A Talent For Murder (Polly Pepper Mysteries)

After TV-star-turned-sleuth Polly Pepper is hired to be the "nice judge" on a televised talent show, she sees the ratings skyrocket when the vicious and universally hated judge, Thane Cornwall, is killed, an act the puts Polly on a case where she will have to audition a huge cast of singing and dancing suspects to discover which one truly had the motive for murder.

At the start of Jordan's bubbly third sleuth-a-thon to feature Hollywood actress Polly Pepper (after 2008's Final Curtain), Polly becomes a judge on a cheesy reality TV show, I'll Do Anything to Become Famous. When someone plunges a knife into a fellow judge, nasty Brit Thane Cornwall, Polly flips into Miss Marple mode. The prime suspect? Thane's ex-lover, Lisa Marrs, the producer's secretary, found at the crime scene with the murder weapon. Aided by housekeeper Placenta, gay son Tim and her current amour, Beverly Hills detective Randal Archer, Polly uncovers some surprises involving such show contestants as rapper Ped-Xing and Miley Cyrus clone Amy Stout. Dotted with delicious observations on America's obsession with celebrity, this entry should win new fans for Polly, who, as the body count rises, tells the exasperated Archer that she's œa death magnet. And there's nothing you can do about it. Fans of comic whodunits will be rewarded. (June)
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