Renting Silence

In 1920s Hollywood, Mary Pickford's script girl is out to solve a murder with "a little sparkle [and] some wily Prohibition-era shenanigans . . . a great read" ( Booklist).   Former vaudevillian Jessie Beckett has found work as a script girl—with a sideline in sleuthing—at Pickford-Fairbanks Studios, run by the silent film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. When actress Ruby Glynn is wrongly convicted of murder, Pickford asks Jessie to help clear her friend's name. But it won't be easy. The victim was found stabbed in her bedroom with Ruby lying unconscious on the floor, holding a bloody knife.   Jessie's investigation sends her back through the Midwest vaudeville circuit, where she encounters old friends, new dangers, and her sometime-beau David seemingly involved in some shady dealings. Now it'll take all her wits and ingenuity to find the killer without accidentally playing her own death scene.   "With a well-developed and surprising plot twist, an appealing, resourceful amateur detective, and fascinating period details, this entertaining historical will delight fans of Old Hollywood." — Library Journal