Listen for the Whisperer

Leigh Hollins grew up with a loving father and stepmother, but she's closed off inside. Leigh burns with resentment because her biological mother, movie star Laura Worth, gave her to her father, writer Victor Hollins, instead of marrying him and being a mother to her.

Victor is dead and wants Leigh to meet her mother. Laura Worth left Hollywood over the scandal of the unsolved murder of Cass Alroy, director of Laura's last picture, The Whisperer, an adaptation of a Victor Hollins novel.

Laura has returned to her mother's home town of Bergen, Norway. Victor had a friend who lives there, Gunner Thoresen. Gunner is a friend of Laura's and will help arrange a meeting.

Leigh is writing a book about actresses and wants to do a chapter on show more Laura, whose work she admires. Leigh also wants to tell Laura off, a goal Gunner does not approve.

Laura was cleared as a suspect in that unsolved murder, but someone is waging a psychological war against her. Laura trusts Leigh as an honest enemy. It's not long before Leigh finds her own nerves being stretched by the whisperer.

The descriptions of Bergen are good, although I was saddened to read that the 1150 A.D. wooden Fantoft Stave Church in Bergen, which plays an important role in this mystery, burned down in 1992. A replica has been built, but that's not the same.

This isn't my favorite Whitney, but it's still good. show less

Phyllis Whitney is one of my all-time favorite romantic suspense writers, and this is one of her best. I read it quite a while ago, but I still recall how it kept my heart-rate rising until the end.

The mother-daughter relationship in this book is as engaging as the mystery of the whisperer mentioned in the title, and the relationships between the characters are really what pull the reader through the plot to the surprising end. A lovely mystery from an older time.

Leigh Hollins is the child of an actress and a writer. Her mother, Laura Worth, was busy with her career as an actress and Leigh was raised by her father, Victor Hollins, and his wife Ruth. Laura Worth vanishes because of scandal of the murder of the director, Cass Alroy, for the movie, The Whisperer.
After the death of her father, Leigh goes to Bergen, Norway. It is her father's wishes she meet her mother and get to know her. Laura is writing a book on famous women stars of the screen and this is her entrance to meeting her mother.
Gunnar Thoresen, who lives in Bergen, was a friend of Victor Hollins. Gunnar is also a close friend of Laura. Victor wrote a letter to Gunnar to tell him to take care of Leigh when she comes to Bergen. It is show more through Gunnar that Leigh meets her mother.
The book continues with Leigh meeting her mother, Laura, and the mystery that surrounds them.
Phyllis A. Whitney does a good job with the descriptions of Bergen, the ski areas, the Stavkirke (church), the open-faced sandwich and mentioning such historical figures such as Catherine the Great and King Hakkon of Norway. I had never heard of a Hardanger fiddle and found that interesting.
I am now reading Catherine the Great by Henri Troyat and I liked the mention of her name. I also did a webinar this week (a seminar using the computer) by Hurtingruten Cruise Line for travel agents on Bergen and the fjords. The seminar was informative with all the pictures of the area; it helped to relate to Bergen in the book.
A good reading book with mystery, love, hate, betrayal, snow, mother, daughter, fear, films, gardens, anger and murder. A quick reading book and not as predictable as one might think. show less

Leigh's father, a famous novelist, and her mother, a great actress, had never married. She never knew her mother, but her father's dying wish was that she travel to Norway and find the woman he loved and whose life was shadowed by dark secrets.

FROM AMAZON: Leigh Hollins had no choice but to honor her father’s dying wish: that she find her estranged mother, now living in seclusion in Norway, and reconcile with her. Leigh’s mother, Laura Worth, was once one of the most dynamic movie stars in the world, her films eclipsed only by her real life, which was filled with intrigue, scandal, and romantic melodrama. Then, after the mysterious death of the director on her final film, Laura slipped away from the Hollywood limelight. All she show more wanted was to be alone—but her daughter is about to shatter her solitude.

When Leigh arrives at her mother’s isolated hillside home in Bergen, she’s met with both guarded joy and trepidation. Gunnar, a family friend, is a welcoming figure who sparks an unexpected attraction. But when Leigh reunites with the mother she once longed to know, she discovers a weakened recluse, a woman living in fear. As Leigh opens old wounds, draws out long-buried secrets, and unwittingly invites the dreadful past back into both of their lives, she learns that not everyone is a fan of Laura Worth. Someone wants her dead—and Leigh herself has also been targeted for a killer fade-out. show less

Written like mysteries used to be written. A true classic style mystery.