One of Those Malibu Nights-Elizabeth Adler

One of Those Malibu Nights
Elizabeth Adler
St. Martin's, Jul 2008, $24.95
ISBN 9780312364496

Southern California private investigator Mac Reilly hosts the cold case mystery show “Mac Reilly's Malibu Mysteries”; he enjoys leading his audience on investigations of unsolved cases. Mac is walking his dog on the beach by his home Malibu Colony at night thinking about his lover Sunny Alvarez who left for Rome after they argued. When he hears a scream from a nearby home, Mac immediately races to the location to be of assistance. He arrives only to have a beautiful female point a gun at his face; a gun that goes off just missing him. Mac leaves before he is hurt as he knows this is one of these crazy nights.

Later he learns his accidental shooter is one of the zillion Ronald Perrin girlfriends. Perrin is an investment billionaire married to Hollywood actress Allie Ray, who plans to divorce her philandering spouse. Ironically, Ron hires Mac to find out who is following him and Allie hires Mac to find out who is stalking her. Following her appearance at Cannes, Allie vanishes changing Mac’s surveillance cases to something more sinister.

This fast-paced whodunit moves from California to Europe to Mexico and back to Malibu, as Elizabeth Adler, known for her overseas thrillers, provides an entertaining whodunit. Mac is fabulous as a PI turned reality host having a married couple as seperate clients even though he knows that he could have some ethics issues if he has to testify in court at their divorce suit. Fans will relish his Hollywood polished Noir as ONE OF THESE MALIBU NIGHTS is a fun private investigation tale.
Harriet Klausner