Hollywood Homicide

As much as I love this book’s hero, former television commercial star Dayna Anderson, her tight circle of got-your-back friends is what made this mystery really shine.

To say the cast has big personalities is like calling Hollywood’s Dolby Theater a quaint venue. I laughed out loud throughout and wished I could ride along with these ladies (there are some guys involved, a love interest in particular) as they doggedly unravel the deftly plotted mystery.

I am grateful to Garrett that there is a sequel to this first in the series, Hollywood Ending.

This award-winning mystery novel sparkles from beginning to end with the vitality and charm of its heroine, Dayna Anderson, a self-aware former actress whose claim to her 15 minutes of fame was a series of popular commercials for a fast-food franchise.

Now retired from the limelight, Dayna’s fallen on hard times financially but never loses her sense of humor – or hope. When she spots a billboard offering a reward for information about a fatal hit-and-run that she semi-witnessed, Dayna decides to investigate to collect the cash, not only for herself but for her parents back in Georgia who are… show more.

Kellye Garrett has no shortage of excellent novels, but Hollywood Homicide was my introduction to her, and I was immediately obsessed with her main character’s dry, sarcastic sense of humor.

It’s been years since I read it, and I still remember Dayna’s voice and antics clearly! An out-of-work, plucky, bold, and confident actress witnesses a hit and run and decides to solve the case to get the reward money. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out, a whole lot.

If you like voicey, laugh-out-loud funny books with a great mystery at the heart, do yourself a favor and snap up… show more.

Unlike the Los Angeles of, say, Michael Connolly’s Harry Bosch novels, the city in Kellye Garrett’s 2017 Detective by Day debut is a superficial, brighter place full of influencers, social media excesses, fashion, a home burglary crew, and Hollywood aspirations that, for many, refuse to die. At the center of this delightfully humorous mystery about death from a hit-and-run is an accidental detective, Dayna Anderson, a once successful African-American star of TV commercials. Dayna has fallen on hard times and is scraping by in a city that doesn’t tolerate scraping, at least not without a smirk. But she has the… show more.