Close-up to Murder

A hidden California canyon, an old Hollywood legacy, a cozy cast of characters with romantic tension, and a cold case plus treasure mystery...

Bestselling author Patricia Rice brings us the start of a new contemporary cozy mystery series with an amateur female sleuth, a hint of romance, a cast of her famously eccentric characters, and a cold case mystery that heats up quickly.

A missing magician. A hidden mansion. An invisible killer. . .

Rio Cruze has spent her life searching for answers-first about her past, now about a missing genius who has erased himself.

When a reclusive CGI technician can't be found, security chief Rio Cruze is sent to track him down before an historic film studio goes under. Her only lead takes her to Xanadu: a century-old mansion hidden deep in a California coastal canyon, where time seems to stand still.

Xanadu has been keeping Hollywood secrets for a century, but when a landslide traps Rio and the inhabitants in the canyon, a decades-old skeleton surfaces... and the search for a missing man turns into a hunt for a killer from the past.

After another body surfaces, Rio must uncover the truth-before she becomes part of Xanadu's history. Trusting the enigmatic man who will inherit it all may be her most dangerous move of all.

• • For readers who love cozy mysteries with eccentric characters, buried secrets, closed-circle suspects, and a touch of romance. For fans of Ellery Adams, Jenn McKinlay, M.C. Beaton, Amanda Flower, Kate Carlisle