Customer Reviews

Death In Daytime: A Soap Opera Mystery

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Current The Bold and the Beautiful star Eileen Davidson joins other daytime drama vets Harley Jane Kozak, Louise Shaffer, and Finola Hughes in adding "author" to her curriculum vitae. Death in Daytime is the first of a projected cozy mystery series (the second will be entitled Dial Emmy for Murder) starring Alexis Peterson. The intrepid Alex, narrator of these Soap Opera Mysteries, amateur sleuth out of the necessity of keeping herself out of jail, and heroine of course, happens to star in the The Yearning Tide, a fictional analogue for the the real soaps where Davidson has worked.

Naturally, none of the characters literally depict real persons, but soap fans might have fun trying to guess which real actor, writer, producer, or crew member inspired this or that aspect of Davidson's creations. For instance, it may not be too difficult to guess the actual head writer[s] who might have served as model[s] for Marcy Blanchard, the witch who hates Alex and wants to write out her popular character, Tiffany Benedict.

When Marcy buys the farm unnaturally, Alex becomes suspect prime. She and her CSI show consultant boyfriend poke into the possibilities themselves, leading Alex to another body. Meanwhile, one of the two L.A. detectives investigating the murders is a starry-eyed fan of The Yearning Tide and Tiffany and the other one and Alex begin to form a mutual attraction between their real life selves. But Alex, who has a three-year-old daughter and a devoted mother, is less interested in romance than in clearing her name and keeping herself from becoming the killer's next victim.

Alex is a kick: she, one guesses, is an alter ego of sorts of Davidson's. She is offended when people call her a "diva" saying, "I've never been a diva." She also bemoans a rumor about herself that claimed she was actually a man, and there is a chuckle in reading her annoyance at the ridiculousness of it all. Ah, the price of being a soap celebrity, real or fictional.

Davidson puts together a light, enjoyable read. The identity of the murderer isn't totally obvious -- always a plus. The structure of the mystery itself isn't off-the-charts ingenious, and this is one of those books that moves rapidly from plot point to plot point (a bit like a modern soap, perhaps) with pretty basic dialogue as connective hookups. But Death in Daytime is still good fun, especially for fans of Davidson or the soaps in general.

Eileen Davidson played Ashley on "The Young and the Restless" and is now starring on "The Bold and the Beautiful" so there is a lot of insider information about soaps in this mystery.

It's the first in a series so a lot of the continuing characters are introduced - Alexis's family, boyfriend, co-workers and of course, the police detective who I'm sure will be in the next book.

The head writer on "The Yearning Tide" is murdered with her emmy, of all things, and Alexis is the main suspect. They had had a big argument and to Alexis's dismay, many of her co-workers think she did it. The police seem to agree so of course its up to Alex to clear her name.

Alex is likeable and the insights into the world of soap operas make it an above average cozy.

I don't know when book 2 is coming out but the title is "Dial Emmy for Murder".

after having watched soap operas for more years that i would like to admit. this book was like seeing the show behind the show. very interesting and was able to keep my attention as i read.

Easy reading - enjoyed the book - couldn't put it down after I started reading it. If you enjoy soap operas, you will like this book.

Alexis is proud of the work she does on a popular daytime drama - but the new head writer is blaming her for stealing romance and is on a vendetta against her. When she confronts her nemesis and she's found murdered the next day, it's up to Alexis to investigate and free herself from being the prime suspect in this fine murder mystery recommended for libraries strong in murder mystery novels.

This was a very funny and interesting mystery. I could not put the book down until I was finished. I recommend this book for everyone who loves mysteries.

Super book. Can't wait for the next one. The heroine sounds like what I think Eileen Davidson sounds like for real.

Good read. Those who always wanted to know what happens or could happen behind the scenes of a daytime soap opera should read it. There is one thing i didn't like though and that was all the extreme admiration for Alex...she is the leading character, but still, was too much.

This is a good start to a new series that'll be enjoyed by any fan of daytime TV.

I did find Alex to be quite flighty -- all the emphasis on how much she loves her daughter, but carelessly running around trying to play amateur detective, putting herself and her loved ones at risk. And I also got a bit tired of the justification for Alex's amateur detective work being that she watches CSI. However, despite an obvious killer (there were only three characters that weren't either part of Alex's close circle or killed, and two of them were interrogated way too early for it to be them), the book was fun and I look forward to the next in the series.

Although I did finish the book, I was disappointed throughout with the quality of the writing, which was amateurish at best. The author seemed to try too hard to use "every day talk" and slang, to the point that it took away from the book--became increasingly annoying. The identity of the murderer was predictable, evident almost at the moment he was introduced. I know that writers generally improve as they continue writing, but I would want to leaf through the next book before purchasing. I would definitely not want to read another book by this author if the writing has not improved. My advice to Eileen Davidson, whom I love as an actress, is "stick to knitting."