Dial Emmy for Murder

Table of Contents

 

 

“A fun read. Eileen’s many years as a daytime television star add verisimilitude to her novel’s soap opera backdrop, as her heroine struggles to clear her name while finding romance in this fast-paced whodunit. A little guilty pleasure for soap opera fans and nonfans alike.”

—Kay Alden, former head writer of
The Young and the Restless
and
associate head writer of
The Bold and the Beautiful

 

“Through the character of Alexis, we get a real inside perspective on the life of a soap opera veteran—not a clichéd diva, but a warm, complex, and thoughtful single mother with a great sense of humor about herself and the ‘glamorous’ world she works in. . . . Readers will be thrilled with the unexpected twists and turns of the plot. I know I was.”

—Peter Bergman, Jack Abbott on
The Young and the Restless

 

“Eileen Davidson’s debut mystery has star quality with an appealing protagonist and fascinating lore about the making of TV soaps.”

—Carolyn Hart,
New York Times
bestselling author

 

“[A] funny and entertaining read that had me laughing out loud. Ms. Davidson draws on a world she knows very well and gives you a host of ‘who done it’ characters that keeps you guessing to the very end. I highly recommend this book and can see it as a movie.”

—Ronn Moss, Ridge Forrester on
The Bold and the Beautiful

 

“The author clearly knows her milieu and brings her characters and setting to life. There are a lot of natural suspects, [and] together with a good amount of misdirection, the result [is] a credible whodunit.”

—Mysterious Reviews

 

“Readers get treated to the inside scoop of what happens at a popular soap opera offscreen as Eileen Davidson uses her experience on
The Young and the Restless
and
The Bold and the Beautiful
to create the background to this exciting, heady, and enthralling mystery. . . . With great characters, a fun look at soaping, and an engaging whodunit, fans beyond the soaps will enjoy this fine amateur sleuth tale.”

—Genre Go Round Reviews

 

“Ms. Davidson is an actress, and clearly knows the inner workings of daytime dramas. She’s great at giving the reader an inside look at the real-life soap behind the soap. . . . You’ll find this to be a fast, frothy read. The author’s breezy writing style really makes the whole caper fun, without going over the top.”

—CA Reviews

 

“In this fast-paced and entertaining mystery that takes place on the set of a soap opera,
The Young and the Restless
star Davidson’s heroine has an engaging voice laced with humor and irony. . . . This glimpse into the daytime television world is interesting and informative, and one need not be a soap fan to enjoy the well-plotted, suspenseful story.”

—
Romantic Times

Also by Eileen Davidson

OBSIDIAN
Published by New American Library, a division of
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First Printing, June 2009

Copyright © Eileen Davidson and Robert J. Randisi, 2009

eISBN: 9781101346440

All rights reserved

OBSIDIAN and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

I acknowledge my husband, Vince Van Patten, and Annamarie Davidson for allowing me to torture them with ideas all the time. And to the terrific Marthayn Pelegrimas for her great eye and editing skills.

Chapter 1

“Alex! Alex! This way!”

“No, this way, Alex—your left!”

“Over here, Alex!”

“Great dress, Alexis. Who are you wearing?”

I exited the limo, making sure not to flash anyone. Just then a crowd of fans caught sight of me and burst into screams.

“Alex, we love you! We love you! Why did you leave
The Yearning Tide
?”

Why did I leave? How could I stay on that show when the entire cast and crew had believed that I murdered the head writer? Could you work with a bunch of people who thought you were capable of such a horrendous thing?

But now I worked on
The Bare and the Brazen
and it
was
a great gig. I played two characters, one of which looked completely different from myself! I had a prosthetic nose and false teeth (made by the same guy who did Austin Powers’s). The hours were a little long sometimes because of the dual roles, but I was having a helluva good time. The primary character, Felicia Stewart, a psychiatrist, is the heroine of the show. She has a not-so-attractive twin sister, Fanny Stewart, who was given up for adoption and raised in the South. Fanny has bad teeth and an attitude to match. She’s jealous of her sister and always up to no good. Fanny’s the fun one to play, but then it’s always more fun to be bad. Unfortunately that can be true in real life, too.

As I turned and smiled, I was assaulted by a multitude of flashbulbs exploding in my face. My manager, Connie, grabbed my elbow and steered me past the paparazzi.

“Al,
Entertainment Tonight
wants to talk to you—right up ahead.”

“I can’t, Connie.” I felt a drop of sweat traveling from between my shoulder blades down to the small of my back.

“What do you mean, you can’t? It’s
ET
, for God’s sake. Please just get over yourself and talk to them.”

“Connie, you’re on my train. I seriously mean I can’t go talk to them.” I gestured to the rear of my dress, and sure enough, Connie’s spike-heeled Manolo Blahnik was pinning me to the red carpet.

“Oh! Sorry, doll.” She moved off my dress and ushered me over to the
ET
reporter. “Jeez, it’s gotta be a hundred degrees out here. Why is it always so damn hot at the Daytime Emmys? I’m dying.” She dabbed at her bronze face.

“I know what you’re saying, Con,” I told my manager. “I feel like my face is melting.”

“You look great, doll. Just do your thing!”

Mary Hart thrust a large microphone with the letters
ET
in my face.

“Alexis, thanks for talking with us. So, how does it feel to be here tonight representing a different show?”

“It’s great! I’m having so much fun. The cast and crew of
The Bare and the Brazen
are terrific. And you know, after all the drama of last year, it’s nice to make a fresh start.”

“We understand you’ll be presenting Outstanding Supporting Actor with Jackson Masters. Now, there’s a hunk!”

“Yes, I’m very excited about it. Jackson’s a sweetheart.”

“Thanks so much for talking to us, Alexis. You look amazing. Who are you wearing?”

I was dying to tell them I was wearing Vintage Chanel and diamonds by Van Cleef & Arpels. But before I could answer, the mike was quickly whisked away from my face and shoved into the more in-demand face of Ellen DeGeneres. “Ellen, you look amazing tonight. . . .”

Connie’s gravelly voice cut through the wall of noise. “By the way, Al, the stage manager asked me if you’d seen Jackson. He never showed up for rehearsal.”

“No, I haven’t. But he always blows off rehearsals. He’ll probably run up there at the last minute. He loves to jerk people’s chains.”

I proceeded up the steps to the Kodak Theatre and took a deep breath. Bells were ringing, letting everyone know the show was about to start.

“Please take your seats; we start in five minutes. Five minutes, everyone!” came blasting over the PA system.