Several Deaths Later

Read Several Deaths Later Storyline:

    The popular game show "Celebrity Circle" is something of
a graveyard for show-biz mediocrities, so Tobin, the five-foot-five movie critic
with the fiery hair and the equally fiery temper, is less than thrilled to
accept a guest stint as the show films a week's worth of broadcasts aboard an
ocean liner. But Tobin's career has hit the skids since he solved his TV
partner's murder (Murder on the Aisle, 1987); money is money, and
besides, he gets a free cruise in the bargain.
    But someone on board has more in mind than fabulous
prizes, and Ken Norris, the smarmy emcee of "Celebrity Circle," turns up with a
knife in his back. The Captain blames Cindy McBain, the young secretary from
Kansas City in whose room the victim's body was discovered. Although Tobin finds
her wearing nothing but a robe covered in Norris' blood, he thinks she is
innocent, if less than pure-and he swears his belief has nothing to do with her
incredible body or her enthusiastically expressed affection for
celebrities.
    
***
    
    From Publishers Weekly
    Gorman scores another hit with this witty, fast-paced
mystery. Tobin (Murder on the Aisle), semipermanently drunk movie critic
and ex-TV star, is the guest panelist on Celebrity Circle, a TV game show being
taped on a cruise to the Virgin Islands. The ship is barely out of port when the
show's host is murdered in a cabin while awaiting beautiful, starstruck Cindy
McBain. Next, a reporter for Snoop magazine and a private investigator are
killed. The ship's captain asks Tobin to help with the investigation and allows
him to search the victims' belongings. Tobin finds a photo of a woman whose face
has been obliterated and two old, seemingly unrelated newspaper clippings. And
when the word "payday," which is used frequently in the reporter's notebook, is
mentioned to the stars, each behaves suspiciously. Tobin sets a trap for the
killer and then fails, in a hilariously funny scene, by capturing everyone.
Despite its lighthearted spirit, this novel, like a movie from Tobin's favorite
genre, is full of characters with twisted motivations and dark passions. Gorman
successfully blends screwball comedy with film noir.