Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Josephine Tey is celebrating her 40th birthday with friends in the village of Portmerion in the summer of 1936. Alfred Hitchcock is also there, scouting film locations and seeking script rights for Tey's A Shilling for Candles. As a practical joke, Hitchcock has cooked up a fake murder to observe the reactions of his dinner guests. Slight problem --- three bodies turn up dead before the weekend is over. As a long time fan of Josephine Tey, I was delighted to run into this series that features her as a character.

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Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was eager to read this historical fiction novel because I have long held an affinity for the Jazz Age and a particular interest in the Fitzgeralds. While previous works have cast Zelda in the role of airhead-selfish-unstable-party girl, Fowler sees her as a lively girl whose curiosity and talents did not mesh with the demure role of women prescribed during her time. Recommended to fans of The Paris Wife or the film, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS [2011].

My particular interest in Zelda developed when I did an author study in college on F. Scott Fitzgerald and, after my research, wrote my paper with a "woman-behind-the-man" thesis. Needless to say, it did not receive a warm welcome. FSF was brilliant but insecure, and being married to him would have driven anyone crazy [being married to Hemingway would have made ME commit suicide]. Ms. Fowler, thank you for exposing Zelda as the talented, inquisitive woman she was --- caught in the wrong decade.

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