A TWO REEL MURDER STARRING MABEL NORMAND AND MACK SENNETT

Maisy Malone Mysteries #1

by Larry D. Names

Maisy Malone went to Hollywood to become a star in motion pictures. Instead she became a sleuth, not by choice but by chance when she stumbled into a murder. Los Angeles Police Detective Ed Browning intended to write off the death of actor Leslie Clover as an accident until Maisy said she could prove the man was murdered. To top that off, she bet him she could solve the murder before he could. Browning took the bet and the contest was on to catch a killer. Browning only had a bunch of inexperienced, clumsy, bungling cops to help him, while Maisy had the aid of silent screen actress and comedy queen Mabel Normand. The detective and the actress went to the wire nose-to-nose in their race to solve the crime and needed a photo finish to determine the winner.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2012

About the author

Larry Names is a prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction books. He is a recognized authority on the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, and Green Bay Packers. Names has had 43 titles published to date, 26 of them novels, and the remainder non-fiction all dealing with sports teams or sports figures. He resides in central Wisconsin with his wife Peg on a family farm that has been in his wife’s family since 1854. They have two children: Torry and Tegan; four children from his first marriage: Sigrid, Paul, Kristin, and Sonje plus a football team of grandchildren; cats: Teti and Cleo; and are caretakers to their daughter and son-in-laws horses: an escape-artist horse Lucky Moondancer, Amerrah, Mikah, Windy and Mae. The author was born in Mishawaka, Indiana in the shadow of the Golden Dome, the University of Notre Dame. He is an avid researcher and traveler. Besides being a passionate history buff, he is also an informed and enthusiastic sports fan and memorabilia collector.
Names researches his novels and non-fiction extensively. As he puts it, "I can’t write about a place I haven’t seen or touched." He and his family have averaged two months of travel a year since he took up writing full-time in 1976; often logging 30,000 miles annually. The settings for his books range from Mexico to New York to California and almost every place in between.
For more information about Larry Names and his books, go to https://www.larrynames.com/
“Like” Larry Names on his Facebook Fan page at: https://www.facebook.com/LarryNames/

Reviews

[Diana Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a Goodreads win. This story was written about life in the early 1900's. The main character was an outgoing gal who worked Vaudeville before getting a chance to be an extra in a comedy film. First day to report on set she accompanies a fellow to pick up a friend also needing to report for film work. They arrive to find him dead. Maisey, the new gal in town, disagrees with the detective when he first suggests the death was from natural causes. She believes it was murder and is determined to solve the case. Have read many mysteries over the years but this one had a style of it's own. Very enjoyable read!

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book through the Goodreads First Reads Program and I couldn't put it down! I'd never read any of Larry Names' work before so I wasn't quite sure of what to expect but I certainly enjoyed this fun read. Usually I'm pretty good at guessing endings of mystery novels, but this one kept me on my toes right up until the last page. The characters are all likable. (However Maisy's catchphrase, "Fair enough," did get on my nerves a little after hearing her say it so many times.)
Part of what I enjoyed most is that many members of the book's cast were indeed real-life silent movie actors. That concept is part of what originally drew me to the novel - the inclusion of Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett - along with the setting in the early Hollywood motion picture business. Knowing what I know about the real-life Keystone studio I would love to see Maisy Malone return in another mystery featuring the already established cast and crew along with newcomers to the motion picture business such as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Fatty Arbuckle. Here's to hoping!

[Bette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maisy Malone comes to Hollywood to become an actress in the moving picture industry in 1912.

From the moment I read her dialogue I could see and hear Mae West in my minds eye. When you meet Mabel Normand and Maisy together you see two giggling teenage girls sharing confidences. With each character Larry Names developed you can get a vision of a bygone era. An era he richly enhanced with glimpses of the period such as the police use of the Indian Motorcycle or the building construction use of Sears Catalogue Home Plans or the extras bench where the movie extra would sit hoping to be used in what was being filmed that day.

The mystery is the quality of Agatha Christie or Sir Conan Doyle, you may remember Maisy is Sherlock's smarter sister Shirley. I enjoyed this story immensely and hope that the sleuth Maisy will appear again to solve another mystery.

I recommend this mystery to anyone who wants to take a step back into the past and early Hollywood.

[Bryngel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a rather well written mystery, except for the way too stilted dialogue. That pulled the three stars down to two for me, and I lost any interest to read any more books about Maisy Malone.

(Please forgive my poor English, my excuse is I’m Swedish).