Book Review: A Child Kidnapping in 1920s Hollywood

 Saving Susy Sweetchild, by Barbara Hambly (Severn House)

Barbara Hambly is one of my all-time favorite authors. I will follow her across genres, from science fiction to fantasy to historical fiction to murder mysteries. And what better combination than a mystery set in 1920s Hollywood, filled with glamour, Prohibition, drugs, silent film stars…and the occasional crime? I fell in love with Hambly’s take on this era with her iconic Bride of the Rat God (not kidding!) and eagerly dived into her current series of “Silver Screen Historical Mysteries.”

The protagonist is Emma Blackstone, widowed daughter of an English don (professor, in this case of Antiquities—Emma regularly quotes Ancient Greek and Latin), now earning her keep as companion and helper to her beautiful silent-movie star sister-in-law, Kitty. Among Emma’s duties are catering to Kitty’s three “celestial cream cakes,” aka Pekinese dogs, modeled after Hambly’s own pups. In her spare time, Emma edits film scenarios for Kitty’s producer, romances a cinematographer, and solves mysteries.

This third mystery in the series takes place in 1924, a time rampant with child kidnappings. Infant Blakely Coughlin (abducted in 1920), 5-year-old Giuseppi Verotta (1921), 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Franks (killed by Leopold and Loeb in 1924), Marion Parker (1927), Grace Budd (1928), and Gill Jamieson (1929) were among those never returned to their parents. In Hambly’s mystery, the victim is Susy Sweetchild, an immensely talented child actor. From the time Emma first sees Susy, she realizes the child is in danger, from the drunken horse wrangler in the Western in which Susy stars to the mother who is only interested in Susy’s earnings, the drunken/absent father (lots of booze during Prohibition) to the grasping aunt and grandfather to the producer who simply doesn’t care so long as Susy’s films make money. So when Susy and her mother both disappear and the studio receives a ransom note ending “Do not call the cops,” it’s up to Emma, her sweetheart, and the Pekinese to unravel the mystery before it’s too late.

As with all Hambly’s work, Saving Susy Sweetchild balances page-turner tension, wonderful characters (including the dogs!), twists-upon-plot-twists, and heart-stopping moments. From start to finish, it’s a treat.

I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley. The book will be released on September 3rd, 2024.