Synopsis: In 1919, Hollywood film star Mary Pickford, “the most famous woman in the world,” is currently in between pictures and recovering from the Spanish Flu when a man shows up at her Malibu hideaway one night asking for help. The man, who’s been shot twice in the back, then dies in her garden, and Mary makes up her mind to figure out what’s going on.
Assisted by her resourceful young driver, Billy Kidd, a rodeo rider and wrangler from Arizona, she soon finds herself involved in a series of dangerous abductions, abandonments, and murders that lead to San Francisco, Death Valley, then back to Los Angeles. Who’s the mysterious man who died in her Malibu garden? What’s happened to Suzanne Smith’s missing baby? What’s the involvement of Mary’s close friend, the powerful Hollywood tycoon Adolph Zukor?
~ ~ ~
"Hollywood was far weirder than all the rest of the weird world."
An afternoon's escapism to "old" Hollywood, where we have America's Sweetheart, Mary Pickford, investigating a murder whilst supposedly convalescing after a dose of the flu. Her driver / bodyguard Billy Kidd plays Watson to her Sherlock when the begin looking into the death of a man in her garden.
In 1919, Mary Pickford was a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood - this was the year that she, D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks formed what would become United Artists film production company. As one of the most powerful women in Hollywood (and business), Pickford used her position in the movie industry to promote a number of causes dear to her. Whilst recovering from the 1918 flu pandemic and promoting war bonds, Pickford was in the midst of a secret relationship with Fairbanks, whilst sorting out her divorce from her first husband, Owen Moore.
The first person narrative comes from Billy, which is interspersed with additional information and dialogue, all of which is explained at the very end. There is a fair bit of historical background - I guess provided for a newer audience - though those of us who have delved into this period may find it a bit .... tedious. The narrative is not overly taxing, and one finds oneself swept up in the investigation.
Overall, an afternoon's pleasant escapism.
Read: December 2025
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