The Cinderella Murder

September 22, 2014
MWA Grand Master Clark uses the main characters of her thriller I’ve Got You Under My Skin for this engaging collaboration with Burke (If You Were Here). The novel launches a series centered on Under Suspicion, a TV show that purports to re-enact (and often solve) cold cases. One such case is the 20-year-old “Cinderella Murder.” Susan Dempsey, a UCLA theater student with a talent for computer programming, missed her father’s birthday party to audition for a part in director Frank Parker’s latest film, but she never made it to the audition. Her body was found the next day in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon Park, 10 minutes from Parker’s house. Laurie Moran, the producer of Under Suspicion, decides to bring all the potential suspects together with Susan’s friends and family to see whether new evidence will come to light. The plot occasionally stumbles—Laurie’s romance with Alex Buckley, the criminal defense lawyer who narrates the show, feels shoehorned in—but these few slips do not detract from the authors’ expert grip on their narrative. Agent: Robert B. Barnett, Williams & Connolly.

June 1, 2014

Reigning queen of suspense Clark joins forces for the first time with the best-selling Burke for another adventure featuring the reality drama Under Suspicion, which asks those involved to re-create the circumstances of unsolved crimes. The victim in the show's latest episode was a talented UCLA acting student whose body was found far from her car, with no indication whether she attended her final audition. Her boyfriend has been pretty close-mouthed, too. Spooky.

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October 15, 2014
The team behind Clark's reality TV show Under Suspicion (I've Got You Under My Skin, 2014) returns to dramatize-all right, solve-another cold case, with welcome help from co-author Burke (All Day and a Night, 2014, etc.).Rosemary Dempsey has always hated the references to her daughter, Susan, as Cinderella ever since Susan was found in Laurel Canyon Park the morning after her father's 60th birthday party, a party she passed up for an audition with indie director Frank Parker. Susan made it to within half a mile of Parker's home before she was strangled after losing a shoe, presumably in a futile attempt to outrace her killer. Now that producer Laurie Moran and the rest of the Under Suspicion crew wants to film a series of interviews about the 20-year-old murder, Rosemary sees the TV show as an opportunity to restore Susan's individual identity to the figure of a Cinderella who'd left a shoe behind. Susan's other intimates aren't so eager to participate. Parker, coming off an Oscar nomination, doesn't need the publicity. Susan's old boyfriend, character actor Keith Ratner, has never been very cooperative. Her former UCLA roommates, Madison Meyer and Nicole Melling, have their own secrets to hide. So does her college friend Dwight Cook, who was vaulted into the ranks of Silicon Valley royalty while he was still sitting in professor Richard Hathaway's computer science class with Susan. It's up to Laurie and Alex Buckley, the resident lawyer of Under Suspicion who loves her, to figure out why the necklace Susan was wearing the night she died was so much more important than her shoe. The continuing sleuth easily substitutes for Clark's interchangeable damsels in distress, and Burke brings a sharp legal eye to the proceedings. This serendipitous series launch, or continuation, will satisfy Clark's legion of fans and may well win her some new ones.

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October 1, 2014
Rosemary Dempsey is delighted when the crime-solving reality show Under Suspicion features her daughter's case from 20 years prior, known as the Cinderella Murder. Producer Laurie relates to victims' families because her husband was killed, and she and her son were pursued by the killer in the first case solved on the program. Laurie travels around California to investigate Susan Dempsey's murder, uncovering that the victim was connected to a religious scandal, a billion-dollar Internet company, and an Academy Awardnominated director. Meanwhile, Rosemary's neighbor is murdered, and more people close to the case are hurt. Laurie keeps pressing for answers, with the help of her family and lawyer Alex. Each person Susan saw on the day of her death is hiding something, and the filming of the show spotlights far-reaching secrets and motivations. The snappy pace, layered characters, and many plot surprises will keep readers guessing in this fascinating mystery by two talented writers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)