Falling Star [Paperback]

Diana Dempsey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2002

Meet anchorwoman Natalie Daniels. Her husband just dumped her. Her boss is scheming to replace her. And she's hopelessly in love with a man who's engaged to another. What's a woman like Natalie to do-especially in Los Angeles, a city already known for shaky foundations? Teach all of them a lesson in success and revenge.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

L.A. news anchor Dempsey's first novel is set in a world familiar to her: the cutthroat arena of television news. Natalie Daniels, the prime-time anchor for KXLA, is on the verge of her fortieth birthday, which places her position as one of L.A.'s most visible news anchors in jeopardy. Tony Scoppio, the new news director, is preoccupied with the bottom line and is looking to cut corners wherever he can, and he focuses on Natalie's sizable salary. Tony is also concerned about Natalie's age and is considering replacing her with a younger candidate. To make matters worse, Natalie's former protegee and current rival, Kelly, sees this as the perfect opportunity for the advancement she craves and begins angling for Natalie's position. When Natalie makes an on-camera error and goes to extremes to get an interview, Tony demotes her and gives the conniving Kelly the coveted anchor spot. Distraught, Natalie begins searching for a new job, but opportunities are mysteriously scarce. Natalie has to decide whether to stay at KXLA and accept her reduced position or leave the station she has become attached to. Dishy and fun--in other words, perfect summer fare. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER ONE

Monday, June 17, 2:19 P.M.

Natalie Daniels stood apart from the other mourners in the rear of Our Lady Victory Catholic Church, clutching a damp balled tissue. Brilliant sunshine streamed through stained-glass windows far overhead, dappling the spray of white lilies on Evie's casket with iridescent color. Beside her in the hushed nave Natalie could hear the soft whir of videotape rolling as her cameraman recorded the eulogy for posterity. And for that night's edition of The KXLA Primetime News.

``We all knew Evelyn as a woman who grabbed life with both hands,'' the elderly priest said, ``whether she was winning ballroom dance competitions or skewering politicians for The Downey Eagle.''

The assemblage chuckled knowingly at the description but Natalie shook her head with a surge of bitterness. Evie had to write for TheEagle, its circulation all of thirty thousand, because she got fired from KXLA.

``Evelyn was a rule breaker,'' the priest went on. ``And not only when she played bridge or golf or tennis.'' The mourners' chuckle grew into a laugh. ``She broke the rules when she became the first woman reporter on Los Angeles television. She broke the rules when she used the men's rest room because her station had no facilities for women. And she broke the rules when for two decades she won countless Emmy awards and put her news department on the map.''

And still I had to fight to bring a camera here! Natalie shook her head in disbelief, angry tears stinging her eyes. Evie did so much for KXLA but what did the station do for her? Fire her when she hit forty-five and ignore her death a dozen years later. Natalie practically had to hijack a cameraman to cover her funeral.

``Evelyn also cheated death.We were friends for forty years but she did not share her burden until she could no longer hide cancer's ravages. I am filled with admiration for her courage.'' The priest's voice caught. ``She was a great lady, our Evelyn Parker. And now she rests with God. Let us pray.''

He began a lulling, singsong prayer and Natalie allowed her mind to drift. How could Evie be gone? Mentor, friend, relentless booster. The person most responsible for launching Natalie as an anchor, the person who taught her the ins and outs of television news. Natalie fought to control a sob that rose in her throat, her compulsion to maintain professional composure battling her grief. I never thanked her enough. And now it's too late.

Flanked by altar boys, the priest moved toward the casket, framed at both ends by standing floral arrangements. He sprinkled the coffin with holy water, all the while praying in a low monotone. The warm air, laden with incense, seemed to thicken.

Natalie heard a rumble in the distance. She cocked her head, puzzled. A thunderstorm? In Los Angeles? In June?

The rumble intensified, grew closer. Natalie felt the earth shudder far beneath the church's stone flags. One of the floral arrangements swayed like a drunken sailor, then toppled, clattering to the floor. Involuntarily Natalie's hand flew to her throat. No. It can't be. Not now.

Her cameraman, Julio, turned to her, his dark eyes wide. Both mouthed the dreaded word. Earthquake!The next moment the ground shifted with such force that Natalie was thrown off her feet. She dropped to her knees, powerless as she fell to keep her head from banging into a pew. As pain ricocheted through her skull she was aware of people screaming and shouting, Julio beside her on his knees struggling to keep taping.

And the noise! Deafening, like a train pounding through her brain, or a 747 taking off right overhead.

Seconds passed, the unreal undulation growing in intensity. Suddenly the earth gave a particularly ugly lurch. Seventy feet overhead, the church's masonry vaulting groaned. Then a stained-glass window burst from its frame, the sound a shotgun blast. Shards of multicolored glass sprayed the congregation like so much deadly confetti, the screaming around Natalie growing frenzied and animal.

She crawled under a pew, cramming her body into the smallest possible ball. A vision of a man's intense dark eyes rose in her mind.Where is Miles now? My God, I hope he's safe.

The image vanished in the next shock wave, as all at once the church was rocked by one apocalyptic spasm of noise and motion. Votive candles rolled crazily across the flagstones, the sickly sweet smells of beeswax and incense mingling with acrid dust. All Natalie could do was cling to the seesawing ground, her head banging repeatedly against the pew, the pain numbing.

Then, as quickly as it started, the shaking stopped.

For a moment she was immobilized, too dazed to do anything but remain in her crouch. Seconds passed. Around her she could hear people clambering to their feet, the priest appealing loudly for calm. Slowly she began to believe that indeed, for the moment at least, the earth had settled grudgingly back into place.

Natalie rose to her full height, struggling to think despite the pounding in her head. The church had taken an unholy beating. Now sunshine slanted through three gaping holes high in the nave, lighting the shards of stained glass strewn across the flagstones like crystals in a kaleidoscope. Votive candles and prayer books lay in piles like abandoned toys, alongside chunks of gold-painted plaster. But the heavens had worked their magic: she and Julio and their fellow mourners were intact. Slowly her instincts as a newswoman scrabbled to the surface: Call the station.

Natalie groped to find her cell phone. Briefly she shut her eyes. Oh, Evie. Even your funeral got overshadowed by a news event. Now you won't make air.She conducted a quick personal inventory. Her head throbbed as though she'd been attacked with a sledgehammer. Her blond hair was wrenched free of the neat French twist into which she habitually knotted it for air; dust streaked her black suit; somewhere she'd lost one of her pumps.

But she was the beneficiary of a miracle, she soon discovered. Her cell phone worked.

Natalie jabbed the QUICKDIAL button for the Assignment Desk and picked her way unsteadily toward the central door, trying not to cut her unshod foot on the broken glass. She'd just wrenched the door open when a female intern answered her call.

``My God,'' Natalie breathed into the phone, momentarily forgetting herself, mesmerized by the spectacle across the street. A concrete hulk that used to be a portion of the 210 freeway now pitched at a crazy angle. Bloodied commuters stood dazedly next to their vehicles. Cars that hadn't already skidded earthward teetered on the buckled concrete like Tinkertoys. ``It's Natalie--'' she began.

The intern cut her off. ``Hold for Tony Scoppio.''

Natalie clenched her jaw. Her new news director, whom she would gladly return to whatever hole he'd slithered out of.

He came on a second later. ``Get your ass back here, Daniels. Pronto.''

``If you've got juice back at the station I want to go live from here.'' Natalie raised her voice above his instant protest. ``I'm at Our Lady Victory in Pasadena and we can see from here that the 210 at Sierra Madre Boulevard collapsed.''

``No way. We took a power hit but can get on faster from the studio than from the field.''

``No. We shouldn't pass on these pictures and we're the only crew here!''

Luckily they'd driven to the church in an ENG, or electronic news gathering, truck, which gave them live capability. Julio edged closer, holding a handkerchief to his forehead. He pulled it away to reveal a jagged gash. Natalie arched her brow questioningly and without missing a beat he gave her a thumbs-up. She returned her attention to the phone, over which she could hear Tony yelling at someone about power hits and generator breakdowns.

He came back to her. ``Okay, Daniels, but if you're not ready to go live when we're back up, we're taking it from here without you. Got it?''

Natalie bit her tongue. ``Got it.''

``And don't say another word to me about that goddamn funeral.'' He hung up.

Tony Scoppio leaned back in his chair and checked his digital stopwatch, which he'd started the moment he and Natalie Daniels had gotten off the phone. Nine minutes, nine seconds, and counting. The power was still intermittent, and they still weren't on the air.

He focused his eyes on the six television monitors that sat across from his desk, set to Channels 3, 6, 8, 10, 14, and his own, Channel 12. It was his responsibility as KXLA's news director to keep an eye on the competition all day, every day, news emergency or not. The early signs were that, apart from the collapsed portion of the 210 and a widespread power outage, the temblor hadn't wreaked much havoc on quake-hardened Los Angeles. But a 6.2 on the Richter scale still qualified as an emergency.

He did a quick scan. Four of his five competitors were live on the air with quake coverage. Meaning he got lumped with the perennial also-ran in L.A. TV news, Channel 14, the only other station in town incompetent enough still to be running a full-screen PLEASE STAND BY billboard.

Shit.

He threw down the remote with disgust and wiped his hands on the stained expanse of his yellow button-down shirt. What a shop he'd inherited. The backup system had gone on the fritz and he had a bunch of union hires who didn't know a generator from Santa Claus. And a princess anchor talent whining about going live from the field.

Tony ran an impatient hand through what was left of his graying hair and pushed up the half glasses that stubbornly refused to park on the bridge of his nose. Sure, Natalie Daniels was good. But not only did she cost him seven hundred fifty big ones a year--she had a body that a decade earlier had ceased screaming babe-alicious. What with the blond hair and the blue eyes, she looked good, but she looked good for a woman of forty. That didn't cut it in an era when ``mature'' for a local TV female started at thirty-five. And the viewers of choice--the young guns who fit the demographic profile advertisers had wet dreams over--thought any local anchorwoman more than a decade re...

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Onyx (August 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451410351
• ISBN-13: 978-0451410351
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diana Dempsey traded in an Emmy Award-winning career in TV news to write fast, fun romantic fiction. Her debut novel, FALLING STAR, was nominated for a RITA award for Best First Book by the members of Romance Writers of America. It centers on the personal and professional travails - and eventual triumphs - of a primetime anchorwoman. TO CATCH THE MOON, a Romantic Times Top Pick, combines a murder mystery with a love triangle. TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN goes behind the glossy veneer of a Napa Valley winery to find forbidden love, intrigue, and betrayal. CHASING VENUS is a romantic suspense about writer Annette Rowell, who discovers that being a best-selling novelist can be a killer ...

Since Diana clearly enjoys the occasional well-executed murder, she's released her first mystery. MS AMERICA AND THE OFFING ON OAHU is a madcap cozy introducing beauty queen and budding sleuth Happy Pennington. More Ms America mysteries will follow!

In her dozen years in television news, the former Diana Koricke played every on-air role from network correspondent to local news anchor. She reported for NBC News from New York, Tokyo, and Burbank and substitute anchored such broadcasts as Sunrise, Today, and NBC Nightly News. In addition, she was a morning anchor for KTTV 11 Fox News in Los Angeles. She started her broadcast career in the anchor chair for Financial News Network.

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York - Go, Bills! - Diana is a graduate of Harvard University and the winner of a Rotary International Foundation Scholarship. She enjoyed stints overseas in Belgium, the U.K., and Japan, and now resides in Los Angeles with her husband and a West Highland White Terrier, not necessarily in that order.

Diana loves to hear from readers! Visit www.dianadempsey.com to email Diana, and be sure to sign up for her mailing list while you're there to hear first about her new releases. Also, join her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. Most of all, keep reading!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent debut novel...witty...exciting, November 11, 2004

By 

Susie Rigsby "([e-mail])" (Eldorado, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Falling Star (Paperback)

Don't ask me how this book ended up on my wish list, much less in my cart, because I honestly don't remember. Of course, I HAD to put it there. But I'm sure glad I did. I love to read debut novels, it absolutely thrills me. Especially when I get my hands on a good book like "Falling Star". I can't compliment Diana Dempsey enough on her first effort. She's very knowledgeable about the world of television news network, and she definitely has a way with prose to create a writing style of her very own. The ups and downs in the life of TV news anchor, Natalie Daniels, will make a reader want to keep going, page after page, to see what can possibly happen next to this woman. It's a great plot with great characters, well written, and a great read.

I just this evening ordered two other novels written by Diana Dempsey. That's how impressed with her talent that I am.

Congrats, Diana, on a job well done.

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly edited, July 11, 2011

By 

Alabama Mom (Fredericksburg, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Falling Star (Kindle Edition)

I'm surprised by all the glowing reviews of this book. I wasn't really rooting for Natalie so much as I was rooting against Kelly, Tony, and Miles. All in all, the plot was interesting and kept me reading. However, it became tedious to read through all the filler material that was irrelevant to the plot. The biggest hurdle for me was the extremely poor editing. I read this on my Kindle, so the editing may have been better in print form. However, names were spelled differently throughout the book (Maxine/Marine), and the wrong words were used throughout. The book is in definite need of a proofread. The plot is the only thing that kept me trudging through.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If it has her name on it, buy it, January 27, 2007

By 

Peggy Duncan "productivity expert" (Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Falling Star (Paperback)

Love her style. I train journalists and am getting so much more insight into what's going on in their lives. Wonderful storylines and characters. Another author I can't read when I'm busy and need to get up early.