The Beverly Malibu by Katherine V. Forrest

The Beverly Malibu
by Katherine V. Forrest
Pages: 280 pages
Date: September 1 2003 (originally published 1989)
Publisher: Alyson Books
Series: Kate Delafield (Third Book)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: February 5 2015

The Beverly Malibu, the third book in the series, involves the murder of Owen Sinclair, a man who gleefully and proudly testified for the House Un-American Activites Committee in the 1950s. A rotten horrible man. Smelly. Rude. Unrepentant. He was murdered in his room at the "Beverly Malibu", the name of the apartment complex. Most of his neighbors loath him. Most of his neighbors are in one way or another related and/or former Hollywood people. Actors, script supervisors, editors, directors (Sinclair), etc.

Once again Kate Delafield falls into a fling with someone she meets at a crime scene. The first time with Ellen O'Neil, a woman struggling with her long term lesbian lover (Amateur City). The second time with . . . um. Name isn't given in the description. I believe her name was Andrea. A woman who also had struggled with a long term lesbian lover, though for a different reason. She had been a gorgeous woman. She could not stand the reaction her lover gave when she first removed the bandages and revealed her scared body. And so, another "people in need" hook up for Delafield.

The hook up in Beverly Malibu . . . hmms. Kate hadn't gotten over the death of her lover in the first book. It had been years, but Anne had been her only love and they had lived together for . . . I believe 12 years. Kate had started to get over the death in the second book, but was still iffy/leery/shattered. Andrea was in need. Need to be reassured that she was still attractive. But not in need for a relationship. Right. So, the hook up in Bevelry Malibu finds Kate beginning to be ready to move on from Anne.

While at the crime scene at the Malibu, she spots Paula. An elegant majestic woman. Who lived next to the murder victim. There was another woman there, Paula's niece Aimee, but Kate barely noticed her. Trapped by Paula. So much so that she kept having to recover her detective persona while in her presence. Ed Taylor noticed Aimee though. Mentioned she was a 10. Gorgeous. Kate just kind of looked at him in confusion. As mentioned, she didn't really pay much attention to the fact that there was another woman in Paula's room. It was Aimee, though, who had been most effected by the death of Owen Sinclair. Shocked. Horrified. Unable to sleep. Paula was ice water. Walked right in and starred at the tortured murdered man.

Kate's kind of distracted during the investigation. Ed's focused on a playwright who has been blocked since 1974 when Sinclair stole his script. One thing leads to another and . . . case solved. 1989