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A Marvelous Murder, set in 1939 Hollywood, is awash with studio intrigue, gossip columnists, lecherous directors, closeted movie stars, a heckuva closed room murder and a robust cast of suspects.

Victor Marvel, a movie star gracefully aging into co-starring roles, his handsome boyfriend and leading man, Griffin Fenwick and fellow actor, Eve Spellman (think Carole Lombard) are all cast in Icon Pictures' latest picture The Lady Screeched, directed by Orland Orcott, the lecherous director found murdered in the locked library in his estate during a star-filled party.

Author David Pederson gives us the elegance of a midnight black double-breasted tuxedo and lunch at the legendary Brown Derby as well as the seedy underbelly of studio gossip and casting couches as Victor and Eve try to solve the mystery.

The setting of this novel is well-researched and described in detail. Although at times character dialog is a bit stilted and unfocused, and I would have liked more character development for Griff, the end product is a mystery that is entertaining and enjoyable. 4 stars.

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A Marvelous Murder nails the vintage Hollywood setting and queer sleuth dynamic, but the pacing drags and the dialogue leans too heavily on exposition. It's a fun concept with uneven execution.

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This is a queer historical mystery set in Hollywood during the Great Depression. While I'm fond of the genre, I did not particularly enjoy the book and was close to DNF-ing it several times. Throughout the book, the characters have conversations whose main purpose seem to be providing backstory or exposition to the reader, in a way that feels unnatural.

The pacing was also odd - the murder does not take place until 35% of the way through the book, after it has been thoroughly established how awful he has been to the main character, his entourage, and practically everyone else. The movie star MC's interest in the case seemed flimsy, and I kept reading mostly out of mild curiosity as to the murderer's identity. Perhaps because I was not strongly emotionally invested in the story, the resolution felt unsatisfactory and the characters stayed somewhat flat. If you aren't bothered by the dialogue style and pacing, you might find it all more satisfying.

Content warnings: homophobia, ableism, misogyny, sexual harassment

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Okay, and historical murder mystery with queer detective? MINE! I quite like this book. Yes, it’s not perfect, but the mystery is good, the action is good either and the romance is amazing.
So I definitely recommend this one and hope there will be more adventures for the two main characters!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

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I'm not sure whether I've gotten fussier or this author has gotten sloppier, but either way, I think this will be the last book of his I read. I love historicals, and I love mysteries, so this should have been 100 percent my cup of tea, but... from the opening scene in which I found pretty much every character intolerable through the interminable "As you know, Bob" dialogue to the uninspiring wrap-up (with some weird head-hopping along the way and far too little interaction or sparks between the MCs), I kept asking myself why I was reading this. The author clearly does his research, but at this point I'm forced to accept that his style is not to my taste. Oh well!

My thanks to the publisher/NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

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I didn’t know if I would be a fan of a historical murder mystery, and it turns out I absolutely am! This book was so much fun to read- it was my first by this author, and it certainly won’t be my last!!

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