Stars in the Night
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I graduated from high school at sixteen, college at 20, and completed my law degree when I was 27.
My writing journey started in 2005 when I decided to write my first novel. Now I have eleven books published with more on the way.
People say I've accomplished a lot and that I must have life by the proverbial tail. Hardly! I grew up as a home schooled kid when home schoolers were misunderstood and oddities.
I struggle with balancing my writing and law career, plus being a good mom and wife.
I often fear people won't like my books.
I've walked through the deep pain of miscarriage.
Really, I'm just like you – I don't have it all together and have gone through tough times. But in His strength, I've discovered a strength I never knew I had. A strength I want you to discover, too.
In the end I'm just an ordinary mom who has seen God do some wonderful things as I've been obedient to step into the calling He's led me into.
Stars in the Night Background
Stars in the Night was an idea that had begun to percolate in my mind. I’d written two World War II series and was actively looking for my next setting. My husband, a huge World War II history buff, and I were kicking ideas around, and I’d decided Hollywood was probably the next place for me. I’d gone to the library and gotten a stack of research books when I got the call. An editor I knew but had never worked with wanted to know if I might be interested in a new line they were starting. As we talked, I got so excited. And then she emailed me their guidelines, which listed that Hollywood was a location they were interested in setting books.
Only God could have known ahead of time. But because I followed His prompting I was ready to run with an idea. Stars in the Night is the result.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Any day Audra might have been flattered by the friendly overtures of Robert Garfield, a real-life movie star. But on the flight from Indianapolis to Hollywood, Audra can think of little else than finding her missing sister. When Audra arrives in the city of glitz and glamour, and stars, and learns her rising starlet sister has been murdered, all thoughts of romance fly away.
Determined to bring the killer to justice, Audra takes a job with the second Hollywood Victory Caravan.
Together with Robert Garfield and other stars, she crisscrosses the southern United States in a campaign to sell war bonds. When two other women are found dead on the train, Audra knows the deaths are tied to that of her sister.
Could the killer be the man with whom she's falling in love?
If you'd like to read an excerpt of Chapter 1 of Stars In The Night, go HERE.
Contest: Lots of opportunities to win and great prizes, and the grand prize contains some of Cara's favorite classic movies as well as all of her WWII novels: Launch Contest!
Stars in the Night
by Cara Putnam is a terrific WWII romantic thriller. Audra Schaeffer has always been the sister with her feet firmly on the ground in contrast to sister Rosie who has left their family home in Indiana for the bright lights of Hollywood. When Rosie fails to make her weekly phone call home, Audra has a feeling that something is terribly wrong. On this instinct, she flies all the way to California only to discover that Rosie is missing. After meeting handsome actor Robert Garfield on the plane out, she feels he may be the only one in town she can trust. Eventually Audra ends up on a train tour across the country with a list of Hollywood's finest in hopes of discovering the truth about what happened to Rosie, but her investigation may put all of their lives at risk. Robert and Audra have terrific chemistry and on occasion their repartee sparkles like that of movies of the era. The Murder on the Orient Express-esque tour is filled with colorful characters who keep the reader guessing. The only flaw is that the motive behind the murders seems a bit flimsy. That said, Putnam could easily make a fantastic series of Robert and Audra solving mysteries in Hollywood in the vein of The Thin Man. I hope she continues writing in this era and uses the characters again.
2 comments:
Christy, thanks so much for participating in the tour and for your very thought-filled review. I'm so glad that you enjoyed Stars in the Night. I think you caught how much fun I had writing it. And I love the idea of a series, though I was thinking Victoria would be the "star" of the next book. What do you think about that?
Cara, I love the idea of a follow-up with Victoria. She was a very intriguing character. I'm also holding out hopes that Robert and Audra will by the detective couple of Hollywood (maybe Victoria can turn to them for help?). I love William Powell and Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies and would love to read a literary equivalent!
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