The Wrong Girl

Bianca Dangereuse Hollywood Mysteries, Book 1

By: Donis Casey

Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Blanche Tucker longs to escape her drop-dead dull life in tiny Boynton, Oklahoma. Then dashing Graham Peyton roars into town. Posing as a film producer, Graham convinces the ambitious but naive teenager to run away with him to a glamorous new life. Instead, Graham uses her as cruelly as a silent-picture villain. Yet by luck and by pluck, taking charge of her life, she makes it to Hollywood.

Six years later, Blanche has transformed into the celebrated Bianca LaBelle, the reclusive star of a series of adventure films, and Peyton's remains are discovered on a Santa Monica beach. Is there a connection? With all of the twists and turns of a 1920s melodrama, The Wrong Girl follows the daring exploits of a girl who chases her dream from the farm to old Hollywood, all while showing just how risky - and rewarding - it can be to go off-script.

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Enjoyable. Excellent Narration!

I love old Hollywood novels and this is no exception. Although the characters were colorful they weren't fully formed and there were loose ends in the plot that distracted me but overall this was a very good listen that held my interest and I look forward to the next. Largely because the narrator Romy Nordlinger was so spot on with the narration. I loved listening to her take on this era with stylized aplomb. She was perfect for this book!

Give this one a pass - I couldn't finish

I've listened to all of Donis Casey's Alifair Tucker mysteries and loved them. Still, I was hesitant to buy this book. I never doubted her knowledge of early 20th century Oklahoma, but was not so sure of her background in 1920's Hollywood. But based on her previous works I gave it a try.

Try, as it turns out, is all I could do. The book is a mess. At least it is for the first hour, after which I gave up listening to that godawful narrator and decided this book was going back. There are several time jumps - first back a week, and then back several years - which make it difficult to follow. There was also a lot of dialog that had me thinking "I don't think they'd really say that then." In one instance a character says she's been making pictures for 20 years. In the 1920's? Technically possible, I suppose, but highly unlikely.

As for the narrator, she's terrible. Is this her first book? The characters sound like what I would do if I was trying to make people sound vaguely different from one another. After listening to her say "Bianca LaBelle" and "Bianca Dangereuse" several dozen times in the first few minutes (which is admittedly not her fault), I was ready to give up then, but slogged on for another hour. I advise you to save that hour of your life for something more enjoyable and give this book a pass.