Mary Miley

I absolutely adore the Roaring Twenties mystery series by Mary Miley, and Renting Silence is an entertaining addition. The silent film era fascinates me, and Miley has clearly done her research. The main character Jessie Beckett, a former vaudeville performer, works for Douglas Fairbanks at Pickford-Douglas Studios (which will eventually become United Artists). At the behest of Mary Pickford, Jessie investigates the murder of a small-time actress, Lila Walker. The police charged another show more actress with the crime immediately following the murder and accordingly never did any further investigating. Mary Pickford and several others believe that the actress charged, Ruby Glynn, is innocent and want to clear her name. Jessie’s inquiries lead back into the world of vaudeville as she attempts to figure out who really murdered Lila Walker.

My favorite parts of the book by far were those relating to the silent movie business in the 1920’s, particularly all of the fascinating details about Mary Pickford. The book takes place as Pickford is filming Little Annie Rooney in which she plays a twelve-year-old girl (Pickford was 33 at the time). When playing young characters, Pickford would only work with tall actors and altered her on-set furniture to make it larger so she would appear smaller on set and onscreen. I spent as much time reading the novel as I did looking up the various real life actors and studio details because I found it all so intriguing. I also plan to track down Little Annie Rooney and watch it after reading so much about the filming of the movie. As Jessie heads out on the vaudeville circuit, she encounters a young Bob Hope, before he has even adopted that stage name – he is still going by Les Hope. One more fun addition that Miley includes is having Myrna Loy as one of Jessie’s roommates before Loy becomes a famous actress. She has also references Jack Warner, Rin Tin Tin, the KKK, and Rudolph Valentino.

The resolution of the mystery is a bit drawn out, and there is a train scene that lasts way too long. Also, the inclusion of Jessie’s potential love interest David seems forced and does not really fit well into the rest of the story. Other than those small details, Miley has crafted an engaging tale weaving the historical details seamlessly into Jessie’s world.

Mary Miley maintains a Roaring Twenties blog where she periodically posts interesting articles on various aspects of that era such as how to make a phone call in the 1920’s and popular poisons of the time period. The blog can be found at http:/marymiley.wordpress.com. After reading Renting Silence, I really enjoyed perusing her various blog posts.

I definitely recommend Renting Silence, and her two prior installments in the series. The first book, The Impersonator, remains my favorite, but the next two are great reads too. Thanks to Severn House and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. show less

A consistently entertaining read where the author's love of the 1920s comes through loud and clear--Miley includes an abundance of vivid historical details that really make the era and place come alive in the mind of the reader. The vaudeville history is especially fun, and Leah is a great protagonist who mostly manages to stay on the right side of the fine line between plucky and obnoxious.

The mystery plot unfortunately stumbles a bit towards the end of the book, with a predictable show more resolution that leaves a lot of interesting plot threads unexplored. I haven't read Brat Farrar, the Josephine Tey book that inspired this one, so I don't know how much of that is due to Miley attempting to stick closely to that book's plot. Still, I would gladly recommend this book to the majority of historical fiction fans! show less

Leah Randall is a talented but impoverished actress who has worked on the vaudeville circuit her whole life. During the course of one performance, she notices a strange man watching her intently. Eventually this man, Oliver Beckett, approaches her with an astonishing proposal. He tells Leah the story of his niece, Jessie Carr, heiress to a substantial fortune, who vanished from her home several years ago without a trace. Leah bears a striking resemblance to Jessie, so Oliver proposes a show more scheme: Leah will pose as Jessie and return "home" to claim her inheritance, which she will then split with Oliver. At first Leah wants nothing to do with it, but when she is fired from her vaudeville act and can't get other work, she eventually reconsiders. With Oliver's help, she assumes Jessie Carr's identity and travels to the Carrs' home in Oregon. But the more time she spends with the Carrs, the more she becomes determined to discover what really happened to Jessie all those years ago.

If you read that plot summary and thought, "That sounds an awful lot like Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey," well, you'd be right. The premise is exactly the same -- Miley even acknowledges that Tey's novel was the main inspiration for her own -- but I enjoyed Miley's novel in its own right. I especially liked the period details about vaudeville, speakeasies, and other highlights of life in the 1920s. There were even references to some Supreme Court cases of the era, which I appreciated as a law school survivor. I also liked Leah's narrative voice: she's plain-spoken, independent, and very aware of both her talents and her flaws. The thing is, though, Brat Farrar is still by far the superior book. Miley's novel is a bit disorganized at times, including several subplots that are more distracting than intriguing. I also hated the romantic aspect of this book; it was unbelievable and underdeveloped. I did enjoy the book overall and found it very readable, but if the premise sounds interesting to you, you should really just read the original instead! show less

I enjoyed The Impersonator, the first book in Mary Miley's Roaring Twenties series so much that I knew I'd be coming back for more. Silent Murders does not disappoint. In the first book, Jessie was hired to impersonate an heiress. Growing up in vaudeville had given her all the tools for deception that she needed for this role. Now she's on the straight and narrow with a new name and a new life in Hollywood.

Jessie is just the sort of wise-cracking, thinks-on-her-feet, good-hearted sort of show more character that I enjoy, and there's something about the Roaring Twenties and the silent film industry that draws me like a magnet. I liked how Miley blended fact and fiction in the sort of story that would blend in seamlessly with the actual Hollywood history of the era. Her use of real-life people like Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Myrna Loy rang true, with Fairbanks and Pickford accustomed to their roles as silent film royalty and Loy as a young girl just beginning to break into the movies. A young Gary Cooper can even be seen on the sidelines from time to time.

The movie industry has had a part in shaping this country's history for good or ill, and I really enjoy seeing the Old Hollywood used as a backdrop for a mystery series. Combine this setting with a strong main character and that gives me just the perfect reading when I need an escape. show less