Lights Out Tonight [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Mary Jane Clark (Author), Isabel Keating (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2006

As KEY News film and theater critic, Caroline Enright knows her opinions have influenced the box office habits of millions of Americans. She has taken her fair share of irate phone calls, and even an occasional threat, from disgruntled movie producers and agents angered over her reviews. But she is unprepared when her trip to the Warrenstown Summer Playhouse is interrupted by murder. Traveling to the rolling Berkshire mountains to do a piece on the prestigious summer acting festival for the morning news show KEY to America, Caroline discovers that someone in this quaint college town has a secret worth killing over.

Caroline's stepdaughter, Meg, is apprenticing at the festival and has a small part in a new play with Belinda Winthrop, a twenty-year veteran of Warrenstown, adding her renowned Oscar- and Tony-winning talents to the project. The opening night of the play is an unvarnished success, but no one, onstage or off, is safe.

Used to ferreting out the details of behind-the-scenes intrigue in Hollywood and on Broadway, Caroline must now turn her considerable journalistic skills to unmasking a murderer before she and Meg become the next victims of a ruthless killer possessing no shame or remorse. A killer living as a respected member of the community. A killer who can do literally anything at all and feel absolutely no guilt.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Clark (Dancing in the Dark) delivers another well-crafted thriller. When Caroline Enright, a 34-year-old film and drama critic for TV's KEY to America morning show, lands an assignment to cover the Warrenstown, Mass., theater festival, she anticipates combining it with a getaway with her new husband, Nick, and a chance to bond with her aloof 20-year-old stepdaughter, Meg, who's an apprentice at the festival. The last thing Caroline expects as she leaves New York City for the scenic Berkshires is that she'll have to draw on her journalistic skills to unveil a ruthless murderer. With only six months of broadcast experience under her belt, Caroline has a lot to prove with the piece she has planned about Oscar-winning actress Belinda Winthrop, who's starring in a production of a new play rumored to be a contender for a Pulitzer Prize. But when Belinda mysteriously disappears, Caroline launches herself into an investigation—and finds Meg's life and her own in danger. With fresh characters, an idyllic setting and plot twists that will grip readers until the suspenseful resolution, Clark's latest is sure to be a summer hit. Author tour. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Taking center stage in the latest Clark novel set in the fictional KEY News broadcast studio is film and theater critic Caroline Enright, whose love of the Academy Award-winning actress Belinda Winthrop provides her with the right background to review a new play in which Winthrop is starring at a festival in the Berkshires. It's a perfect opportunity to get away with her new husband, Nick, too, even if it means his less-than-accepting college-age daughter will be in tow. What should be a weekend of great theater and quaint surroundings turns violent as dead bodies begin to pile up. Quick and light; perfect summer reading. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio; Unabridged edition (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593979045
• ISBN-13: 978-1593979041
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,062,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary Jane Clark is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels: 12 KEY News media thrillers and 2 Piper Donovan/Wedding Cake Mysteries. A former writer and producer at CBS News in New York City, Clark is the daughter of an FBI agent and mother of two. She lives in Florida and New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A FAST READING FUN BOOK., April 12, 2007

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lights Out Tonight (Hardcover)

I am certainly not going to go into plots or story lines here, as that has been done by others, so don't worry about spoilers. This is a fast reading thriller just stuffed with little intrigues and sub stories. It holds you attention from cover to cover quite well, and is a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The writing is clear, with clever syntax and the story line is quite easy to follow and without a myriad of characters to sort out and wade through. This is just the type of novel that is just simply fun to relax with and to enjoy. Job well done Ms. Clark! Recommend this one highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Awesome Thrill Ride!, July 15, 2006

By 

Steven James (Washington State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lights Out Tonight (Hardcover)

What a great, great book this was. I was flying through the pages as fast as I could to figure out whodunnit. There were all the necessary elements to make this book a light, summer beach thriller. The characters were well-drawn, the plot was super interesting, and the ending was fulfilling. What more does one need? I would recommend this book to almost everyone, there is no gratuitous sex scenes so even your old granny would enjoy it. Be warned: once you start reading it's really hard to stop and put it down. Block out a good chunk of time and dig in!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Sociopaths can be seductive.", July 29, 2006

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lights Out Tonight (Hardcover)

Mary Jane Clark's "Lights Out Tonight" features thirty-four year old Caroline Enright, film and theater critic for the morning news broadcast "KEY to America." Caroline has a great deal on her mind. Linus Nazareth, her executive producer, is condescending, sarcastic, and demanding, and her brand new stepdaughter, twenty-year-old Meg, despises her. However, Caroline adores her new husband, screenwriter Nick McGregor, and she hopes that Meg will soon warm up to her.

Caroline and Nick will soon be traveling to Massachusetts to see Meg, who is an apprentice in the Warrenstown theater program. In addition, Caroline has been assigned to interview one of her favorite actresses, Belinda Winthrop, a veteran of thirty-two films who is about to star in a new play at the Warrenstown Summer Playhouse.

When Caroline sees Meg, she finds her stepdaughter as hostile as ever. However, Caroline distracts herself with work, interviewing not only Belinda Winthrop, but also playwright Victoria Sterling and director Keith Fallows. Living on Belinda's estate are a menacing caretaker and ex-con named Gus Oberon, and Remington Peters, a talented but tormented artist whose unrequited love for Belinda has haunted him for years.

The inhabitants of Warrenstown are stunned when two college students, one of whom was a close friend of Meg, are killed in a car accident. Shortly thereafter, the town librarian is murdered, and following Belinda Winthrop's triumphant debut, she suddenly vanishes. Caroline branches out of her area of expertise to cover these breaking stories, and she quickly realizes that a clever and malicious killer is on the loose. Before the assailant is unmasked, Caroline and her daughter will also be targeted for death.

Mary Jane Clark has written a tidy thriller with a lively cast, fast-paced dialogue and action, and enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing. The details about life on the stage are immensely entertaining, with behind the scenes details on makeup, costumes, and directing. Clark also provides an engrossing look at the ego, ambition, and jealousy that afflict so many people in show business. The author, who writes and produces for CBS News, skillfully shows Caroline experiencing her baptism by fire as a reporter in Warrenstown. "Lights Out Tonight" has short and crisp chapters, clear and precise prose, an engrossing plot, and lively characters, making it an ideal summer read.