Her corpse would be the hottest news in town.
May Laval was as brilliant as a ten-carat diamond—and just as cold. As the calculating ruler of a social set, she influenced generals, politicians, and big businessmen. Slowly and shrewdly, she learned the intimate details of everyone's life and recorded the seamy facts in a diary so as not to forget a single sordid detail. One day, May Laval threatened to publish her diary.
Now it's up to PR man Jake Harrison to find out who killed May and—while he's at it—why his wife left him.
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“This mystery plays out like a combination noir and screwball comedy, and it’s an excellent fit for narrator Stephen Bowlby. It’s the 1950s. May Laval, wartime celebrity hostess to businessmen, politicians, and military men, is going to publish her memoirs, which include all the dirt on people at the highest levels. When May is murdered and her diary disappears, PR exec Jake Harrison investigates. Bowlby sets the tone by creating characters who speak exactly as they should for the period and place. He portrays a religious fanatic, a war profiteer, and May herself and is especially good with the amusing exchanges between Jake and his ex-wife. This is a choice performance of McGivern’s fast and funny dialogue combined with surprising plot twists. Fun listening.”
— AudioFile
“A lively, tightly plotted book.”
— Marvin Lachman, Edgar-winning authorBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
William P. McGivern (1919–1982), born in Chicago, grew up in Mobile, Alabama. After quitting high school, he started to write. He served in World War II and then studied in England before returning to the United States, where he worked as a police reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin. After his first novels appeared in the 1940s, he received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. In the 1960s he and his wife moved to Hollywood, where he wrote for film and television. Several of his books were made into motion pictures, including The Big Heat and Rogue Cop.
Stephen Bowlby has worked as a professional voice actor for more than forty years. His experience spans animation, character work, commercials, and narration. He has read numerous audiobooks throughout his career, including titles by Harold Robbins, Stuart M. Kaminsky, John Sculley, William P. McGivern, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.