Keystone

Rating:
Summary: Mack Sennett and the Keystone Cops in a fictional mystery
Review: In a style similar to Stuart Kaminsky, who has also written fictional mysteries with famous Hollywood stars of the past, Englishman Peter Lovesey has written an excellent thriller with silent screen pioneers Mack Sennett, Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle, and the Keystone Cops that Sennett created and made famous. Lovesey sets up an English actor, who has just transited the States doing Vaudeville, as his hero. The actor, whom Sennett dubs "Keystone" falls in love with a Sennett actress, who is endangered by "real" villains on the set. This period-piece book wonderfully recreates the Hollywood of 1914, and the mystery takes many twists and turns before the hero ultimately prevails. Lovesey once again proves his versatility, and he seems to have had fun writing this book. If you like it, check out other Lovesey works, especially The False Inspector Dew.