ONE DEATH AT A TIME is fun and often enough funny...about alcoholism, fame, and growing up

ONE DEATH AT A TIME
ABBI WAXMAN
Berkley Books (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$10.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A cranky former actress teams up with her Gen Z sobriety sponsor to solve the murder that threatens to send her back to prison in this dazzling new mystery novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

When Julia Mann, a bad-tempered ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, it’s anything but a meet-cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it (she already went to jail for murder once, so now they think she’s making a habit of it). Mason is eager to clear Julia’s name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone.

As their investigation ranges from the Hollywood Hills to the world of burlesque to the country clubs of Palm Springs, this unconventional team realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices are proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead? Are dead piranhas, false noses, and a giant martini glass important clues or simply your typical day in Los Angeles? And will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other, or worse, fall off the wagon? Trying to keep it simple and take it easy is one thing—trying to find a murderer before they kill again is a whole other program.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Fun, funny buddy comedy set on the outskirts of that glam hotspot, Hollywood's movie industry. There's bad behavior from entitled jerks, there's a high-speed golf cart chase, there's a distinctly sapphic undertone to the leads' chemistry...there's a lot to enjoy, in other words.

Youthful impulsivity (Natasha quitting law school was the kind of stupid thing I'd've yelled at her for) and the darker side of alcohol abuse (blackouts are not new to Julia) are facets of this story. Adjusting to aging, launching a career, re-launching a career...all bantered over and really dealt with as Natasha and Julia are traipsing from pillar to post to figure out how the hell Tony, Julia's nasty ex-lover, ended up dead in her pool. Most of all, though, I was there to see how Julia would stay sober in a super high-stress world like moviemaking. Author Waxman dealt with Julia's very new sobriety and the underknown challenges the sobriety seeker faces staying on the wagon (low blood sugar is one of the most common traps for the unwary) honestly and forthrightly without didacticism.

This contrasts to the, um, shall we say heightened, tone and nature of the crime these women are united to solve. Everything about it is absurd. It's meant to be. This is the movie industry we're skewering. I'm not inclined to seek out these areas of comedy that often. I'm glad I did this time because, well, I needed a laugh that was more substantial than a romcom, had service to Ma'at and the Rightness of the world, and felt grounded enough in reality...you do not get more real that seeking sobriety...to give me a place to stand while I was craning my neck to follow the story's breakneck action.

I'm not even whelmed, still less overwhelmed, by the storytelling voice. It felt...flat...to me because it tried so hard. I'm a tough room, especially for comedy, because it is so difficult to convince me you mean it when you're being funny. This story fell only slightly short in my eyes, largely due to Natasha's dramatic unsuitability to the role of sponsor. Not that Julia would ever be someone to take real advantage of that relationship. She's not really built to listen to critique, only to hear criticism. Many an actor falls into that habit of hearing.

All that said, I'm impressed by the story's honest and unusually detailed dealings with alcohol addiction. I give it four stars for that, and for managing to make even cynical old mystery reader me pay attention to the sleuths' frenetic chasing after fairly obvious clues.

Author Waxman will get more of my dwindling supply of eyeblinks in future.