Lone Star: An Edna Ferber Mystery

By Ed Ifkovic

It’s 1955, and Edna Ferber is basking in the success of her blockbuster novel Giant. Headed to Los Angeles, where director George Stevens and Warner Brothers Studio are in the final days of filming her Texas oil epic, she is looking forward to meeting Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor, and especially the young James Dean.
But there is trouble brewing. Dean, the new box-office sensation and teen heartthrob, has been accused of fathering a child with an unstable (and recently fired) extra named Carisa Krausse. The studio fears the negative publicity will jeopardize the release of the movie. Then the actress is murdered, and James Dean is the prime suspect. He was seen at her apartment moments before Carisa’s death. The police are ready to arrest him.
With actress Mercedes McCam-bridge as her sympathetic sidekick, Edna investigates, determined to clear Dean’s name. Soon Edna finds herself exploring the troubled lives of Dean’s circle of disparate friends. As she delves into Hollywood’s dark side she discovers a power-ful studio obsessed with a cover-up and a solution she doesn’t want to accept—a solution that she, in fact, dreads.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: Jun 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781615951024

Ed Ifkovic

Ed Ifkovic taught literature and creative writing at a community college in Connecticut for over three decades. His short stories and essays have appeared in the Village Voice, America, Hartford Monthly, and Journal of Popular Culture. A longtime devotee of mystery novels, he fondly recalls discovering Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason series in a family bookcase, and his immediate obsession with the whodunit world.

Reviews for Lone Star

[cathyskye · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

On the face of it, Lone Star is going to appeal most to those who are interested in 1950s Hollywood with its classic films and movie stars, its secrets and scandals. I grew up with two movie buffs, and I learned a lot through osmosis. I've also read Ferber's books and watched Giant and many, many other movies of the period. With all this having been said, I still think there's a lot in Lone Star that will appeal to readers who are arriving on the scene completely clueless.Edna Ferber makes an interesting sleuth, not always sure of herself but quick-thinking, and watching her turn into The Grande Dame when she's not being given her proper due is a treat. Mercedes McCambridge is a wonderful choice to be Ferber's sidekick. She knows everyone and knows all the ins and outs of Hollywood, so she can open many of the doors that Ferber needs to walk through. She's also got the requisite inquiring mind and free spirit.What is perhaps the most important relationship of all is the one between Ferber and young James Dean. Reading this book is bittersweet to anyone who knows Dean's story, but there is a great deal of enjoyment to be found in watching real friendship develop between these two very unlikely people. The grand lady of letters with her nice clothes, gloves, and her pearls, and the breezy, sloppy, and often charming idol of movie magazines. Superficially they have nothing in common, but scratch below the surface and there are plenty of similarities to be found. The author knows his Hollywood history and uses it to good effect. The cast is strong and interesting, and the reader's attention remains fixed firmly on the book because the mystery is a puzzler, too. Now that I've met Miss Edna Ferber and have seen what she's capable of, I'm looking forward to reading more of her adventures.

[reannon_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Narrated by Edna Ferber, about her time in California when Giant was being filmed. James Dean the central character, also Rock Hudson, Mercedes McCambridge, Liz Taylor. Well-written novel.