Kill the Mother!: A Dave Beauchamp Mystery Novel

by Michael Mallory

Even by Hollywood standards, Nora Frost is the stage mother from Hell. Her futile drive to turn her talentless twin sons into child superstars has left figurative bodies strewn throughout Los Angeles. But after Nora hires hapless young private detective Dave Beauchamp to investigate a letter threatening the brothers, the body count begins to mount. It's up to Dave (a recovering lawyer and serious movie buff) to discover why people connected to Nora's crusade are turning up dead, and why someone has kidnapped the twins. The real question, though, is whether Dave is up to the job, even with the unsolicited advice he constantly receives from the old-time movie stars sounding off in his head! KILL THE MOTHER! is a laugh-out-loud mystery adventure that spotlights some of the wackier corners of Hollywood, as seen through the eyes of a new, unique P.I., whose motto is: If you cant be insane in L.A., where can you?

218 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Michael Mallory is an internationally-recognized authority on the subjects of film, animation and 20th century pop-culture, and the author of sixteen nonfiction books, which include The Art of Krampus, Essential Horror Movies, and Marvel: The Characters and their Universe. With the legendary American animation artist Iwao Takamoto he co-authored the memoirs Iwao Takamoto: My Life With a Thousand Characters, and has written more than 600 magazine and newspaper articles that have been published worldwide. A former newscaster, occasional actor, and frequent public speaker, Mike lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.

Reviews

[Marfita · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the same time it was annoying me, the story kept sucking ... me in. I think the continual interruption of the old film stars in Dave's head was getting to me.
Dave Beauchamp (pronounced the Brit way, like St. John and Chomondley or whatever) is a PI who needs work to pay his bills and is sucked (there's that word again) into working for The Worst Stage Mom in Hollywood. The one good thing you can say about her is that she pays her bills.
I find it hard to believe that there are women that awful, but then I haven't watched much reality tv.
Dave tends to fall in love and act like a doofus ... Surely he'd know more about the law if he used to be an attorney. [Oh, I don't know, maybe he was doing tax law.] But he still manages to be endearing.
The plot, though, is running off the rails being so larded with coincidence as to be unfeasible. Then again, this is Hollywood.