Just Finished Reading… Death In The Palace by Barbara Hambly. Severn House 2026

 Death In The Palace is the fourth of a series of murder mysteries(Silver Screen Mysteries) which were inspired by this author’s fantasy novel Bride Of The Rat God. They are set in Hollywood in the 1920s. The characters are more or less the same as those in Bride Of The Rat God, but with different names. Norah, the Englishwoman who lost her American husband during World War I, and is living with her beautiful film star sister in law, is now Emma. Christine, her sister in law, is now Kitty. She still has the three cute little Pekinese dogs, still called Chang Ming, Black Jasmine and Buttercreme. Emma is still a writer for the studio, dating the cameraman, whose name changes from Alec to Zal. The Chinese wizard is just their gardener in this series.

It does work out as murder mystery. It’s a lot of fun seeing what Hollywood was during the silent movie era. In this novel, the stars of Shining Bright, Foremost studio’s latest epic, go to New York to film on location. They are using an unfinished mansion called Versailles, which has its own mystery, to do their filming. Kitty has had an offer of marriage from a wealthy young man, who says it’s only for a week, then a divorce, and he will pay $50,000. The puzzling thing is that he has sent the same letter to a number of other actresses. 

There is a murder while they are in New York and, as usual, Emma and Zal solve it. Meanwhile, Kitty has an affair with Chico Marx - yes, that Chico Marx. In fact, all four Marx Brothers are characters in this book, still in their vaudeville era. 

I do enjoy these books, but it’s probably best to read them from the beginning to get some idea of what they are about and who the characters are. 

Unfortunately, Bride Of The Rat God is out of print, though you can still buy it in audiobook, which has a very good reader. You don’t have to read it to enjoy the Silver Screen Mysteries, but it’s a lot of fun.

I bought this in Apple Books, but it has only just come out and should be available in all good bookshops and web sites.