Combining a small-town murder mystery with the allure of Tinseltown was an unusual but intriguing premise. The premise fell a bit short of the book's promises, but it was still an interesting read.

This book is from one of my older acquisitions, and as I am working through the backlist, I finally got around to it. It was a surprising read, to say the least.
It begins innocuously enough in a small town where the lead protagonist is called to help in a capacity that I did not fully understand when the local star is found dead (of apparent natural causes). In bits and pieces, more things are added to the picture. We find out about the colours of the town, the facets of Samson Delaware, which are extremely surprising. The author lulls you into thinking the book is going one way when suddenly it makes a complete turn into a whole other territory. It kept me on my toes, trying to predict the next jump.
Given the 'different' storyline, the possibility of a mystery and a very personal obsession, I expected a lot more to happen. If not for that ending, I may not have liked the book overall! The conclusion matched the feel of the first part of the book when the story began.
It was an interesting experience, and since it is not a very large volume, I would still recommend it to anyone who finds the blurb attractive. Film buffs might enjoy the tie-ups where every chapter is preceded by a script or scene, or storyline of a movie.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I found this book mosty confusing and in the end I couldn't finish it. I give it three stars just because it had potential and it was probably just me.

This book was so confusing to me, and it lagged so much, I was bored by the time I got halfway through it. I DNF 38% . I really cant give a review on a book that I didn't completely finish other then what I did read.

Barbara Lace left Cedarville after high school for Hollywood and a life on the silver screen. Unlike most aspirants, she achieved a level of success. Returning to Cedarville, she became a recluse until her death at 73. The murder of her assistant shortly after her death raises questions as to her death Samson Delaware has lived in Cedarville his whole life, but is fascinated with the estate of Barbara Lace which leads to his involvement in figuring out her mysteries.

3.5 stars

Quirky mystery about faded Hollywood actress Barbara Lace who ended up back in her home town of Cedarville, TN. The story begins when the main character, Samson Delaware, helps the local undertaker carry Lace's body out of her home after her death. Delaware is an interesting character -- he has not recovered from his young wife's death, and is just managing to get through each day by staying busy at his antique and refinishing business.

There are lots of secrets in this novel and much reference back to earlier Hollywood days. Samson gets sucked into helping investigate when Lace's assistant is found murdered shortly after Lace's death. He has some help from a possible new love interest but he's still a bit too emotionally paralyzed to start a relationship. For a while the action shifts to California when he flies to L.A. to ask questions of Lace's friends and co-workers there.

We find out more about Delaware as the story unfolds and there are lots of plot twists and turns. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was an interesting read. I can't put my finger on it but some part worked less for me than others. Overall, depending on who asked, I would recommend this read to others.

I love a small town mystery, with shadowy characters and creeping uneasiness and Famous in Cedarville delivers. Samson’s grief over the loss of his wife is palpable and puts a pall over his life. The book begins as Samson helps the undertaker move Barbara Lake’s body from her home. Barbara was a longtime Hollywood character actress who’d come back home to Cedarville when she retired. She lived as a hermit upon returning to Cedarville, avoiding reporters and attention, and the town was protective of her. Samson believes Barbara’s death is more than it appears and takes it upon himself to investigate when it’s clear no one believes him. Then a woman who’d claimed to be Barbara’s assistant is shot to death in Barbara’s home. This only increases Samson’s certainty that both deaths are murder.

The novel feels almost dream-like, with Samson, lost in grief, floating through life, memories and his own mind as he investigates the deaths with a focus on Barbara. Barbara is a fascinating character with a fascinating history steeped in old Hollywood, making Samson’s investigation interesting to follow, in Cedarville and beyond. I believe readers who enjoy noir, mysteries and Hollywood will enjoy Famous in Cedarville.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own. #FamousInCedarville #mystery

The first half of this book sort of lumbered along and I wasn't quite sure what it was about Sampson that didn't ring true. Then suddenly - wait - what?! - and it was as if he was a whole new character. This worked in some ways for me and in some ways - not. Throughout the book, Sampson seemed to talk like a much older person than he was (my perception). The 'hokiness' of Cederville seemed a bit overdone at times.

The characters were well done and vivid but the narrative had so many plot lines it felt like a 3-ring circus at times. Still - an enjoyable enough read.

Former Hollywood actress Barbara Lace is found dead in her home in Cedarville. No one is all that surprised, as Lace was older, but local resident Samson Delaware is convinced that the death was not as innocent as it seems. The town has an unspoken rule that as long as Barbara Lace didn't bother them, they didn't bother her, so no one really knows what she was really like. Samson is on the edge of things, as losing his wife has made him far less social than he already was and neighbors are pretty sure he's slowly losing his mind.  It's not long before he witnesses another murder and realizes that there is much more to the case and Lace's decision to move to Cedarville.

Erica Wright's prose makes Famous in Cedarville rapidly go from the opening stages to a page turner. The mystery is entertaining, full of Hollywood mystery and small-town secrets, making it an entertaining read to whip through over the weekend.

Famous in Cedarville is now available from Polis Books.

A well written and well crafted mystery, gripping and entertaining.
I loved the complex plot, full of twists and turns, the well thought cast of characters and the well researched historical background.
it was an excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Famous in Cedarville was a book about Samson, a man investigating the deaths of Hollywood actress Barbara Lace and her assistant. Despite not being a professional, Samson is prompted by the mysterious circumstances around their deaths to investigate, taking him out of Cedarville and into Los Angeles.

It wasn’t the book's mystery that absorbed me but Samson and small town Cedarville itself. Cedarville’s residents were so reluctant to talk about Barbara, even in private to people who weren’t the media. Samson himself was a character with a lot of depth, still grieving his wife after her death years ago, and yet determined to figure out what happened to Barbara and her assistant.

I’m a huge fan of unreliable narrators, but in this book I’d argue that Samson could’ve been a better one. I could tell there was something he wasn’t telling me as the reader, but the way that Erica Wright wrote Samson as an unreliable narrator was by having him talk about his wife. Over and over Samson would think about his memories of her, but by making him talk too much of his wife, it became too obvious that there was something important Samson wasn’t talking about.

I think more could’ve also been done with Cedarville to bring out even more of that eerie, we-don’t-talk-about-it tone that I loved in the book. Although the residents were reluctant to talk to Samson, it wasn’t until he traveled to Los Angeles that he was really told to stop looking for things he shouldn’t. Until Los Angeles the plot was slow to get anywhere, but I thought the ending of the book had a great explanation for everything. It was exactly what I wanted and a satisfying end to the mystery of Barbara Lace!

Erica Wright’s FAMOUS IN CEDARVILLE is a twisting thriller that follows Samson Delaware’s amateur investigation into the death of semi-famous Hollywood actress Barbara Lace and the brutal murder of her assistant. After turning her back on fame and fortune in Hollywood, Barbara returned to her small hometown in Tennessee and lived a reclusive life until she passed away. Much like Barbara, Samson is also an outsider and a mystery to the people of Cedarville. Samson’s motivation to find out what really happened to Barbara Lace was a bit vague throughout the novel, and I frequently found myself questioning why he cared so much. Everything made a lot more sense after Samson traveled to Los Angeles and more of his backstory was revealed. FAMOUS IN CEDARVILLE is a very complex mystery with numerous plots and subplots merging together. Yes, the mystery of what happened to Barbara Lace and her assistant is the main plot, but the unraveling backstory of Samson Delaware almost overshadows it. He is a very compelling character, and the more the reader learns about him, the more interesting he becomes.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
Reading this book made me think of that overused 90's-era sitcom line: Who are you, and what have you done with Erica Wright? Famous in Cedarville and its protagonist, Samson Delaware are so far removed from Kat Stone and her world, it's hard to believe they come from the same mind. That said, as much as I want to see more of Kat Stone, if Wright's going to give us more like this? I won't complain too loudly.

I'm getting ahead of myself, we should start with the beginning when Samson Delaware joins some fellow citizens of Cedarville, TN to carry the body of Barbara Lace from her home. Lace left her small town home at a young age to pursue fame and fortune in Hollywood. She found it, too—she wasn't a superstar, she didn't reach the heights of fame or craft; but she was someone that people all over the country knew. And the only person from Cedarville that anyone not from the area knew was alive. After decades in California, she retired from film and television and basically became a recluse.

Delaware is a carpenter and probably the area's antiques expert. He appraises pieces, advises buyers, in addition to buying and restoring pieces to sell. While in Lace's home, he can't help himself from looking around more than he ought. While it's nowhere near his expertise, something doesn't seem right about the scene to him, and he starts to think that Lace didn't die peacefully in her sleep.

A few days later, Lace's personal assistant is murdered (no ambiguity about that one), leading Delaware to step up his unofficial investigation—which soon becomes official, as the local authority (note the singular, Cedarville is just that small) and State investigators are both stymied. The sheriff is desperate enough to grant official status to anyone who can help.

Looking into Lace's murder takes Delaware on a journey through time and space—the key to it has to be in Lace's past (she saw so few people recently, it has to be in the past). And Lace's past is in Los Angeles, so Delaware heads out to L.A. to do some footwork and talk to those who knew the actress during her heyday (and after it, too).

Delaware's own investigation pulls double duty—not only will it hopefully bring the community some answers about their favorite daughter, but it also distracts him from the all-consuming grief following his wife's death. More than once, he has to wrestle with the question of whether he's pursuing justice for justice's sake or if it's because it helps him not deal with his wife's death.

As its protagonist looks into a by-gone era of film, the novel takes on the feel and atmosphere of that era while retaining a feeling of fresh and contemporary. Don't ask me how Wright does that, but it's great to see it done. Beyond that, there's a depth to the emotion and characters that you don't see every day. It'd be easy to argue that Delaware coming to grips (in whatever way he does) to his current state, how he got there and where he's going is more important to the novel than showing what happened to Lace and her assistant (it'd be easy to argue against it, too, but that's my point).

I'm not doing a good job describing how different this book comes across—not just from Wright's previous work, but from most of what's out there in the genre at the moment. Hopefully, others can articulate it—I'm confident any reader will feel what I'm getting at.

There were two distinct "What the ---!?!" moments (there are a few more surprises, but two that you won't forget soon). One of which, technically, is the result of Wright cheating. But it's such a cool development and Wright reveals it so deftly that I couldn't complain. The other one was completely honest and caught me completely flat-footed. Far from clearing everything up, both of these added layers and complexity to this already intricate plot.

A complex mystery, rich characters (I don't have time to talk about Lace's long-time agent or the people of Cedarville), a nostalgic yet timely feeling novel that looks to Hollywood's glamorous past and the very human, very real present. Wright knocks this one out of the park and will earn herself some new fans with this one.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Polis Books via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

I’m generally not a mystery reader, but I am a fan of clear prose and stories centered in film. A most enjoyable book with some clever turns. Worth it for mystery readers and those who don’t always turn to this genre.

Unreliable narrators work so much better when they they're more competently unreliable. It's unclear what is driving Samson when he starts to help investigate who killed Barbara Lace's assistant. As things progress Samson keeps hinting at the Why and how He Knows More, etc. but then he continues to act as though he's just a guy swept up in events. It didn't work as well as it could have, leading this reader to be far more frustrated with him than was necessary. Fewer hints along the way would have been a better way to go.

eARC provided by publisher.

Famous in Cedarville is a fantastic mystery with interesting and wonderful characters. Well written and I would read more by this author.

I love old Hollywood so when I saw that this was a mystery in Hollywood I was sold. I'm glad I did because it was really good, I had a great time reading this as it's what I was looking for in a mystery.