Night Night, Sleep Tight

June 29, 2015
This well-crafted whodunit, set in 1986 Los Angeles, gets underway when Deirdre Unger drives from San Diego to the Beverly Hills home of her screenwriter father, Arthur, and discovers his body at the bottom of the swimming pool. Later, while sifting through pages of his proposed memoir, she remembers another major tragedy—an automobile accident 28 years before that cost her the use of her right leg. The accident occurred the same night that Deirdre’s best friend, Joelen Nichols, stabbed the abusive boyfriend of her actress mother. But what happened the night of the stabbing isn’t completely clear. Reader Lee possesses the kind of soft, breathy voice perfect for a glossy, semi-gossipy woman-in-jeopardy thriller, which this is in spades. Her interpretation of Deirdre—a heroine whose initial confusion and sadness is gradually hardened by determination to find her father’s killer—is on point. Though it is undercut somewhat by Lee’s breezy reading, and the novel’s cynical ending may turn off some listeners, others will be amused by this look at Hollywood.
A Morrow hardcover.

Starred review from February 16, 2015
Old Hollywood glamour, scandals, and lies infuse this captivating thriller set in 1985 from Mary Higgins Clark Award–finalist Ephron (There Was an Old Woman). Screenwriters Arthur Unger and his ex-wife, Gloria, used to work in the movies, but the film industry moved on without them. Gloria now lives in a Buddhist retreat, and financial strains force Arthur to sell his Beverly Hills home. When their grown daughter, Deirdre, arrives from San Diego to help prepare the house to go on the market, she finds her father floating dead in the swimming pool. Meanwhile, Deirdre’s childhood best friend, Joelen Nichol, resurfaces. Back in 1963, when Joelen was 15 years old, she confessed to fatally stabbing the abusive boyfriend of her actress mother. But what happened the night of the stabbing isn’t completely clear, nor are the circumstances of a car accident in which Deirdre was crippled years before. Ephron deftly links all the story lines en route to the surprise ending. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents