cover image Murder in a Hot Flash: A Charlie Greene Mystery

Murder in a Hot Flash: A Charlie Greene Mystery

Marlys Millhiser. Otto Penzler Books, $20.5 (252pp) ISBN 978-1-883402-29-7

In her action-packed third adventure, (following Death of the Office Witch), high-spirited Hollywood literary agent Charlie Greene tries to help her mother, biology professor Edwina, and ends up tangling perilously with murderers, environmentalists, desert rats (human and rodent) and superstars in the Utah desert. Edwina, consulting on a documentary, has come to blows with a director who is shooting a science-fiction film nearby. She's also at professional odds with the producer/director of the documentary. Charlie agrees to talk to the documentary director at the film site where she meets the handsome movie star (and active environmentalist) who is narrating the documentary. When the SF director is murdered and Edwina is arrested, Charlie and the superstar team up to find the real killer, in the process becoming cliff-hangers (they're rescued by helicopter) and setting off rumors of romance. More murders and a series of chills and spills fitting to the rugged terrain follow. Even better, however, is Millhiser's accurate and often hilarious limning of the treacherous territory between mothers and daughters, Edwina, Charlie and Charlie's teenage daughter. Author tour. (Feb.)