Hollywood Buzz

January 12, 2009
Liesche's engaging second Pucci Lewis mystery (after 2007's Lipstick and Lies
) takes the WWII WASP (Women Air Force Service pilot) to Hollywood, where one of her sister pilots, Frankie Beall, has crashed under suspicious circumstances while shooting an important training film. As the injured Beall's replacement, Lewis must complete the film and quietly investigate the crash. Trained by the OSS, Lewis is no stranger to undercover work and relishes the opportunity to rub shoulders with Hollywood's rich and famous. On her arrival at the Beverly Hills mansion of friends of her WASP commander, she meets legendary scare-meister Bela Lugosi, a young starlet-wannabe and a number of other folks who could be friend or foe. The murder of a celebrated director raises the stakes. Liesche provides plenty of interesting WASP lore while deftly mixing the real and imagined. Though the plot can be hard to follow at times, it moves along at a good clip.

December 1, 2008
Female World War II fighter pilot goes undercover on movie lot.

Fresh from her adventure foiling a Nazi plot in Detroit (Lipstick and Lies, 2007), plucky Pucci Lewis receives an unusual secret assignment from her bosses at WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilots). The mysterious Miss C sends her to Fort Roach, a former movie studio converted to an Army base and the current home of the First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU), which churns out training films and propaganda features to bolster American morale. As a technical advisor and documentary film pilot, Pucci will be checking to make sure that military women are not frivolously depicted. But she 'll be checking as well on the suspicious plane crash that sidelined Frankie Beall, the pilot she 's replacing at the studio. Working for the intense producer Roland Novaro, Pucci finds all the sexism and condescension toward female pilots that Miss C had feared. More startling is the constant infighting among Novaro, his editor Rask and abrasive director Brody. Whispers around the hospital where Frankie clings to life spark rumors of sabotage on her doomed flight, rumors Pucci confirms with a visit to airplane mechanic Mad Max(ine) Beacock. Several screen stars make cameo appearances, and Bela Lugosi and his curvaceous "niece " Ilka figure more prominently in the story. More deaths, starting with Brody 's, convince Pucci of the urgency of her assignment.

Liesche packs her wide-eyed adventure with tidbits about aeronautics, vintage Hollywood and the war, honoring the underappreciated women who made such a difference.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2009
In her second World War II adventure, WomensAir Force Service Pilot Pucci Lewis travels to Fort Roach in Hollywood to make sure the short film about the WASPs currently being shot there accurately represents their service; meanwhile, Miss Cochran, Puccis boss, travels to Washington, D.C., to get the WASPs the military recognition they deserve. Pucci will also investigate a plane crash in which a sister WASP, Frankie, was badly injured. Miss Cochran believes Frankies plane may have been sabotaged: Did one of the male pilots tamper with the plane to hurt the WASP program, or is the enemy at work in the U.S.? Matters get even more complicated when director Colonel Brody is murdered. With her secret-agent background, Pucci collaborates with another agent, already on the scene, to unravel the mystery. Details of the WASP program and Hollywoods contributions to the war effort add to the story of a patriotic young woman in an unconventional job.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2008
Female World War II fighter pilot goes undercover on movie lot.

Fresh from her adventure foiling a Nazi plot in Detroit (Lipstick and Lies, 2007), plucky Pucci Lewis receives an unusual secret assignment from her bosses at WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilots). The mysterious Miss C sends her to Fort Roach, a former movie studio converted to an Army base and the current home of the First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU), which churns out training films and propaganda features to bolster American morale. As a technical advisor and documentary film pilot, Pucci will be checking to make sure that military women are not frivolously depicted. But she ' ll be checking as well on the suspicious plane crash that sidelined Frankie Beall, the pilot she's replacing at the studio. Working for the intense producer Roland Novaro, Pucci finds all the sexism and condescension toward female pilots that Miss C had feared. More startling is the constant infighting among Novaro, his editor Rask and abrasive director Brody. Whispers around the hospital where Frankie clings to life spark rumors of sabotage on her doomed flight, rumors Pucci confirms with a visit to airplane mechanic Mad Max(ine) Beacock. Several screen stars make cameo appearances, and Bela Lugosi and his curvaceous "niece " Ilka figure more prominently in the story. More deaths, starting with Brody's , convince Pucci of the urgency of her assignment.

Liesche packs her wide-eyed adventure with tidbits about aeronautics, vintage Hollywood and the war, honoring the underappreciated women who made such a difference.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)