The Fourth Wall [Hardcover]

Beth Saulnier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

After a near-fatal confrontation with a serial killer, irreverent reporter Alex Bernier is more than happy to cover a nice, dull story on the ongoing, hapless attempts to save a grand old theatre in Gabriel, the college town in upstate New York where she lives. But when the body of a long-vanished actress turns up in the wreckage and high-profile theatre supporters start dying off, Alex finds herself at odds with a strange troupe of suspects. There is a duplicitous former child star and a group of academic wives harbouring nasty secrets, not to mention a vicious mob boss. Again, Alex must play the detective, sorting illusion from deadly truth and, with luck, outwitting a murderer determined to bring an end to her performance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Saulnier's entertaining sixth Alex Bernier adventure (after 2003's Ecstasy), the stubborn, brassy reporter for the Gabriel, N.Y., Monitor gets mixed up in the dispute over the town's once-glorious Starlight Theatre. When socialite Sissy Dillingham, the major force behind the Save Our Starlight group (aka S.O.S.), is brutally murdered, Alex realizes there's far more at stake than rescuing the old place from demolition. As she looks into the theater's past, she discovers a decades-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of ingénue actress Ashley Sinclair, whom creepy Robert Renssellaer, a former child star and the biggest donor to the S.O.S. fund, used to know. As if coming up with fresh and interesting information about the theater weren't difficult enough, Alex must deal with cop boyfriend Brian Cody's ex-wife, who's decided she wants him back, and a rival New York Times reporter, who wants to scoop her story. Despite a savage beating in the parking lot of her favorite Italian eatery to warn her off the investigation, the dogged Alex won't quit until she unravels the surprising truth. Agent, Jimmy Vines. (Apr.)

About the Author

Saulnier is a writer for the Ithaca Journal and is an associate editor and staff writer for Cornell Magazine. She is also a film commentator on local television.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727861972
• ISBN-13: 978-0727861979
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,273,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Long Ride, May 14, 2001

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fourth Wall (Mass Market Paperback)

The solving of a 70-year old murder is a hard plot to handle. The reader must be engaged in long ago happenings yet have a sense of immediacy and urgency about a victim and contemporaries who are long dead.

The book is poorly paced, too long, and the plot sprawls. The victim is not found until page 166, and by that time, my interest was flagging. The heroine is resolutely young, young, young. I had the feeling she has never visualized a life beyond 30.

However, Ms. Saulnier deftly characterizes supporting players and obviously has insider knowledge of community theatre. Because so much of the plot involved the architecture of a crumbling historical theatre, a site map would have been welcome. The characters, with the exception of the heroine, are lifelike and attractive. She stays away from the oddballs, who are basically dull except for their quirky lifestyle or appearance. All are recognizable human beings.

What I found most interesting were Ms. Saulnier's thoughts on preserving historical buildings. She is thoughtful and presents both sides of the question in an appealing manner. I would have liked more sense of location; the place could have been Indianapolis just as easily as New York State.

I found the solution to be a letdown; the present is handled better than the past. The motivations of the cast of 1926 characters are slim and shadowy. Grade: C+.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the series so far, November 20, 2001

By 

Jeffrey Anbinder "Beeeej" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fourth Wall (Mass Market Paperback)

Beth Saulnier reaches new heights of frustrating the hell out of her readers with this, the third novel in the Alex Bernier series. Even for those of us who aren't great devotees of the pop mystery genre, if you believe you're a smart, perceptive person you often believe you should be able to suss out what's really going on, solve the mystery before the narrator/protagonist does. But not Beth's books - God love her, she drives me CRAZY with legitimate misdirection and intricately detailed subplots. This time, despite completely missing whodunnit, I even thought I'd found some holes in her plotting - but she managed to plug them all closed for me. (...)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good, and getting better, March 6, 2001

By 

M. Droke-Dickinson "Aarons' Mommy" (Silver Spring, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fourth Wall (Mass Market Paperback)

I started reading this series because Ms. Saulnier is a friend of a friend of a ... Anyway, I didn't know what to expect when I started, but I've been impressed with her work. The Fourth Wall is a real step forward from Distemper (which was pretty good). Life in this college town is really believable, the story keeps you guessing, and the little twist that pops up in the middle regarding her already complicated love life is absolutely inspired.

I thought it took too long for the story to finally return to the events referred to in the opening, but it sure helped keep me hooked, so I guess Saulnier knew what she was doing.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.