cece Caruso mystery (after 2007's Christietown), a terrific tribute that's also wickedly funny. L.A. vintage fashionista Cece, who's just returned from her solo honeymoon after dumping LAPD Det. Peter Gambino, is researching a Hitchcock biography when her life takes a Hitchcockian turn. After watching a screening of Vertigo, she returns home to find someone else's cellphone in her purse. A curious call on the cellphone leads Cece to Beechwood Canyon, where she hopes to return it to its owner, Anita Colby. Instead, Cece winds up witnessing the cool blonde's murder. As Cece gets drawn deeper into a plot with alarming similarities to the celebrated director's noir masterpieces, she fears she's become a victim of identity theft as well as a dead ringer for the Kim Novak character in Vertigo. Kandel keeps the action tight all the way to a delightful denouement that Hitch no doubt would've appreciated. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

When she's framed for murder, it's up to Californian writer and vintage fashionista Cece Caruso (Christietown, 2007, etc.) to clear her name. Cece is nursing a failed engagement by immersing herself in the films of Alfred Hitchcock. At a showing of Vertigo, she winds up with someone else's cell phone in her 1950s Lucite purse and attempts to return it by going to a cliffside rendezvous set up by a mysterious telephone caller. Instead of making a simple handoff, Cece witnesses a blond woman shoved to her death. When Cece grabs the phone to call 911, she gets an incoming call-a stranger telling her to say she saw a mere accident and, worse, a recording of what sounds like her own voice threatening the dead woman. Though she has many cops in her large, loving family, Cece decides not to tell the police but instead lies to them and investigates herself. Finding ID belonging to Anita Colby at the scene, she breaks into her apartment to reconnoiter. Despite the threats and the police's suspicions, Cece continues her blithe flirtation with the new guy next door and her trips to the park with her grandkids. But Anita's acquaintances claim she knew Cece, and so does the evidence. When Cece can no longer trust her own memories, she hits the road. Who's claiming to be Cece, and why did they kill Anita?Flat characters, an implausible premise and a simply preposterous conclusion.

Kirkus Reviews