"That did it. I'd had enough. I took a deep breath. "Step aside," I ordered him in the cop voice I'd once used as a guest star in an episode of Castle. Obeying, he moved away from the door. I strode to it, unlocked it, ducked inside, slammed it shut, and slid the dead bolt into place. He pounded on it, pleading with me to talk to him…" – Hold a Scorpion

Diana Poole has never been much of an actress, unlike her mother, but she's made enough to restore her California home. One day she spots a woman outside her home waving to her, the woman steps into oncoming traffic and is killed. The next day an armed man demands to know what happened to the dead woman's Scorpion. Diana has no idea what the man means, but a quick check of the accident scene turns up a jeweled scorpion, one Diana remembers seeing her mother wearing. Who was the dead woman and what did the Scorpion have to do with her death?

"The moral decay of the movie
business has rarely been so deftly portrayed as in City of Mirrors. Jet-propelled narrative drive, non-stop action, a dark and twisting plot, and a mega-tough yet sympathetic heroine make this one impossible to put down."
—John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author

Running out of money, Diana Poole is forced to go back to the only work she knows: acting. Her much-loved husband and movie-star mother have died, and now Diana is forty. In Hollywood that means she might as well be dead. Still, a few key people remember her talent, and she lands a role in a new movie.

But an actress should never get her hopes up, especially when she discovers the female lead's murdered body. Raised in her mother's shadow, Diana knows people in "the business" will go to dangerous lengths to protect their images. When her own life and career are threatened, Diana decides to fight back and find the killer. But unmasking the surprising murderer isn't that easy, especially when she uncovers what's real – and unreal – in her own life.

"Melodie Johnson Howe is a rarity, a true master of the short story...Shooting Hollywood: The Diana Poole Stories, will delight you, intrigue you, and leave you hungering for the next volume. But then Diana Poole is the most fascinating and original character to come out of Hollywood in years."
—Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author

A forty-year-old actress tries to make a comeback - but death keeps getting in the way. Working her old contacts and hustling for a job, she contends with crazy young ingenues, lecherous studio heads, and the cutthroat attention of her fellow fading beauties. But there's an added twist: On and off the set, she can't help stumbling over dead bodies. .
>Read more
>See the review in The American Culture

"Beauty Dies is a witty, stylish, and captivating excursion to the dark side of the fashion world, rich with trenchant observations about men and women and the sometimes tragic ways they relate."
—Jonathan Kellerman

The Claire Conrad/Maggie Hill Novels, Book 2
A former supermodel takes a fatal tumble, and only the unlikely duo Claire and Maggie can say who pushed her. Women like Cybella are not destined to survive their fifties. Her looks long gone, the ex-supermodel takes a leap down a stairwell – an apparent suicide that lands her on the front page one last time.
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"The book is intelligent, frequently very funny, always sophisticated, and a joy to read."
—The Boston Globe

"[A] gem of a mystery . . . with wonderfully vivid characters and a deft plot abounding with twists and turns."
—Publishers Weekly

The Claire Conrad/Maggie Hill Novels, Book 1
Nominated for Edgar, Anthony and Agatha Awards
After a suicide, two oddball female sleuths investigate a coin collection that is anything but small change.
>Read more

Check out my short story "The Nymph" in the anthology Hook, Line & Sinister. All royalties go to great causes: Casting for Recovery and Healing Waters.

I have an essay on W. Somerset Maugham in Thrillers: 100 Must Reads. The essays, written by some of your favorite writers, are not only entertaining, but also enlightening.