Monday, March 21, 2011

Review: Fade To Blue: An Evan Horne Mystery by Bill Moody


  • Author:  Bill Moody
  • Paperback: 250 pages
  • Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (April 5, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1590588967
  • ISBN-13: 978-1590588963

Product Description

Jazz pianist Evan Horne, settled into the San Francisco jazz scene, takes a gig in Los Angeles, where he’s offered his most unusual job yet. Mega movie star Ryan Stiles hires Evan to teach him to look like he’s playing piano for an upcoming film role. Evan stays at Stiles’ lush Malibu home for the tutoring, but suddenly things go wrong with the arrogant, spoiled star. Stiles’ adversarial   relationship with the paparazzi explodes when a photographers is killed. Was it an accident or is Stiles himself a suspect? Evan wants out, but Stiles’ manager dangles the opportunity for Evan to score the film if he stays. Stiles is cleared but when the film begins, another mysterious death occurs, and somebody is blackmailing the star. With help from his FBI girlfriend, Andie Lawrence, and Lt. Danny Cooper, Evan launches his own investigation to help clear Stiles. To further complicate things, Evan’s old nemesis, serial killer Gillian Sims escapes from prison.
 


About the Author

Jazz drummer Bill Moody has toured and recorded with Maynard Ferguson, Jr. Mance, Jon Hendricks, and Lou Rawls. He lives in northern California where he hosts a weekly jazz show, and is the author of a dozen short stories in various collections, and six earlier Evan Horne novels.

My Review:

What a great read!  I didn't know that I would enjoy this story as much as I did.  The writing is really captivating in that it completely held my attention.  It's a mystery story and it a look at behind the scenes in Hollywood.  The author Billy Moody takes us into the world of jazz musicians and into the world of movie making. He also explores the love/hate relationship that current celebrities have with the paparazzi. 

Evan Horne, the main character, is a decent man who is trying to establish himself as a jazz musician who keeps stumbling into mysteries and adventures.  This is actually the sixth outing for Horne but it can also be a stand alone novel.  Jazz musicians rarely become "famous" musicians and it is quite tempting when he is asked to teach a famous actor to look like he is playing the piano for a movie with the dangling carrot of scoring the movie.  Thus Evan is able to easily put up with the shenanigans of the actor, Ryan Stiles, as the possibility of creating the movie score increases as Evan helps out Ryan and his manager.  There is a side story of serial killer Gillian Sims escaping from prison but that does not really add much to story as a whole.  I don't want to give too much away but it does provide a bit of enlightening if you haven't read the previous novel in the series.  Good conclusion though somewhat expected and of course totally believable.

Highly recommend this book!  Great read!!

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