Scene Stealer by Elise Warner
Category:	Mystery/Suspense	Publisher:	Carina Press	ISBN-10:	142689032X	Type:
Pages:	174			ISBN-13:	9781426890321	Fiction

Scene Stealer is a mystery. Niche: Cozy A retired schoolteacher, Augusta Weidenmaier is determined to Kevin Corcoran, the missing child actor, who appears on the Big. Bad, Burger commercials. Buy your copy! Amazon Barnes & Noble.com Carina Press ELISE WARNER COPY “For a moment our eyes met; his were frightened, seeking help. Was it my imagination gone wild? No. After all those years of teaching elementary school, I knew this child was afraid.”   After a chance encounter on the subway, Miss Augusta Weidenmaier, a retired schoolteacher living in New York’s Greenwich Village, is determined to help the police in the search for missing nine-year-old child actor Kevin Corcoran. Never mind that she has no training in law enforcement—she spent decades teaching. She knows when someone is lying.   Once set upon a course of action, the indomitable Miss Weidenmaier cannot be swayed—or intimidated. Facing down megalomaniacal business executives, stuck-up celebrities, pushy stage mothers and a rabble-rousing talk show host, Miss Weidenmaier will stop at nothing—not even the disapproval of one Lieutenant Brown of the NYPD, who does not take kindly to amateur sleuthing—to bring young Kevin home. Excerpt SCENE STEALER Excerpt – Chapter 1 After a chance encounter on the subway, Miss Augusta Weidenmaier, a retired schoolteacher living in New York City, is determined to help the police in the search for missing 9-year-old child actor Kevin Corcoran. I must have been staring at the child. They were such an unlikely pair: the boy clean and neatly dressed, the man unkempt. For a moment our eyes met; his were frightened, seeking help. Or was it my old lady’s imagination gone wild? No, I understood children. All those years of teaching elementary school, I knew this child was afraid. The man seated next to the boy nudged him and the child lowered his eyes. As usual, the Broadway/Seventh Avenue local at Sheridan Square was crowded; I stood to one side to allow passengers to exit but the man pushed his way on, dragging the child behind him. A new rush of passengers hid them from my sight when the subway stopped at 14th Street. Such a darling boy; why did he seem familiar? Of course! The child was the spitting image of that little tyke in the Cowboy Bob’s Big, Bad Burger commercial. The commercial where the boy, dressed in chaps and a ten-gallon hat, twirls a rope and dances a hoedown with animated French-fried potatoes. Big blue eyes and a warm smile people returned. But this adorable child wasn’t smiling. The train stopped at several more stations. Where were we? I couldn’t see a thing with that portly gentleman standing directly in front of me. I craned my neck to see around him but garish sprays of graffiti obscured the sign indicating the station; I could barely decipher the lettering. This stop was Columbus Circle; the next would be Lincoln Center. Folding my unread magazine, I clutched my purse and umbrella and murmured, “Excuse me. Pardon me,” over and over again as I tried to make my way through the throng. I managed to reach the door just as the train announced its arrival at the 66th Street station with a nerve-jangling screech. Two extremely rude teenagers blocked the door. One was lost in the cacophony of sound that leaked from his oversized earphones. The other was engrossed in paring his fingernails. A gentle thrust with the tip of my umbrella and I was able to make my exit. The child and his companion were about fifteen feet ahead of me. When the boy looked back, I thought I could see his lower lip tremble. Impossible, he was too far away and my vision, though I hate to admit it, is not what it used to be. The man placed his hand on the child’s shoulder; they picked up their pace, reached the stairway and melted into the crowd. Was it the young actor who performed in the commercial or was it someone who looked very much like him? And why wasn’t he attending class this morning? Today was Tuesday, a school day. A very special Tuesday for a retired gentlewoman like me; at 9:45, Alan Gilbert was scheduled to conduct the New York Philharmonic in an open rehearsal of Strauss “tunes” at Lincoln Center. The public was invited to attend. I eagerly awaited a morning spent with Mr. Gilbert and was pleased to have obtained a $10 ticket. It wasn’t often I could afford such a treat. My concern for the boy abated as I thought about the music, Maestro Gilbert and what was reputed to be the maestro’s “blazing heat and power.” The traffic light turned yellow, then green. Car horns blasted the air with impatience. I checked to see if the vehicles flowing past would obey the signal, since at my age the body slows a bit, and was about to step off the curb, when the little boy tugged at the sleeve of my jacket. “Ma’am.” The child gasped, then took a deep breath. “Help me.” “What is wrong, child?” I never heard his answer. There was a sharp poke in the small of my back and the next thing I knew I lay sprawled flat in the gutter.

Paperback

Scene Stealer by Elise Warner
Scene Stealer by Elise Warner
Publisher: Carina Press
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length Full Length (174 pgs)
Heat Level: sweet
Rating: 4 books
Reviewed by Edelweiss

After a chance encounter on the subway, Miss Augusta Weidenmaier, a retired schoolteacher living in New York's Greenwich Village, is determined to help the police in the search for missing nine-year-old child actor Kevin Corcoran. Never mind that she has no training in law enforcement—she spent decades teaching. She knows when someone is lying.

Once set upon a course of action, the indomitable Miss Weidenmaier cannot be swayed—or intimidated. Facing down megalomaniacal business executives, stuck-up celebrities, pushy stage mothers and a rabble-rousing talk show host, Miss Weidenmaier will stop at nothing—not even the disapproval of one Lieutenant Brown of the NYPD, who does not take kindly to amateur sleuthing—to bring young Kevin home.

Augusta Weidenmaier is a retired schoolteacher who has a chance encounter with a kidnapped child and then responds by trying to solve the crime. Think of an Americanized Miss Marple set loose in New York’s off-off Broadway theater scene. The police detective assigned to the kidnapping does not appreciate the extra help, and he and his department do all they can to impede her progress.

This story has novelty attraction with staying power because it’s a curious meld of serious mystery and a kind of slapstick comedy. Part of the slapstick comes from the large and varied cast of characters. The characterizations are a real strength aspect of this book—very well done -- but they are so pronounced in type and garish in their projection of themselves that you can’t help smiling as you read through their dialogue.

The prose is another strength aspect: spirited and lively, a fast moving read — but not without some good figures of speech.

The dialogue is just as lively, but it is also the book’s main weakness. Many of the monologues — especially those of some minor characters — are too longwinded to be credible. The author seems impatient about getting the story out, and so we have various supporting characters and suspects, falling all over themselves to gush out information of use to Miss Weidenmaier. Few of these characters know anything about discretion.

Yet for all the plot energy careening toward the denouement, some of the early scenes lack tension. They don’t all engage well and some contribute little to the excitement we feel later on.

But overall, Scene Stealer is a solid story and a worthwhile read. The mystery has some unusual twists, and Miss Weidenmaier is a jewel of a leading character.



The Book Book
Scene Stealer by Elise Warner

A frightened young boy on the New York subway catches the eye of Miss Augusta Weidenmaier, a retired schoolteacher living in Greenwich Village. When she realizes that he is the abducted star of a series of fast-food commercials, she decides, Miss Marple style, to tackle the investigation into his disappearance herself--and plunges into the acting world with the determination to find the boy, bring about justice, and correct everyone's grammar.


Scene Stealer is a e-book due to be released on June 28, 2010. As such it's hard to give an exact page count, but it's under 200 which makes it a fast read. The writing lends itself to quick reading; it's fluid, stronger on dialog than on character and setting, with an engaging heroine who, like most lady sleuths, is nothing if not opinionated. I definitely detected a touch of the Amelia Peabodies in this character.


Like many books in the cozy mystery category, it has a slightly surreal timelessness. People still use pocket handkerchiefs--and even, at one point, a pocket watch!--and only swear in the mildest of terms. It was only when texting from a cellphone was mentioned towards the end of the book that I was 100% sure I wasn't in the New York of the 60s or 70s. The characters are somewhat stereotyped: failed actor, horrendous stage moms and spoiled teenage starlets, ruthless corporate types. I'd love to see a bit more nuance and depth of characterization, but I have the feeling we could see Miss Weidenmaier again so perhaps some secondary characters will be developed along the way.


Verdict: this is a nice beach read (if you can bring yourself to take a $200 e-reader to the beach) or entertainment for your morning commute. I began by finding Miss Weidenmaier irritating, but warmed to her in the course of the story, especially once she stopped trying to correct everyone's speech (a habit I find patronizing). I could read more of her.
Posted by Jane Steen at 11:10 AM 2 comments