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Silver Screen Historical Mystery #3
Saving Susy Sweetchild
Welcome to Hollywood of the 1920 a world filled with glamour, fake names . . . and the occasional felony!
July, 1924. After nine months of living in Hollywood and working as a companion to her beautiful silent-movie star sister-in-law, young British widow Emma Blackstone is settling into her new doctoring film scenarios whenever the regular scenarist is overwhelmed with work, which seems to be most of the time.
Shoots for the Western movie Our Tiny Miracle are in full swing, with little seven-year-old Susy Sweetchild playing the lead and acting most professionally. Maybe too professionally, Emma thinks, shocked to the core when the child star is nearly killed in a stunt scene and her mother - former screen siren Selina Sutton - seems only to care that Susy gets the job done.
But Emma's concerns only worsen when news reaches her that Susy and her mother have been kidnapped. The ransom note says to keep the cops out of it, so it's up to Emma and Kitty to find them before the unthinkable happens and Emma is forced to rewrite Our Tiny Miracle with a far more tragic ending . . .
New York Times bestselling author Barbara Hambly once again brings the glamour and intrigue of Hollywood to life! An unputdownable mystery for fans of female-fronted historical mysteries set in the roaring twenties.
July, 1924. After nine months of living in Hollywood and working as a companion to her beautiful silent-movie star sister-in-law, young British widow Emma Blackstone is settling into her new doctoring film scenarios whenever the regular scenarist is overwhelmed with work, which seems to be most of the time.
Shoots for the Western movie Our Tiny Miracle are in full swing, with little seven-year-old Susy Sweetchild playing the lead and acting most professionally. Maybe too professionally, Emma thinks, shocked to the core when the child star is nearly killed in a stunt scene and her mother - former screen siren Selina Sutton - seems only to care that Susy gets the job done.
But Emma's concerns only worsen when news reaches her that Susy and her mother have been kidnapped. The ransom note says to keep the cops out of it, so it's up to Emma and Kitty to find them before the unthinkable happens and Emma is forced to rewrite Our Tiny Miracle with a far more tragic ending . . .
New York Times bestselling author Barbara Hambly once again brings the glamour and intrigue of Hollywood to life! An unputdownable mystery for fans of female-fronted historical mysteries set in the roaring twenties.
223 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2024
19 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Hambly
205 books1,595 followersaka Barbara Hamilton
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
Ranging from fantasy to historical fiction, Barbara Hambly has a masterful way of spinning a story. Her twisty plots involve memorable characters, lavish descriptions, scads of novel words, and interesting devices. Her work spans the Star Wars universe, antebellum New Orleans, and various fantasy worlds, sometimes linked with our own.
"I always wanted to be a writer but everyone kept telling me it was impossible to break into the field or make money. I've proven them wrong on both counts."
-Barbara Hambly
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 21, 2024
Barbara Hambly is one of my all-time favorite authors. I will follow her across genres, from science fiction to fantasy to historical fiction to murder mysteries. And what better combination than a mystery set in 1920s Hollywood, filled with glamour, Prohibition, drugs, silent film stars…and the occasional crime? I fell in love with Hambly’s take on this era with her iconic Bride of the Rat God (not kidding!) and eagerly dived into her current series of “Silver Screen Historical Mysteries.”
The protagonist is Emma Blackstone, widowed daughter of an English don (professor, in this case of Antiquities—Emma regularly quotes Ancient Greek and Latin), now earning her keep as companion and helper to her beautiful silent-movie star sister-in-law, Kitty. Among Emma’s duties are catering to Kitty’s three “celestial cream cakes,” aka Pekinese dogs, modeled after Hambly’s own pups. In her spare time, Emma edits film scenarios for Kitty’s producer, romances a cinematographer, and solves mysteries.
This third mystery in the series takes place in 1924, a time rampant with child kidnappings. Infant Blakely Coughlin (abducted in 1920), 5-year-old Giuseppi Verotta (1921), 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Franks (killed by Leopold and Loeb in 1924), Marion Parker (1927), Grace Budd (1928), and Gill Jamieson (1929) were among those never returned to their parents. In Hambly’s mystery, the victim is Susy Sweetchild, an immensely talented child actor. From the time Emma first sees Susy, she realizes the child is in danger, from the drunken horse wrangler in the Western in which Susy stars to the mother who is only interested in Susy’s earnings, the drunken/absent father (lots of booze during Prohibition) to the grasping aunt and grandfather to the producer who simply doesn’t care so long as Susy’s films make money. So when Susy and her mother both disappear and the studio receives a ransom note ending “Do not call the cops,” it’s up to Emma, her sweetheart, and the Pekinese to unravel the mystery before it’s too late.
As with all Hambly’s work, Saving Susy Sweetchild balances page-turner tension, wonderful characters (including the dogs!), twists-upon-plot-twists, and heart-stopping moments. From start to finish, it’s a treat.
The protagonist is Emma Blackstone, widowed daughter of an English don (professor, in this case of Antiquities—Emma regularly quotes Ancient Greek and Latin), now earning her keep as companion and helper to her beautiful silent-movie star sister-in-law, Kitty. Among Emma’s duties are catering to Kitty’s three “celestial cream cakes,” aka Pekinese dogs, modeled after Hambly’s own pups. In her spare time, Emma edits film scenarios for Kitty’s producer, romances a cinematographer, and solves mysteries.
This third mystery in the series takes place in 1924, a time rampant with child kidnappings. Infant Blakely Coughlin (abducted in 1920), 5-year-old Giuseppi Verotta (1921), 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Franks (killed by Leopold and Loeb in 1924), Marion Parker (1927), Grace Budd (1928), and Gill Jamieson (1929) were among those never returned to their parents. In Hambly’s mystery, the victim is Susy Sweetchild, an immensely talented child actor. From the time Emma first sees Susy, she realizes the child is in danger, from the drunken horse wrangler in the Western in which Susy stars to the mother who is only interested in Susy’s earnings, the drunken/absent father (lots of booze during Prohibition) to the grasping aunt and grandfather to the producer who simply doesn’t care so long as Susy’s films make money. So when Susy and her mother both disappear and the studio receives a ransom note ending “Do not call the cops,” it’s up to Emma, her sweetheart, and the Pekinese to unravel the mystery before it’s too late.
As with all Hambly’s work, Saving Susy Sweetchild balances page-turner tension, wonderful characters (including the dogs!), twists-upon-plot-twists, and heart-stopping moments. From start to finish, it’s a treat.
August 11, 2024
Thanks to Severn House Publishing and NetGalley for providing me a free copy working copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is the third book in this series, and my second. I only missed the second book. The book stands alone well, with no real carry over from the prior books. It is set in 1924 Hollywood and the main character is Emma Blackstone the widowed daughter of a British professor of ancient civilizations. She had a difficult life after the death of her husband during World War I and the loss of her father. She now works as the companion of her sister in law, Kitty, a glamorous silent movie actress and her three pampered Pekingese dogs. She also works part time editing movie scripts. The story takes place during the filming of several silent pictures including one with Kitty starring as a wicked Arabian princess featuring sheiks, lions, camels and sandstorms, and a western starring talented young actress Suzy Sweetchild (picture Shirley Temple). But, as they say, the plot thickens when young Suzy and her mother are kidnapped and held for ransom. I really enjoyed the setting of the silent movie world, old Hollywood and Prohibition. I loved all the characters and found them varied and well drawn, although there were so many it was sometimes hard to keep track. The characters, the setting, and the plot were excellent, the only negative I can offer is that sometimes the author’s stream of consciousness style with Emma was a bit hard to follow at times as varied thoughts and emotions jumped out randomly in the midst of a conversation. That was a minor flaw more than compensated by the colorful characters, an inside look at the making of silent movies and the romance of the roaring twenties. Now I really want to pick up book two.
January 23, 2025
I am a fan of Hambly's fantasy and other works, but this is the first of her Silver Screen Historical Mystery Books that I have read. It's heavy on the historical and somewhat light on the mystery, which works well for the period and setting. A fascinating cast of characters makes this an entertaining read.
August 30, 2024
Emma Blackstone, after nearly a year in Hollywood as her sister-in-law’s friend, confidant, dog handler and general factotum, as well as serving as a script doctor for Foremost Studios for almost as long, has learned the way that things work in Hollywood – no matter how often she wishes she didn’t.
Because she sees entirely too much, and is all too aware that she can’t fix ANY of it. Although she certainly does what she can, as shown in the first two books in the Silver Screen Historical Mysteries, Scandal in Babylon and One Extra Corpse.
But Susy Sweetchild’s situation still pierces her straight to the heart. Because the child is clearly – and justifiably – frightened to death. And is just as clearly aware that no one can help her or save her no matter how much they want to.
It’s 1924, and Hollywood is still the ‘Wild West’ when it comes to rules and regulations. Prohibition is in full swing, but bootlegged booze is openly everywhere. OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, won’t exist for another 45 years and child actors like Susy have no rights whatsoever – not even to the money they make.
Especially not to the money they make.
Susy is only seven years old, she’s one of Foremost Pictures biggest moneymakers, and she’s supporting her stage mother, her alcoholic father, her mother’s business manager and her mother’s succession of lovers and THEIR failed businesses as well as her father’s drinking habit. And quite possibly the partridge in the pear tree.
The only person on Susy’s side is her cat Mr. Gray, and poor Mr. Gray is even more of a hostage than she is. If Susy ‘misbehaves’ in any way, Mr. Gray is done for. And Susy is all too aware of the threat.
Possibly so is Mr. Gray. The cat seems both smart and sober, which is more than can be said for a lot of the humans in this story.
Emma would like to rescue Susy, but she has entirely too many hostages to fortune of her own to step that far out of line. She also knows it won’t do any good, as the powers that be in Los Angeles are all too aware of the side on which their bread is buttered, and that the studios are the ones doing the buttering.
But the status quo of Susy’s dreadful situation and anyone’s ability to help her out of it goes from bad to worse when the child star and her mother are kidnapped, along with Mr. Gray – a ginormous clue that should have occurred to more people an awful lot sooner.
Someone is extorting $100,000 from the studio for Susy’s safe return. (That’s something like $18,000,000 in today’s dollars!) There are multiple ransom notes being delivered, quite possibly from multiple sources. The police are not involved in the case, but the gossip columnists and the bootleggers are.
Considering how frequently the adults – including Emma and her Scooby Gang – are misdirected, as reluctant as the studio is to pay all that money to rescue a child star who is rapidly growing out of her cute and winsome phase, it looks like the princess is going to have to rescue herself in this one.
Escape Rating B: There are two stories going on in Saving Susy Sweetchild, and I have to admit that one interested me considerably more than the other.
The first is, of course, the mystery of who kidnapped Susy Sweetchild and whether the poor child can be found before it’s too late. The investigation of Susy’s abduction and ransom is the stuff of which Keystone Cops movies were made. No one covers themselves in glory in this part of the story – either because they are in on it, they intend to exploit its outcome, because they’ve been paid to look the other way or merely because they are simply incompetent but photogenic at the job they’re supposed to do.
Emma at least has a damn good excuse for not catching on right away – she’s not a professional detective, either police or private. It isn’t her job – she just cares about the kid and wants to help her.
But underneath – although often in plain sight – is the glimpse under the glitter and tinsel of Hollywood in the mid-1920s, before the Hays Code crackdown on ‘immorality’, before the talkies, and before the Great Depression.
We still read horrific stories about the treatment of child actors in Hollywood, and a lot of those stories are terrible to children and other living creatures. Susy will probably remind a lot of people of Shirley Temple, but by Temple’s time 15 years later, the situation had actually gotten a bit better. For select versions of ‘better’. Maybe less awful.
One of Susy Sweetchild’s contemporaries would have been another child actor named Jackie Coogan – who might be more familiar to readers as Uncle Fester in the 1960s Addams Family TV series. His relevance to Susy Sweetchild is that It was his lawsuit against his own mother in 1938, after he turned 21 and discovered that his mother had squandered his entire fortune, that finally put laws in place about the treatment of child actors AND the provision to put a portion of their income in trust for their adulthood.
All of the above tells readers that as much as I was following Susy’s fictional case, it was the factual underpinnings that truly had my attention for much of the story. The split in my attention wasn’t great for my absorption in Susy’s actual story, but the research dive was a lot of fun.
Howsomever, I did love the ending of Susy’s story. She was pretty much the only person who deserved a happy ending, and I was very relieved to see that she – and Mr. Gray – got exactly what they deserved – as did a whole lot of others who deserved something considerably less…happy.
Originally published at Reading Reality
Because she sees entirely too much, and is all too aware that she can’t fix ANY of it. Although she certainly does what she can, as shown in the first two books in the Silver Screen Historical Mysteries, Scandal in Babylon and One Extra Corpse.
But Susy Sweetchild’s situation still pierces her straight to the heart. Because the child is clearly – and justifiably – frightened to death. And is just as clearly aware that no one can help her or save her no matter how much they want to.
It’s 1924, and Hollywood is still the ‘Wild West’ when it comes to rules and regulations. Prohibition is in full swing, but bootlegged booze is openly everywhere. OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, won’t exist for another 45 years and child actors like Susy have no rights whatsoever – not even to the money they make.
Especially not to the money they make.
Susy is only seven years old, she’s one of Foremost Pictures biggest moneymakers, and she’s supporting her stage mother, her alcoholic father, her mother’s business manager and her mother’s succession of lovers and THEIR failed businesses as well as her father’s drinking habit. And quite possibly the partridge in the pear tree.
The only person on Susy’s side is her cat Mr. Gray, and poor Mr. Gray is even more of a hostage than she is. If Susy ‘misbehaves’ in any way, Mr. Gray is done for. And Susy is all too aware of the threat.
Possibly so is Mr. Gray. The cat seems both smart and sober, which is more than can be said for a lot of the humans in this story.
Emma would like to rescue Susy, but she has entirely too many hostages to fortune of her own to step that far out of line. She also knows it won’t do any good, as the powers that be in Los Angeles are all too aware of the side on which their bread is buttered, and that the studios are the ones doing the buttering.
But the status quo of Susy’s dreadful situation and anyone’s ability to help her out of it goes from bad to worse when the child star and her mother are kidnapped, along with Mr. Gray – a ginormous clue that should have occurred to more people an awful lot sooner.
Someone is extorting $100,000 from the studio for Susy’s safe return. (That’s something like $18,000,000 in today’s dollars!) There are multiple ransom notes being delivered, quite possibly from multiple sources. The police are not involved in the case, but the gossip columnists and the bootleggers are.
Considering how frequently the adults – including Emma and her Scooby Gang – are misdirected, as reluctant as the studio is to pay all that money to rescue a child star who is rapidly growing out of her cute and winsome phase, it looks like the princess is going to have to rescue herself in this one.
Escape Rating B: There are two stories going on in Saving Susy Sweetchild, and I have to admit that one interested me considerably more than the other.
The first is, of course, the mystery of who kidnapped Susy Sweetchild and whether the poor child can be found before it’s too late. The investigation of Susy’s abduction and ransom is the stuff of which Keystone Cops movies were made. No one covers themselves in glory in this part of the story – either because they are in on it, they intend to exploit its outcome, because they’ve been paid to look the other way or merely because they are simply incompetent but photogenic at the job they’re supposed to do.
Emma at least has a damn good excuse for not catching on right away – she’s not a professional detective, either police or private. It isn’t her job – she just cares about the kid and wants to help her.
But underneath – although often in plain sight – is the glimpse under the glitter and tinsel of Hollywood in the mid-1920s, before the Hays Code crackdown on ‘immorality’, before the talkies, and before the Great Depression.
We still read horrific stories about the treatment of child actors in Hollywood, and a lot of those stories are terrible to children and other living creatures. Susy will probably remind a lot of people of Shirley Temple, but by Temple’s time 15 years later, the situation had actually gotten a bit better. For select versions of ‘better’. Maybe less awful.
One of Susy Sweetchild’s contemporaries would have been another child actor named Jackie Coogan – who might be more familiar to readers as Uncle Fester in the 1960s Addams Family TV series. His relevance to Susy Sweetchild is that It was his lawsuit against his own mother in 1938, after he turned 21 and discovered that his mother had squandered his entire fortune, that finally put laws in place about the treatment of child actors AND the provision to put a portion of their income in trust for their adulthood.
All of the above tells readers that as much as I was following Susy’s fictional case, it was the factual underpinnings that truly had my attention for much of the story. The split in my attention wasn’t great for my absorption in Susy’s actual story, but the research dive was a lot of fun.
Howsomever, I did love the ending of Susy’s story. She was pretty much the only person who deserved a happy ending, and I was very relieved to see that she – and Mr. Gray – got exactly what they deserved – as did a whole lot of others who deserved something considerably less…happy.
Originally published at Reading Reality
October 16, 2024
If you’ve picked this one up without having read the previous two books, while I’d advise you go back to the first book in the series, Scandal in Babylon, as it’s a great read – you won’t unduly flounder if you decide to forge ahead anyway. Hambly does an excellent job of providing necessary details without hampering the pace.
Hambly is outstanding at setting the scene. The giddy, hedonistic lifestyle of those working in the film industry – including the punishing hours, blatant abuse of anyone further down the food chain and the free access to drink and drugs, despite the Prohibition, is wonderfully portrayed. She also provides fabulous descriptions of the desert at night and the film locations so that I not only could vividly imagine the setting – I could also smell it.
Emma is increasingly unhappy in this story. She is shocked at how hard little Susy Sweetchild is having to work – and what happens to her if she tries to protest. Her actress mother is ruthless in exploiting her small daughter, who is still a major box office draw and has been so since the age of three. But when the two of them are kidnapped, the studio is in turmoil as they wait for a ransom demand – especially as the recent high-profile cases featuring child abductions for cash have all gone tragically wrong. I would mention that while there’s nothing graphic – Hambly’s unflinching portrayal of the exploitation of Susy by her family and the way her mother keeps control is definitely abusive, which might be a trigger warning.
Emma is still looking after her sister-in-law’s little dogs and organising her life, as well as doing some last-minute script alterations. But her experience with her father in happier days when she used to accompany him on archaeological digs also is highlighted in this story, when she is asked to look through the notes of a college professor who is found dead in his office. This is an aspect of her life that we’ve heard about in the previous two books, so I was fascinated to get a glimpse of Emma’s former life before the death of her father.
This is darker than previous stories, especially when juxtaposed with the glamour and gaudiness of the Hollywood film factory at full spate. That said, I didn’t guess who’d taken Susy and the ending was very niftily handled. I’m now keen to see where this series will go next. Highly recommended for fans of historical mysteries, particularly those set in 1920s Hollywood. While I obtained an arc of Saving Susy Sweetchild from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10
Hambly is outstanding at setting the scene. The giddy, hedonistic lifestyle of those working in the film industry – including the punishing hours, blatant abuse of anyone further down the food chain and the free access to drink and drugs, despite the Prohibition, is wonderfully portrayed. She also provides fabulous descriptions of the desert at night and the film locations so that I not only could vividly imagine the setting – I could also smell it.
Emma is increasingly unhappy in this story. She is shocked at how hard little Susy Sweetchild is having to work – and what happens to her if she tries to protest. Her actress mother is ruthless in exploiting her small daughter, who is still a major box office draw and has been so since the age of three. But when the two of them are kidnapped, the studio is in turmoil as they wait for a ransom demand – especially as the recent high-profile cases featuring child abductions for cash have all gone tragically wrong. I would mention that while there’s nothing graphic – Hambly’s unflinching portrayal of the exploitation of Susy by her family and the way her mother keeps control is definitely abusive, which might be a trigger warning.
Emma is still looking after her sister-in-law’s little dogs and organising her life, as well as doing some last-minute script alterations. But her experience with her father in happier days when she used to accompany him on archaeological digs also is highlighted in this story, when she is asked to look through the notes of a college professor who is found dead in his office. This is an aspect of her life that we’ve heard about in the previous two books, so I was fascinated to get a glimpse of Emma’s former life before the death of her father.
This is darker than previous stories, especially when juxtaposed with the glamour and gaudiness of the Hollywood film factory at full spate. That said, I didn’t guess who’d taken Susy and the ending was very niftily handled. I’m now keen to see where this series will go next. Highly recommended for fans of historical mysteries, particularly those set in 1920s Hollywood. While I obtained an arc of Saving Susy Sweetchild from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10
September 13, 2024
Barbara Hambly is so versatile. I'm a longtime fan of her Benjamin January series which involves a wildly different historical setting and set of characters than her "Silver Screen" Historical mystery series. With this third entry, I've read books two and three with pleasure. They are kind of cozies set in the silent film era. Emma, widowed and orphaned by WWI and Spanish Influenza has landed with her sister-in-aw, Kitty, a gorgeous and untalented movie star. Kitty is the mistress of an important producer/director. Emma serves as Kitty's dog carer and has gained some positive attention for rewriting "scenarios" when a script needs doctoring. She also has been called in to sort out and identify property from the office of a murdered professor whose student papers are thrown about, whose colleagues took a lot of his books and whose objects from archeological digs are missing. We already know that Emma is a scholar and her father was renowned in the period at issue.
Emma spends a great deal of time on movie sets, caring for her three charges whose doggie personalities are coming out more and more. A Western includes a famous child actor, Susy Sweetchild, daughter of the terrible stage mother Selena Sutton and an alcoholic father relegated to a guest cottage on the property. The only person looking out for Susy seems to be Susy. She is soon going to age out of cute little girl, being 7 or so, and her films are already losing attention. So when Susy, Selena and Susy's beloved cat Mr. Gray are kidnapped, there are a lot of potential parties with motives. Emma and Kitty along with others get very involved as the only people who actually care about the child. Why was the mother taken? Is the cat okay? And why is it so unclear whether anyone has demanded a ransom?
I am so enjoying this series. Hambly gives us great inside views of the film industry, its players, who gets ahead and why and also a sense of the geography, gangs, crime and peccadilloes of California of the 1920s. Who's the grownup in the room? Did you need to ]ask? It’s Susy.
Emma spends a great deal of time on movie sets, caring for her three charges whose doggie personalities are coming out more and more. A Western includes a famous child actor, Susy Sweetchild, daughter of the terrible stage mother Selena Sutton and an alcoholic father relegated to a guest cottage on the property. The only person looking out for Susy seems to be Susy. She is soon going to age out of cute little girl, being 7 or so, and her films are already losing attention. So when Susy, Selena and Susy's beloved cat Mr. Gray are kidnapped, there are a lot of potential parties with motives. Emma and Kitty along with others get very involved as the only people who actually care about the child. Why was the mother taken? Is the cat okay? And why is it so unclear whether anyone has demanded a ransom?
I am so enjoying this series. Hambly gives us great inside views of the film industry, its players, who gets ahead and why and also a sense of the geography, gangs, crime and peccadilloes of California of the 1920s. Who's the grownup in the room? Did you need to ]ask? It’s Susy.
October 2, 2024
The latest in Barbara Hambly's Silver Screen series is possibly the best of the three--and I absolutely loved the first two. The same setting and characters--Kitty, Emma, Zal, Pugh, et al making movies in silent era Los Angeles and the surrounding deserts--but with a new set of nasty mysteries to solve.
The central mystery is the kidnapping of a popular child actress and her mother. Emma's compassion for Susy is matched by her disgust for Susy's pathologically selfish mother, her drunken failure father, and her absolutely horrendous grandfather and aunt, none of whom care about the girl except as a source of income. Of course Emma can't resist becoming involved in the investigation, and neither can Kitty, who has unlimited energy and thirst for adventure while also starring in vast film epics.
Kitty is an amazing character in all three books: she's beautiful but can't act, she can't resist a handsome man nor a rich one, and she's extremely compassionate and clever. She understands people and what motivates them, and always wants to provide comfort where it's needed.
When Emma ends up with yet another task she can't resist, as it ties in with her past as the daughter of an Oxford don, it all becomes a bit overwhelming for her, emotionally and physically. People die, people get hurt, villains come out of the woodwork. Emma steadfastly carries on, her only thought being "how can I help."
Hambly's superb plotting carries it off so well, but what makes it even more engaging for the reader is her sense of place: the chaos of making silent movies when plots are rewritten on the fly and the weather interferes; the expanses of the California deserts in the enervating heat of day and the deep chill of night, filled with scents and sounds that make you feel you are there.
The central mystery is the kidnapping of a popular child actress and her mother. Emma's compassion for Susy is matched by her disgust for Susy's pathologically selfish mother, her drunken failure father, and her absolutely horrendous grandfather and aunt, none of whom care about the girl except as a source of income. Of course Emma can't resist becoming involved in the investigation, and neither can Kitty, who has unlimited energy and thirst for adventure while also starring in vast film epics.
Kitty is an amazing character in all three books: she's beautiful but can't act, she can't resist a handsome man nor a rich one, and she's extremely compassionate and clever. She understands people and what motivates them, and always wants to provide comfort where it's needed.
When Emma ends up with yet another task she can't resist, as it ties in with her past as the daughter of an Oxford don, it all becomes a bit overwhelming for her, emotionally and physically. People die, people get hurt, villains come out of the woodwork. Emma steadfastly carries on, her only thought being "how can I help."
Hambly's superb plotting carries it off so well, but what makes it even more engaging for the reader is her sense of place: the chaos of making silent movies when plots are rewritten on the fly and the weather interferes; the expanses of the California deserts in the enervating heat of day and the deep chill of night, filled with scents and sounds that make you feel you are there.
November 6, 2024
Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Saving Susy Sweetchild is the third Hollywood historical mystery by Barbara Hambly. Released 3rd Sept 2024 by Severn House, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. Paperback format due out 2nd quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
More intrigue, kidnapping, and murder in Hollywood's golden age. Academically gifted, impoverished, widowed Emma Blackstone is once again called on to help, this time to locate a missing child actress and her mother who've been kidnapped.
Hambly is an incredible prolific and prodigiously gifted writer, whatever genre she turns her talents to. This one is no exception. It's remarkable how different this series is from her other well known series (Dr. Benjamin January, for example).
Although the mystery and denouement work well enough as a standalone, there are some minor spoilers and developments from earlier books which will affect reading if the series is read out of order (nothing story-breaking, but they are there).
Four and a half stars. It would be an excellent choice for public library acquisition, home reading, or gifting. With three books extant in the series, it would also be a good choice for a binge/buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Saving Susy Sweetchild is the third Hollywood historical mystery by Barbara Hambly. Released 3rd Sept 2024 by Severn House, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. Paperback format due out 2nd quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
More intrigue, kidnapping, and murder in Hollywood's golden age. Academically gifted, impoverished, widowed Emma Blackstone is once again called on to help, this time to locate a missing child actress and her mother who've been kidnapped.
Hambly is an incredible prolific and prodigiously gifted writer, whatever genre she turns her talents to. This one is no exception. It's remarkable how different this series is from her other well known series (Dr. Benjamin January, for example).
Although the mystery and denouement work well enough as a standalone, there are some minor spoilers and developments from earlier books which will affect reading if the series is read out of order (nothing story-breaking, but they are there).
Four and a half stars. It would be an excellent choice for public library acquisition, home reading, or gifting. With three books extant in the series, it would also be a good choice for a binge/buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
September 7, 2024
English widow Emma has settled comfortably into her new life in 1920s Hollywood as her silent movie star sister-in-law's companion and part-time script doctor. When a child star and her mother are kidnapped, she gets swept up in the mystery, if only because she and Kitty may be the only ones who really care if Susy gets home or not.
There has been a surprising number of mysteries centering around staged kidnapping plots going awry that I've read published in the last few years. That's all I can say while avoiding spoilers.
This is the third book in the series, but despite having not read the earlier books I was able to find my footing quickly enough in this story. 1920s Hollywood comes alive in all its sleazy glory, but for all that Hambly isn't afraid to face its dark side there's plenty of dry humor to be found here too. I loved the unlikely bond between professor's daughter Emma and the free-spirited Kitty, as well as the low-key romance between Emma and Zal.
There are one too many coincidences for my liking though, subplots twining together so neatly that it threatened my suspension of disbelief. And maybe it's because I've seen plenty of this plot recently, but I didn't find the mystery very compelling. Indeed, it drifted in and out of focus throughout the book, with the historical aspects even eclipsing it at times. Luckily, those aspects are still fascinating on their own.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
There has been a surprising number of mysteries centering around staged kidnapping plots going awry that I've read published in the last few years. That's all I can say while avoiding spoilers.
This is the third book in the series, but despite having not read the earlier books I was able to find my footing quickly enough in this story. 1920s Hollywood comes alive in all its sleazy glory, but for all that Hambly isn't afraid to face its dark side there's plenty of dry humor to be found here too. I loved the unlikely bond between professor's daughter Emma and the free-spirited Kitty, as well as the low-key romance between Emma and Zal.
There are one too many coincidences for my liking though, subplots twining together so neatly that it threatened my suspension of disbelief. And maybe it's because I've seen plenty of this plot recently, but I didn't find the mystery very compelling. Indeed, it drifted in and out of focus throughout the book, with the historical aspects even eclipsing it at times. Luckily, those aspects are still fascinating on their own.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
August 23, 2024
I thank NetGalley and Severn House for an advance reader copy of Saving Suzy Sweetchild. All opinions and comments are my own.
If you want to read a book about how terrible the “business of Hollywood movie making” was, this is the book for you. The mystery plot is pretty much secondary to what’s behind the “finding Suzy Sweetchild” story, which turns out to be a pretty doggone dismal one. Thank goodness we still have (this being book #3) great characters in the form of Emma Blackstone, Kitty Flint AKA the film star Camille de la Rose and a host of hangers-on, and a story that Tinseltown would be happy to get behind, if it wasn’t such an indictment of the industry.
The studio needs the child star -- every day she’s not filming they lose money -- so Emma puts her usual script fixer duties aside, well, most of the time, to conduct a thorough “investigation.” After a whole lot of tooing and froing (the book does do a whole lot of jumping around), with the assistance of good friend Zal and various other studio helpers, everything is brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
Emma is also able to indulge her archeological educational roots; that’s the secondary plot line that occupies a goodly portion of the story. And that’s a wrap, for Saving Suzy Sweetchild.
If you want to read a book about how terrible the “business of Hollywood movie making” was, this is the book for you. The mystery plot is pretty much secondary to what’s behind the “finding Suzy Sweetchild” story, which turns out to be a pretty doggone dismal one. Thank goodness we still have (this being book #3) great characters in the form of Emma Blackstone, Kitty Flint AKA the film star Camille de la Rose and a host of hangers-on, and a story that Tinseltown would be happy to get behind, if it wasn’t such an indictment of the industry.
The studio needs the child star -- every day she’s not filming they lose money -- so Emma puts her usual script fixer duties aside, well, most of the time, to conduct a thorough “investigation.” After a whole lot of tooing and froing (the book does do a whole lot of jumping around), with the assistance of good friend Zal and various other studio helpers, everything is brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
Emma is also able to indulge her archeological educational roots; that’s the secondary plot line that occupies a goodly portion of the story. And that’s a wrap, for Saving Suzy Sweetchild.
October 25, 2025
“An Extra Corpse” didn’t quite work because Hambly tried to use a more classical, Great Detective style of plotting that didn’t fit the material. If you’re writing a mystery that is set in LA, is often concerned with the seamy side of the film industry, and has protagonists who are not detectives, it really ought to be a noir. “Saving Susy Sweetchild” is a noir, despite its kitschy-sounding title, and so is far better than its predecessor. Hambly already had a nice premise and several fun characters: all she needed for a good mystery was a plot that works, and the practices of ‘20s Hollywood provide lots of material. She even manages to effectively work in some character development for Emma Blackstone, the main protagonist. Now that she’s found her stride with this series, I’m eagerly looking forward to the next one.
October 1, 2024
Emma Blackstone is back in another silent movie mystery.
Hollywood in the late 1940's was really the wild west. I enjoyed reading about the vast open spaces that made up the city and its surroundings at that time, and contrasting it with LA as it is now! Emma, her boyfriend Zal , and her screen star sister in law Kitty are reluctantly drawn into a kidnapping. A child star and her mother have gone missing, and while the movie studio awaits a ransom demand, Emma and company get on the case.
The mystery plot got a little confusing at times, but I enjoyed reconnecting with the main characters of this story (number three in its series), and look forward to more.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Hollywood in the late 1940's was really the wild west. I enjoyed reading about the vast open spaces that made up the city and its surroundings at that time, and contrasting it with LA as it is now! Emma, her boyfriend Zal , and her screen star sister in law Kitty are reluctantly drawn into a kidnapping. A child star and her mother have gone missing, and while the movie studio awaits a ransom demand, Emma and company get on the case.
The mystery plot got a little confusing at times, but I enjoyed reconnecting with the main characters of this story (number three in its series), and look forward to more.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
November 28, 2025
This is book 3 of the Silver Screen Historical Mysteries. Two unrelated happenstances lead indirectly to the intersection of multiple deaths and a murderer.
Though I can't point my finger at anything specific, Saving Susy Sweetchild felt somewhat disjointed. The progression of the mystery felt jerky, which is highly unusual for Barbara Hambly's usually outstanding work. Perhaps it was meant to mirror the high stress and frustration of the MC dealing with the cold-hearted and money-driven impetus of several of the characters, and her impotence to get them to care about the poor lost child.
It was still a fun and entertaining addition to the series, and I look forward to the next book.
Though I can't point my finger at anything specific, Saving Susy Sweetchild felt somewhat disjointed. The progression of the mystery felt jerky, which is highly unusual for Barbara Hambly's usually outstanding work. Perhaps it was meant to mirror the high stress and frustration of the MC dealing with the cold-hearted and money-driven impetus of several of the characters, and her impotence to get them to care about the poor lost child.
It was still a fun and entertaining addition to the series, and I look forward to the next book.
February 22, 2026
Getting caught up on this series. The first book in the series was decent, the second was better, and in the third - Saving Susy Sweetchild - Barbara Hambly has hit her stride and is going to town. Susy Sweetchild is a 7-year-old actor in a Western being filmed by Foremost Production who was kidnapped along with her mother in the middle of the night. Now Emma Blackstone along with her sister-in-law Kitty, her significant friend Zal, and a few others have to solve this mystery while also shooting a movie starring Kitty as an Evil Queen of the Desert. And for fun, Emma has a side job of sorting out a dead Classical Literature professor's papers. A fun and thrilling adventure into 1920's Hollywood with a shootout at the climax. Looking forward to more in this series!
November 14, 2024
Still really enjoying the series and I want more. This one felt like it didn't quite come together at the end for me. Too many threads, I think. This one is also starting to have more of the Ben January feel than Bride of the Rat God, which I don't mind per se, but the flavor is definitely changing. Has the similar theme of protagonist longing for the past and the land they left behind, having mixed feelings about the place they're currently in, but still managing to find and build their community. I'd also like Zal to have a bit more meat to his character. But still, on the whole enjoyed it, and I'll be reading the next one.
October 21, 2025
This series just gets better and better and I couldn't put this one down. Hambly kept me guessing right up to the very last couple of pages and the plot was very propelling.
When a child star, abused by her mother, is kidnapped off the set of Kitty's latest film, Emma, Zal, and Kitty investigate. The wonderfully depicted historical setting of Hollywood in its wild beginnings is a major part of my enjoyment of this series as are the personable characters. My only quibble here is that the resolution of all the various threads is a bit quick after the main mystery is solved.
But, I am yearning already for another in the series! Hopefully Hambly is working on one right now!
When a child star, abused by her mother, is kidnapped off the set of Kitty's latest film, Emma, Zal, and Kitty investigate. The wonderfully depicted historical setting of Hollywood in its wild beginnings is a major part of my enjoyment of this series as are the personable characters. My only quibble here is that the resolution of all the various threads is a bit quick after the main mystery is solved.
But, I am yearning already for another in the series! Hopefully Hambly is working on one right now!
January 19, 2025
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to soooo hard. And it wasn't *bad*. It just felt like there was two or three times as much extremely accurate historical detail as there was story. At times it seemed so in depth that I lost track of the story line as the plot was occasionally limited to a sentence or two on a page. I don't think I have ever taken so long to read 220 pages in my life.
Well-written, a historian's dream, but I wanted to be caught up in the characters and the story and I just wasn't.
Well-written, a historian's dream, but I wanted to be caught up in the characters and the story and I just wasn't.
February 4, 2025
I felt like I was starting a book in a series with having read the beginning book. Why is the main character Emma sometimes called Duchess? Presumably because she's British.
What's the story of her sister in law? Why is so much archeology included? Is it because the author is knowledgeable in it and wants it to be put to use or was it just ham fisted in to try and give more depth?
The story is a little scattered.. Realistic to history in some ways but not in others.
There's lots of characters to keep track of and several moments of confusion whilst reading but this was still an enjoyable read overall mainly due to my interest in the era and in early film making...
**Edit, this is book 2 in a series! I have started book 1 and already am getting some of my questions answered. Wish it had been better indicated that this is in fact a series.
*Edit 2, lol this is actually book #3 in the series!!!
What's the story of her sister in law? Why is so much archeology included? Is it because the author is knowledgeable in it and wants it to be put to use or was it just ham fisted in to try and give more depth?
The story is a little scattered.. Realistic to history in some ways but not in others.
There's lots of characters to keep track of and several moments of confusion whilst reading but this was still an enjoyable read overall mainly due to my interest in the era and in early film making...
**Edit, this is book 2 in a series! I have started book 1 and already am getting some of my questions answered. Wish it had been better indicated that this is in fact a series.
*Edit 2, lol this is actually book #3 in the series!!!
September 15, 2024
Fantastic!
I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. We get to see Emma solve two seemingly unrelated mysteries. We also see more of her academic background and clever and creative skills a a screenwriter. Read this book. You’ll love it. I can’t wait for the next silver screen mystery.
I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. We get to see Emma solve two seemingly unrelated mysteries. We also see more of her academic background and clever and creative skills a a screenwriter. Read this book. You’ll love it. I can’t wait for the next silver screen mystery.
September 17, 2024
Hambly's historicals set in 1920's Hollywood (or Hollywoodland) bring across just how weird and alien the sub-culture there was. Very entertainingly, and the mystery is solved (but the murderer is not punished) for good reason, which you'll have to read the book to find out.
This is a very good series... though I confess to a lingering fondness for BRIDE OF THE RAT-GOD.
This is a very good series... though I confess to a lingering fondness for BRIDE OF THE RAT-GOD.
December 31, 2024
Barbara does a great job with this interesting setting and the kinds of people who live and die in it - the "fish out of water" protagonist learns a lot about this very different world she has been thrust into, and I like how her sister-in-law proves to be more savvy than one might expect
I loved how Barbara resolved the situation the title character faced
I loved how Barbara resolved the situation the title character faced
September 22, 2024
Intense!
When a young star is kidnapped, it soon becomes clear that her home life was terrible, and she had gone from the frying pan into the fire. Emma, Kitty, and Zal try to figure out who took her and why, hoping they’ll figure it out before the kidnappers lose patience.
When a young star is kidnapped, it soon becomes clear that her home life was terrible, and she had gone from the frying pan into the fire. Emma, Kitty, and Zal try to figure out who took her and why, hoping they’ll figure it out before the kidnappers lose patience.
October 30, 2024
fascinating time and place in history
Hambly does a great job creating a spellbinding time and place for her stories. The mystery isn’t the most compelling part of the book - her characters are!
Hambly does a great job creating a spellbinding time and place for her stories. The mystery isn’t the most compelling part of the book - her characters are!
November 14, 2024
The character development continues apace. Kitty shows intelligence and cunning even while dressed and made up as Evil Queen Zahar, and we get to see Emma in her natural habitat of academia as well as in the confusion that is 1920s Hollywood.
January 7, 2025
I love the combination of mystery with the 1920s Hollywood film industry. It was nice to see Emma do a bit of archaeology in between sleuthing/dog-walking/scene-rewriting and the ending was spot-on perfect.
July 6, 2025
(Read in kobo epub.) Nicely complicated mysteries, but weirdly meh. Bland main character, which nicely sets off the much more interesting Kitty. (And I kept wondering how this was connected with Bride of the Rat God ...)
Want to read
August 23, 2024O
September 8, 2024
Maybe a 3.75-ish? Basically solid, workmanlike effort from Hambly. Not anywhere near her best, but even a 'run-of-the-mill' book from her is above many folks' best.
June 3, 2025
An excellent mystery! Still like the main characters, yay!
September 22, 2025
1920s Hollywood was a place of contrasts: glittering spectacle and long hours under horrible conditions, glamour and depravity. When a 7-year-old child star is kidnapped, the studio head pressures scenarist Emma Blackstone (assistant and dog-minder to her femme fatale sister-in-law) to write an alternate ending to Little Susy's current film--just in case. Can he be trusted to pay the ransom? Can the kidnappers be trusted to return the child alive even if they get the money? And what, if anything, does Little Susy's horrible stage mother have to do with the crime?
The series is getting better as it goes along.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The series is getting better as it goes along.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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