The Doom List

In O’Donovan’s engrossing sequel to 2018’s The Long Silence, likewise set in 1922 Hollywood, movie director Rex Ingram needs the help of PI Tom Collins, a former L.A. police officer. The female lead of his next picture, “sultry screen vamp” Barbara La Marr, is being threatened by a former lover’s lawyer. If she doesn’t pay up, embarrassing letters and a long list of her paramours will be revealed to the newspapers. Ingram asks Tom to run interference between the lawyer and La Marr. La Marr has her own request for Tom. She wants him to find out what’s troubling her handsome costar, Ramon Samaniegos (the future Ramon Navarro). Human remains found in the hills on the city’s outskirts raise the ante. The only clue to the ravaged cadaver’s identity is a note tucked in its jacket pocket with the name and badge number of Tom’s police pal, Det. Thad Sullivan. O’Donovan makes fine use of period details, and peoples the cast with fascinating real-life characters. This action-packed, tightly plotted mystery should win the author new fans. Agent: Broo Doherty, David Headley Literary Agency (U.K.). (June)