In 1936 London, British mystery writer Agatha Christie teams up with Hollywood starlet Bette Davis to investigate a bitter feud between rival archaeologists that leads to a series of murders. This description may be from another edition of this product.
Bette Davis is having problems in Hollywood. Warner Brothers won't provide the juicy parts she needs to broaden her screen career, and she wants to renegotiate her contract. Also, her marriage seems to be on the rocks. So naturally, she decides to sail to England to get away from it all. On the ship she meets Nydia Tilson, a prominent medium. And since Bette is looking for a place to live while in London, Nydia suggests she rent the mansion of her former fiancé, the famous archaeologist, Virgil Wynn. Bette is more that willing to do so.Unfortunately, it appears as if someone is slowly murdering Virgil, who realizes this but with stiff British upper lip sits around fading away while planning to leave on his next (and probably last) archaeological dig. Bette moves in the day Virgil that moves out for journey to Egypt. She also meets her next door neighbor a certain Mrs. Mallowan, who just happens to be a writer with a passion for eating apples.The next morning Bette wakes to discover Virgil's dead body. Informing her neighbor of the situation Agatha Mallowan responds, "My specialité. A body in the library!"The rest of the novel unwinds in true Christie-style with loads of suspicious friends, relatives and hired help. (Unfortunately, there's no butler who could have done it.)As in all of his celebrity mysteries, Baxt has again thoroughly researched both the history of the era and the lives of Bette Davis and Agatha Christie. This results in a very believable and enjoyable work. This one set on my book shelf for a couple of years before I got around to reading it. So you might have a hard time finding a copy of it. If you do, grab it because it is a fun read.
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