The Renewable Virgin

Marian Larch Mysteries #1

by Barbara Paul

When a television writer is murdered, three women join forces to find his killerAfter years churning out schlock for television, Rudy Benedict is afraid his job will kill him if he doesn't leave Hollywood soon. He's wrong. He'll make it all the way to New York before he dies. After a few weeks of fruitless work on his new play--an expos� of Hollywood's seamy underbelly--Rudy is found dead on the floor of his apartment, poisoned.The cops are baffled. Who would bother killing someone with so little talent? At first, it looks like the real target was Kelly Ingram, a gorgeous actress on the verge of her big break, but NYPD detective Marian Larch isn't convinced. Looking for answers, the two women reach out to Rudy's mother for help unraveling the mystery--but Mrs. Benedict may have an appetite for murder.The Renewable Virgin is the 1st book in the Marian Larch Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Genres: Mystery

355 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Barbara Paul is an American writer of detective stories and science fiction. She was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1931 and was educated, inter alia, at Bowling Green State University and the University of Pittsburgh.

A number of her novels feature in-jokes: for example Full Frontal Murder borrows various names from the British TV series Blake's 7.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

. . . Enjoyed the characters, and the story from different character’s points of view. But, something was missing for me. Although a New York City story, it didn't have much sense of place. No atmosphere.

And, the writing lacked colour, perhaps my biggest disappointment. The title character had lots of pizzaz, but the novel couldn’t make the same claim.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fresh mystery

I read this first in the 80s and loved it. , I didn't remember any more than I loved it. I've read a lot of mysteries since and very very few reach the sheer quality of this one. I bet you'll love it too.

[D.H. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was led into reading The Renewable Virgin by a review I had wrote four years earlier. A few months ago, I was contacted on Good Reads by Shaelyn from Michigan. The best selling author Charlaine Harris had said in her blog that The Fourth Wall by Barbara Paul (1931 – 2022) was one of the books that ‘shaped her as a writer’. So Shaelyn looked up the book, and one of the few reviews she could find was mine. She then got the audio book and gave it five stars (as I had). Having read the book myself in 2020, during lockdown, Shaelyn’s interest prompted me to reread it. Surprising how much you can forget in four years, certainly the ending, which makes it a good whodunit which worked with the clash of egos in its theatrical setting. So I thought, I must try another Barbara Paul, and I bought The Renewable Virgin.

And it didn’t disappoint.

This time the setting is TV. The book was written in 1984 but it’s surprising how little has changed in the industry. Kelly Ingram is the renewable virgin of the title. She is an actress in the series LeFever, where her role is to be the sexy girlfriend of LeFever, the main part. Her agent is setting her up for more such parts and has fixed it that she is to be a judge in the next Miss World contest. Kelly goes along with her stereotyping, the sexy not too bright girl next door. Though, limiting in acting skills, the role makes her a good living, and she enjoys being famous. Proposed new shows by her agent will maintain her brand. Rudy, her almost boyfriend, is a hack scriptwriter, making an OK living in TV, but is getting sick of it, and telling everyone he is writing a play for the theatre about television. How much that was wishful thinking we never find out, as Rudy is murdered before the play, or his relationship with Kelly, can get any further.

The story is told in the first person mostly by Kelly and by Marian Larch, an NYPD detective. Much of the action is around the TV show LeFever with its actors, producers, writers and sponsors pushing for what they want. It can be a ruthless world. ‘Me too’ has highlighted the casting couch in film and TV. For more lowly mortals, like Rudy, it pays to keep in with the producer as scriptwriters and such are easily disposable, in that insecure, self-employed, set up.

Although Barbara Paul is a feminist, she doesn’t load it on Kelly, who is almost anti, though pressed by detective Marian Larch, who has to stand up to the boys in the police department. Kelly and Marian becomes friends, an unlikely pairing, a successful, if limited, actress and a lowly detective, but it works. A fascinating world, well told and a good whodunit.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is refreshing to read a mystery in which two women can become friends and not exhibit any of the stereotypic attitudes usually assigned to them in mystery novels — no jealousy, resentment, secrets, or verbal duels. It was especially exciting to have encountered a novel in the 1980s in which women were the magnetic force holding the whole together. As good as the mystery is, and it’s pretty good, the voice of the narrative is its strength, refreshing and direct.

[Nanna Sally Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Novel, Good Mystery, Marvellous Characters

I enjoyed this story very much. The characters, while they have some elements of cliche, they are not totally 2 dimensional. Clinches are such for a reason
The story is told from several perspectives, which change between chapters and each maintains its own style.
I recommend this to any reader who is looking for another author to follow.

[The Suburban Eclectic · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of a down on his luck writer that thinks he's going to be the next big thing only to turn up dead. The protagonist, Kelly, is a little snarky and snide, but nonetheless likeable. But a mystery book is supposed to be mysterious right? I didn't find it so and the policing in this whodunit is comical. Anyone who ever watched a cop drama or even came across a Law & Order episode while channel surfing would have better interview skills than the hapless Detective Larch.
I found this hard to get through as my attention wandered at the first opportunity. The Renewable Virgin is the 1st book in the Marian Larch Mysteries, but sadly my last.

Thank you to MysteriousPress.com/Open Road for the ARC. I wished I liked it more.