Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen takes us back to the height of World War II, with a mystery that intrigues and gives the reader fun characters to play with, but doesn’t really excite. It’s a pretty decent portrait of World War II-era Hollywood, but the mystery needed more punch to satisfy me.

After the play she was in in New York closed, Annie Laurence heads to Hollywood for a fresh start. Having broken up with her boyfriend, there’s nothing holding her to the Big Apple, so when Pacific Pictures offers her a contract in motion pictures, Annie jumps at the opportunity. The job, like everyone else’s job in the system at this point in time, comes with a requirement – she must put in time working at the Hollywood Canteen in the Ambassador Hotel. The Canteen is a nightclub staffed by volunteering Hollywood folks in support of servicemen heading overseas to fight in the war effort; they can dine, tipple, and dance with the beautiful people for free.

One night while on duty, Annie is shocked to stumble upon a body in the Canteen’s kitchen. The victim is crusty film critic Fiona Farris. It’s soon figured out that Fiona has been poisoned and Annie – having discovered the body – is an immediate suspect. Since Farris was not kind in her reviews and could make or break any career as she so pleased – and had a closely-knit but backbiting social circle who dubbed themselves The Ambassadors as they held court at the Ambassador Hotel - there’s some worry that one of the Canteen’s many A-list volunteers might have been responsible for her murder.

All of Annie’s stage successes have been in mysteries, so when one pops into being in front of her, she turns into a real-life detective. Annie decides to get to the bottom of things by cozying up to Fiona’s social circle. It turns out Fiona was surrounded by a flock of malcontents, and they’re all too willing to tell Annie what Fiona was up to. But who’s the real perp?

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen is well-grounded in its time and place, and provids a decently paced mystery, but some parts of it were a little hard to swallow.

While Annie is a wonderfully winning heroine, and I enjoyed watching her match wits with the wicked people around her, she gains entrance to Fiona’s inner circle with far too much ease. And they spill intimate secrets to her with little encouragement – and far too little consideration. I imagine we’re supposed to think that they believed they were writers BS-ing to writers, which explains the slackening of social norms, but it still doesn’t ring true.

Yet the mystery itself - and the romantic tangle Annie finds herself in, which I won’t spoil for fear of revealing too much of the subplot – do work, and it’s thanks to them that I can offer Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen a recommendation.

Well this was a DNF after 30%. It did not keep me interested enough to continue. I like a story to captivate me by 20% of the pages. This just wasn’t for me. I was honored to receive an early copy through NetGalley for an honest review, thank you.

such a great read! i love historical fiction and 1940s hollywood was such an interesting setting, i haven’t read a murder mystery with so much drama in a while and i enjoyed it so much, the characters were well developed and complex enough that i didn’t know if i should love them or hate them, i think the killer reveal was clever even if sometimes it felt like the plot was going in circles but the ending was good and there was more to learn about the mc than just her trying to solve a murder, overall i think it is a very entertaining book

Ever since watching The Orient Express, I have been loving murder mysteries. This was no exception. The glitz and glamour and Hollywood stars were so fun to read about.

Thank you #NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed this book. I was a little unsure at first and thought that it would be just another boring historical mystery, but it had me tossing that notion aside from the very first chapter. I was NOT expecting this to be as queer as it was. There were many varied queer characters and relationships, and I could tell each was put in the story with purpose and not just for diversity wins. Sarah James’ characters could never be called boring or static, that’s for sure. Each one was full of both negative and positive traits, made sometimes terrible and selfish decisions, and were still loveable in their own way. I would say this is a found family story, and in a way it is, but it’s the most dysfunctional family group I’ve ever read about. They’re all assholes and the friendship shouldn’t work at all, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the dynamics all the same - much like the characters feel about each other.
The story was set within a background of WWII-era Hollywood, which really set a great stage (pun intended) for the mystery itself. I have to say I had no clue where it was going at any given point. I couldn’t have guessed who the killer was until Annie herself did. I liked that the reveal wasn’t the end of the story, either. Annie’s story deserved an ending (or really, a new beginning) that revolved around her, and I’m glad she got it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes complicated, strong-willed characters and a mystery that will keep them guessing.

Thank you to netgalley, Sarah James, and the publishers for this ARC.

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen starts with Annie’s relationship ending and her play closing. When she gets a call from a minor studio to be a writer, she heads West (coincidentally where her exes are also living and working). She befriends a group of wannabe actors, composers and writers but when one of the group is found dead, will they all turn on each other to find the killer.

What I liked: The last half of the book, the pacing picked up and the murder investigation started - it just took awhile to get there.

The bits and pieces you get of the old Hollywood studio system - crafting a star’s image and minimizing anything that could be potentially offensive.

What didn’t work for me: The characters weren’t that likable, to the point I questioned why the main character wanted to be friends with them. I also felt like they blended together a bit.

The conclusion wrapped up fairly quickly and neatly. The bit of romance felt unnecessary.

Who should read it: You enjoy old Hollywood, slower paced books, and a murder mystery that isn’t gory.

Last Night At The Hollywood Canteen was exactly what I wanted it to be! It was the Hollywood murder mystery that I never knew I needed. Fun, glamourous, murderous and an in depth look into the lives of the rich and famous. I absolutely loved how the author used real people and places in the novel. It really set the scene to this historical mystery.

Thank you, Sarah James, Sourcebook Landmark and NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed the first part of this, reading on Old Hollywood. It was enthralling enough getting to know all these characters. But then the murder happened and everyone just got on my nerves and the story got too draggy. I DNF-ed then. I'm sorry it didn't work out for me. Judging from other reviews, others definitely enjoyed this more.

I love the cover of this book and I love the idea of this book!

But, with that said, this book fell flat for me. I found myself bored and skimming through lines and paragraphs. Perhaps it was the pacing or the characters.

I did not finish reading and I really don't like not finishing a book but I really struggled to become engaged with this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review.
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I liked the plot of this book, and the era, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me. I struggled to get through it, especially after the extensive list of characters was introduced,

I really liked the way this book began with a happy throuple of a playwright and two actors, because not many books aimed at mainstream readers have this kind of representation. But then it all went to hell and devolved into a mess of stock characters, red herrings the size of airplanes, and a dull ending. None of the characters have much depth, the story drags, and the ending feels completely untrue to the protagonist.

Great characters, entertaining dialogue and great plot development
Thank you to Sarah James, NetGalley and Sourcebooks landmark for the arc of this book

I loved this twisty tale of Hollywood in the golden age. The amount of detail James sprinkles throughout her chapters takes the reader right back to the time and place with ease. The characters all shine and are deliciously flawed. The plot twists and turns itself into a pretzel tighter than Veronica Lake's hair in a drill press.. I cannot express how much I enjoyed this novel. If you love The Thin Man, if you think Jack Benny was a genius, if you've ever lovingly flipped through an old issue of Modern Screen magazine, give this book a chance,

Dare I say, I loved this one. Loved! A whodunit set in Hollywood in the 40’s, the banter was witty, the characters were likable and the mystery was perfectly done.

As a fan of classic movies, this had the feel of one of those, just in book form. It felt cozy and the dialogue was well done for that time period. Can’t recommend this one enough!

I'm not always the biggest fan of historical fiction but let me tell you, Sarah James knocked it out of the park!

I love anything that has to do with the glitz and glamour of the classic, old Hollywood era. The cover is amazing. This book will take you back in time and take you to a whole new time.

The mystery itself was delightful and creative, but the real gem was the conversations, characters, banter, dark humor, and jokesThe perfect balance of humor and true emotion and dark, sadistic, and sarcastic humor and content. It was beyond exciting. The pacing was good. Not too slow or too fast I got lost.

This was a fast paced wise-cracking historical mystery set in World War II era Hollywood. Annie Laurence is a playwright who heads west after a New York City relationship goes bad. She is offered a screenwriting contract with a third-rate studio, and falls in with a crowd of movie types loosely based on the likes of Dorothy Parker, Anna May Wong, George Gershwin, and Judy Garland. A member of the “club” is murdered, and we’re off to the races.

This was mostly fun, with an intriguing mystery and some great one-liners. The story lagged toward the end, when the pill popping and historical accuracy both went a bit out of control, and I was left wondering what actually happened. But I had a good time and recommend it to all fans of 1940’s historical mysteries.

Such a great historical mystery set in the Golden days of Hollywood! I hope this continues on as a series! I highly enjoyed it and would recommend it to those who are looking for a different era to try out in historical mysteries!

Join the hollywood set in this queer noir romp which will keep you turning pages as you explore the twisting lives of actors, directors and musicians tied together by complicated histories and that last night at the Hollywood Canteen. This novel is an immersive experience with dynamite dialogue making wartime studio backlots come bursting to life in technicolour.
The cast of characters are all stars selfish stars walking the line between fame and infamy and it is a thrilling time walking the wire with them. Fresh, fun and delicious - just watch out for the coffee you'll be drinking because you can't sleep until you get to the end!

“Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen” is a mystery book by Sarah James.

What I liked about the book:

It really captured the feel of the Hollywood Canteen - meaning the canteen itself. There was some name dropping, but that’s to be expected because the canteen started out as a good effort and became, sadly, a place for stars to be seen - and for Hollywood to pat itself on the back for doing a job for the war effort. However, I honestly believe that Ms. Davis and Mr. Garfield didn’t plan for it to evolve that way when they came up with the idea.

The bitting and bitterness and wittiness of the Algonquin Round Table - portrayed in this book book as the Ambassador’s Club. I’ll never be a huge Dorothy Parker fan, but her one liners were cutting, bitter, and spot on … rather like those of Fiona Farris.

The cover of this book - it’s gorgeous and if I saw it at my library, I’d pick it up for the cover alone.

What was meh:

The pacing - yes, there needed to be build-up … and a fall down … and a savior, but the plot at times moved so slowly toward the direction of first the murder and then again solving said murder.

The Ambassador Group - while the wit was there, so often there was so much bitterness that I had to wonder “why do these people consider themselves friends? Why do they hang out with each other? Maybe they have a different definition of the word ‘friend’?”

Characters - While I had an easy time keeping the female characters, for the most part, separate - the two man men (Vic and Jack) I had problems keeping separate. While the two men did work together, I don’t think that was the only reason why. I wanted something more to the overall relationships in this book as even at the end, I still felt what I knew about each character was rather surface-level interesting. Also, while the main female character followed a couple out to California, I really felt like like the couple she followed could’ve been replaced by a single character. I didn’t care for the couple … separately or together.

The “who done it” - I wasn’t surprised by who was revealed to be the murderer, but I was disappointed because it seemed like such a sad reason to murder someone.

What was not so great:

I was hoping for vague “Thin Man” vibes. Instead I read a book where a woman after one week manages to get herself accepted by a group of friends who have been together for 20 years and they start spilling secrets to her like nobody’s business. That seemed a little bit too unreal for me. Also, this book became a bit too cookie cutter at times - focusing on little things that ended up being red herrings or on the shady side of Hollywood.

For me, this book is about a 3.5 read. I so wanted to enjoy it more than I did.