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Laurie Harden
Another Tented Evening
A Diana Poole Short Story
First published in
Ellery Queen Magazine,
March 1996.
Maurice Hamlin peered out
from the party tent which covered a grassy section of his
vast backyard. His shrewd eyes came to an uneasy rest on
the Ferris wheel. It spun around in a blur of colorful lights.
Well dressed men and bejeweled women seemed to sit as high
as the moon in their swaying chairs. They laughed and waved
to one another with that slight embarrassment adults feel
when they think they should be enjoying themselves more
than they really are.
Disgusted, Hamlin turned his assessing gaze back to the
interior of the tent and surveyed the frolicking clowns,
the mimes frozen in mocking imitations of his guests, the
balloon sellers, the cotton candy vendors, and the white-jacketed
waiters serving Moet & Chandon champagne.
Hamlin had a familiar look in his eyes; the look of a producer
whose movie has gone over budget and out of control. It
was an expression I had seen many times in my years of being
an actress. But this was not one of Hamlin’s movies,
this was his wife’s fortieth birthday party.
“It’s costing me a fortune. Where the hell is
she, Diana?” he demanded.
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My
Hollywood Life had a deep and permanent
impact on my Writing Life. The Diana
Poole short stories, most of which
have been published by Ellery Queen
Mystery Magazine, are a reflection
of this.
I enjoy rereading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
Pat Hobby stories. So I decided to
create my own Hobby stories using
the structure of the mystery genre,
and a middle-aged actress as my protagonist.
While Pat Hobby is forever trying
to sneak onto the studio lot, Diana
Poole is forever trying to extricate
herself from a far darker side of
Hollywood. Here is the short story
that was in the anthology with Elmore
Leonard.
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