In 1931, while most of Los Angeles is struggling to survive the Depression, the business of Hollywood is booming. And everyone wants a piece. The movies have always been cutthroat and, as girl Friday Kitty Pangborn is about to find out, that’s more than a metaphor.
Kitty’s boss, private detective Dexter Theroux, has been asked to help leading man Laird Wyndham prove his innocence. The actor was the last person to be seen with a young actress who died under very suspicious circumstances, and the star has fallen from the big screen to the big house. Wyndham’s a dreamboat, but that isn’t the only thing that has Kitty hot under the collar. Dex has already signed a client---one who’s hired him to prove Wyndham’s hands are not as clean as they look.
Mixing Hollywood glitz with hard-boiled grit,Death Was in the Picturecaptures the essence of life in Depression-era Los Angeles: a world where times are tough, talk is cheap, and murder is often just one scene away.

Linda L. Richards is a journalist and award-winning author. She is the founding editor of January Magazine, one of the Web’s most respected voices about books. She is also the author of six novels and several works of nonfiction and is on the faculty of the Simon Fraser University Summer Publishing Workshops. In 2010, Richards’ novel Death Was in the Picture won the Panik Award for Best Los Angeles-Based Noir. Linda can be found at lindalrichards.com and @lindalrichards.

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Praise forDeath Was the Other Woman:
“For something really snappy---a dandy, old-school, hard-boiled detective story, told from the point of view of a tough PI’s equally tough secretary---go no further than Linda L. Richards’sDeath Was the Other Woman.” --Seattle Times
“Richards’s spot-on portrayal of 1930s California---the tumultuous social and political atmosphere, the fashions, the vernacular---make this a must-read for palookas, mooks, and twists with enough spondulix to spare for some rip-roaring, hard-boiled literary escapism.” --The Chicago Tribune
“Honoring the noir tradition while turning it on its head, Richards’s richly detailed period portrays a world in which lifestyles, whether high or low, become an elaborate defense against a harsh environment in which there is only one final act, and the trick is to determine the time the curtain falls.” --Booklist
“This is a great period piece with action aplenty and nostalgia-evoking characters. Kitty is a delight, and fans of Megan Abbott’s noir crime novels will enjoy it.” --Library Journal