Cover-Up Story (A Bantam Crime Line Book) [Mass Market Paperback]

Marian Babson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1991

Nashville's Bart and The Cousins, in England on a road trip, have a chart-topping song. Unfortunately Bart also has an indictment back in the USA over an underage groupie. Keeping that hot news out of the London papers is a job for Doug Perkins, of the PR firm of Perkins and Tate. Doug soon finds that you can take the boy out of the country...but he's still going to run after jailbait. And when Doug thinks that things can't get worse, secrets about love and money start emerging faster than sad notes from the band's toothless harmonica player. What's really going on among Bart and the Cousins is a shocker...and even a spin doctor can't cover-up its deadly consequences. Instead Doug may have to turn from PR to PI...and figure out who committed murder.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this rollicking mystery, Douglas Perkins of the London public relations firm Perkins & Tate must keep his major clientan American country singerhappy so that his company can stay solvent. It is no easy task. Black Bart is a tyrant whose sexual appetite for young girls has forced him to flee the U.S. His troupe includes Lou-Ann Cooney, the "comedy star," and Maw Cooney, the ultimate stage mother; the Cousins, a group of unsavory musicians; Uncle No'ccount; Crystal Harper, Black Bart's sister; and Sam Marcowitz, "a man who could give wallpaper lessons on fading unobtrusively into the background," road manager and brother of Perkins & Tate's financial backer. When Maw Cooney is hurt in a dubious accident, then dies after exclaiming "The bastard pushed me!" Perkins is suspicious and apprehensive: He may know who the "bastard" is. Perkins and his partner Gerry Tate try unsuccessfully to keep the peace within Black Bart's group, but everyone seems determined to stir up more trouble. Babson ( Reel Murder , Untimely Guest ) has a coolly amused, ironic voice. Though her characters are not fully realized, and the villain is obvious, their antics are reason enough to enjoy this fast-paced mystery.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Babson weaves her separate threads into a tight plot...A swift and sure climax leads to a clever and satisfying resolution." -Publishers Weekly on To Catch a Cat

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 187 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553293303
• ISBN-13: 978-0553293302
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,584,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A nice day-long read for "cozy" fans, September 13, 2000

By 

"kathrynlively" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cover-up story (Hardcover)

I discovered this title by accident, but would recommend it to anyone who likes the "cozy" British-style of mystery story-telling. Doug Perkins, a frustrated PR man in 70s London, is trying to save his sinking PR firm by representing an American "hillbilly" singing/comedy act, Black Bart and the Troupe, abroad. He desperately needs their money to stay afloat, but along with the fees he must also bear the brunt of their constant criticism.

Maw, the ultimate stage mother who makes "Gypsy"'s Mama Rose seem retiring, insists on bringing her daughter to the forefront of the act, while Bart thinks he is the true star. Maw's "accidental" death stalls the troupe's UK debut, but when the show does go on Doug knows the star is also a killer.

The mystery part -- who killed Maw -- is quite easy to solve, but the amusing narrative told from Doug's POV makes this easy to forgive.

3.0 out of 5 stars First Babson mystery does not live up to par, February 22, 2004

By 

Karina A. Suarez "Karina A. Fogliani-Ahmed" (Walt Disney World, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cover-Up Story (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

A most unusual mystery, this first one by Marian Babson, will surprise as much as amuse. Doug Perkins and Gerry Tate are partners in the PR firm of Perkins & Tate, Ltd.; in cosmopolitan 70's London. They have a few mom-and-pop accounts that just allow them to eat decently, when the "big one" lands on their lap. They are to handle the PR for a top country music band on tour from the States, by the name of Black Bart and the Cousins. Their hit single "Homesteader" is on everyone's lips. Black Bart, on the other hand, will be on Doug and Gerry's nerves for the rest of the job. He is a repulsive, red neck hillbilly from the Ozarks, who yells his orders despotically and basically mistreats everybody around him including, but not limited to, his sister Crystal (married to one of the band), and his own wife Lou-Ann, who acts as a comedienne throughout the show. The story is presented as a VH1 "Behind the Music" episode, as if following the history of any famous band. But it "ain't jest plain sailin'" with the band as it all seems. Black Bart has an indictment for child molestation in the US that must be kept out of the press; hence the rather surreptitious need for a tour. Half way through the book, Lou-Ann's mother is run over (accidentally?) by a cabbie and, after a few hours in the hospital, she dies. It was at this point in the book that I wondered if I was reading a mystery or just a plain script for a TV movie. Of course, Maw Cooney (that is the victim's name) was murdered, but one wouldn't know it if it weren't for the jacket blurb. The fact that the old woman's last words are: "That bastard pushed me!" (page 103), are not to be taken into account, as any mystery fan would be wise to interpret; especially when, as Doug Perkins puts it, "they're all bastards."

I have to admit the characters are extremely well portrayed. I'll go even further and say any reader could single them out in a crowd after finishing the book, were they real. The dialogues are excellent, reflecting all those American inflexions from the rural South like "... ye com' down hea!..." and "... ye jest don't know, y'all..." Black Bart is the villain we all love to hate, and he is by far the best-portrayed character. This is good, since he is the center of the story. His wife Lou-Ann, is the typical innocent, talented young girl exploited by everyone including her own mother. Her ill-fated mother reminded me of Jonbenet Ramsey's: the typical stage parent who pushes her child to the limits of stardom, and usually pushes too much. The Cousins are a number by themselves, they just play whenever Bart snarls a few words at them, the rest of the time behaving like the typical illiterates they are.

Why a hillbilly band from Nashville would be a rocking success in England is beyond me, but then again, the whole novel is to me quite... strange. I would have preferred a more glamorously presented narrative for the idea of a cozy within the Public Relations world. Likewise, a mystery within the music industry is an appealing idea - and one that I haven't seen taken upon by writers yet - but all the same, the setting should, again, be fleshed out rather differently, maybe showing the band while composing new songs, the tour arrangements and the promotional interviews, to name but a few.

The dénouement comes naturally, but the question remains. Is this a good mystery cozy? From the technical point of view, it is. But for some reason, it just didn't fulfill me. Babson wraps the story up at the end with a tide-in for the next one in the series, where Perkins & Tate will be contracted to manage the PR for a high profile cat show. Hopefully, it will be more forthcoming and less odd than this one.