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This comic thriller passed one of my ultimate tests: Sleepyhead though I be, I stayed up way beyond my bedtime to find out whodunit. It is the latest and by far the best in a series starring Toronto screenwriter Mitchell Draper. The writing is witty, the clues are subtly but fairly distributed, and the characters are engaging. Ten years ago the actress Gabriella Hartman was kidnapped by a husband-wife team. But when she finally escaped through her own wits, she refused to reveal exactly what had happened, and many wrote off the episode as a publicity stunt. Now she has decided to disclose the truth in a teleplay, The Stolen Star, which she has hired Mitch to write and in which she will play herself. Then, in an eerie re-enactment of the scene he has just finished revising, Mitch witnesses her being kidnapped anew. What follows becomes a weird hall of mirrors. Ransom notes posted, strangely enough, to Mitchell's email duly appear, but they evoke other famous disappearances, such as Agatha Christie's and Aimee Semple MacPherson's, and notorious kidnappings, such as the Lindberg baby's and Patty Hearst's. In preparing his script, Mitch became something of an expert on kidnapping films and novels, and someone now is clearly and deliberately playing games with him. Moreover, whoever is behind the plot is obviously connected with his film, knowing details present in only the very latest rewrite. Each new development in the case causes Mitchell to bring forth a new theory. Has some crazed fan struck again? Is the kidnapping a hoax, a publicity stunt for real? Could it be a way for the fading star to recoup severe financial losses she incurred through bad investments? In addition to his innate curiosity, Mitchell has a personal stake in solving the case: Should The Stolen Star not get made, it may spell the end of his own lackluster career as a script writer. In the process of trying to find Gabriella, he falls into what has now become a stereotype in gay novels by being attracted to handsome but straight Detective Sergeant Tom Clayton. Meanwhile, the cute and perky production assistant, Andrew Bruno, indicates he is more than willing to provide a truly viable and more understanding alternate. In fact, the author cunningly plays games with all kinds of stereotypes -- the crusty female detective, the sleazy tabloid journalist, the star's faithful but self-effacing ex-husband, various members of the film crew ready to sleep their way into power, to name four -- but using them for comic effect before, near the end, the novel morphs into something slightly darker. Readers who know the earlier novels in the series, SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE (1998) and MAKING A KILLING (2001), will enjoy discovering what new is going on in the lives of Michell's long-time friends. Ramir Martinez continues to be so self-absorbed, this time in his roles as actor in and producer of the film, that he largely ignores his errant boyfriend. The painter Ingrid Iversen has her problems with her significant other's ex-wife and their child. However, one need not have read the earlier novels in order to enjoy THE SCENE STEALER. It is quite satisfying as a stand-alone. For American readers in particular, Canadian mysteries offer a certain different looking-glass pleasure. Our two cultures have so much in common that it is easy to forget one is reading a work set in a different country. And then suddenly one realizes the reflection is slightly askew. In this case, one gets a rich view of aspects of life in Toronto, the city where many US movies and television series have actually been filmed though not set (as Mitchell reminds us), but where the movie industry moves in a slightly different way.
Reviewed by Drewey Wayne Gunn, February 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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