Dial H for Hitchcock: Cece Caruso mystery
by Susan Kandel
Published by Harper Paperbacks
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Reviewed by Stephanie Boyd
Cece Caruso, a mystery biographer, is having trouble with her biography of Alfred Hitchcock–and with her personal life. She has dumped Peter Gambino, her sexy police officer fiancée, and most of her friends and family are very upset with her. So Cece heads out to a local theater to watch the movie, “Vertigo,” and comes home with a new mystery to solve.
Somehow Cece has an extra cell phone belonging to an Anita Colby. When Cece tries to return the phone, she witnesses someone pushing Anita off a cliff–and then that person calls the cell phone and threatens Cece. Now the police are looking for her, and it appears that someone has set Cece up as the fall guy for the murder. Cece has no one to turn to and no idea what to do but she feels compelled to solve the crime, just to prove she is innocent.
In this fifth Cece Caruso mystery, Cece seems to be the star of a Hitchcock-like mystery of her own. It seems every time Cece turns around, something else is happening, and it all makes Cece seem like the murderer. I have enjoyed all of the Cece mysteries as they are charming and fun, but in this one, I’m finally tired of Cece’s treatment of Peter. Cece needs to either walk away from Peter or let him move on, or treat him right. She appears to have chosen to walk away. But now she spends most of this book wishing she could call Peter or see Peter. For a bright woman, she is really acting stupid–and I don’t like stupid.
I did however, like the mystery in this story. It is intriguing and full of twist and turns just like a great Hitchcock mystery! If you like the Cece mysteries you won’t want to miss this one. If you have never read a Cece Caruso mystery, I highly recommend you start with the first one; this one has too much history so that would be hard to understand without having read the earlier books.
Armchair Interviews says: Cece is smart about everything, but Peter.