The Devil's Playground: Where horror is silent . . .

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If, as I am, you’re a cinema buff, if you like historical fiction and stories that dance on the line between horrific and suspenseful, and are never less than thrilling, not to mention gorgeously written, this book is for you. In 1967, Paul Conway, a film expert is looking for what is rumored to be the only copy left of "The Devil's Playground." His search leads him to several of the characters who are still alive from the 1920s. The twists and turns of the plot were fantastic, and Russell uses an especially amazing twist near the end.

Forty years later, a journalist arrives at an old hotel in the desert that has long since been abandoned. Except for one person. And he believes that person may be in possession of the lone surviving copy of The Devil’s Playground. It’s said to be the most terrifying movie of all time. He’s getting paid a lot of money to deliver it to a well-heeled movie buff. Mary moves through the underworld of studio power and a corrupt Los Angeles Police Department as she digs into Norma’s death.Threatening incidents rattle even Mary, whose cynicism and toughness are hard-earned. Yet she is a strong protagonist with a noirish air who inspires hope that she’ll inevitably outwit her enemies.The story also turns to Louisiana’s Bayou Leseuil in 1893 — and turns foreboding. Witch Hippolyta Cormier and her daughter Anastasie live in the swamp, and the locals believe Hippolyta has a “devil’s fingerprint”birthmark on her left cheek.Writes Russell: Scottish writer Craig Russell is a master of his craft. He is as prolific in his writing — having published almost one book every year since 2005 — as he is diligent with the historical details in his gothic horror and thriller novels. His most recent, The Devil’s Playground , may represent his pinnacle. Russell’s exhaustive research of Prohibition-era Hollywood brings to life silver-screen stars amid an atmosphere of corruption, murder, and voodoo that features Beelzebub himself. Investigating Norma's death, Mary discovers the dark underbelly of that time where young girls disappeared, were used violently, and were discarded. The police are on the "take," and all the dirt can be swept under carpets. Under the glitz and glamour is a dark, dark world. In 1927, the Golden Age of Hollywood, Mary Rourke is a studio "fixer" for Carbine International Pictures. Cover up a DUI? Have a sexual scandal on set? Rourke is the woman who's called to take care of it. She is summoned by the powers that be to the mansion of actress Norma Carlton, one of the biggest stars in silent film. Norma has been working on a terrifying horror film called The Devil's Playground, and it's rumored to be cursed. When Rourke arrives and sees Norma dead, there's a little part of her that wonders if the rumors could actually be true. Fast forward to 1967... Paul Conway, a journalist and huge film buff, has heard a rumor that there is one copy of the horrifying movie The Devil's Playground left, and he is determined to discover if the rumor could possibly be true. Does he really want to find out?

At times, Russell’s taut dialogue and visual storytelling feel like watching a movie. (In fact, several of the novels in his German detective series, Jan Fabel, have either been made into movies or are in production.) The same descriptive skill comes to the fore when heintroduces Kansas-born Boy Lindqvist in an 1897 storyline. Lindqvist runs away to join the Dahlman and Darke Magic Lantern Phantasmagoria circus after witnessing its sleight-of-hand act “where a dark shape spread itself wide. Revealed its true form.” That form was Satan. And Satan spoke to him. Part of the book’s intrigue derives from trying to unravel clues about which roles the characters from the past come to play in Hollywood. It’s not that Russell doesn’t drop hints — he does generously — but that he seems to know that even if you guess who’s who, it won’t temper the thrill of his fast-paced, intricate tale. It’s just that good. Conway drives through the inhospitable landscape to reach his destination: Hidden Lake, a manmade enclave in the middle of nowhere. It was built by a delusional financier who hoped to create a second Hollywood. Those hopes were buried when the lake dried up:The Devil's Playground by Craig Russell is my first book by this author. The story was mesmerizing, and I was kept guessing throughout. I am thrilled that I discovered Mr. Russell's previous books are in the my towering to-be-read file. Squeeeee! Definitely something to look forward to with excitement. This story is primarily set in 1927, and I found these chapters to be the strongest. It starts when Mary Rourke, a studio fixer, finds a movie starlet dead. It appears to be a suicide, so she “fixes” it, but she later learns it was murder. Now she and her boss have a bigger problem on their hands, and Mary is sent out to investigate who did this to Norma Carlton. Unfortunately, people in Hollywood have a lot of secrets and aren’t much help. The mystery only gets more complicated and dangerous, especially when more people start dying and attempts are even made on Mary’s life. The film that Norma was starring in, titled The Devil’s Playground, is now rumored to be cursed, but is that really what’s happening? And the writing is just … oh so good. Russell handles descriptions like a fine artist, dialogue like a playwright, and language like a poet. But it is never overwrought or cumbersomely pretentious. Instead, it’s sheer beauty. Literary, elegant, epic. In 1927, a Hollywood fixer is called yet again to take care of a situation that will look bad for a film studio. Mary Rourke arrives at the home of gorgeous star Norma Carlton to find that she’s committed suicide. Norma had been filming a horror movie, The Devil’s Playground, that’s now rumored to be cursed. When the situation turns out not to be exactly as it appeared, Mary is given a new assignment as a secret investigator. It leads her down a lot of dark alleys and gets quite complicated — and dangerous.

I’ve read Craig Russell before. Only one book but it’s made an impression. And with this novel, I am now officially a fan.

By Nathacha Appanah; translated by Geoffrey Strachan

I also enjoyed the secrecy and complexity of the Hollywood setting and characters. A lot is eventually woven in, bringing some big surprises. How do the seedier sides of the entertainment industry are exposed, but how much of that connects to the bigger evil making its way across the Devil’s Playground movie set? Craig Russell's "The Devil's Playground," is a wonderful noir mystery that's set in the Golden Age of Hollywood when the silent films are changing to talkies. What an amazing time period for such a mystery. Russell's non-linear plot moves between two time periods: the 1920s and the 1960s. One of the strengths of the book is his ability to combine events from these times to create a solid story of decadence, murder, and early Hollywood. He brilliantly describes the movies studios and how they relied on money, power, and appearance. Mary Rourke, a "fixer" for Carbine Studios in 1927, is the main character who finds the dead body of gorgeous actress, Norma Carlton. Her death appears to be connected to the terrifying silent film, "The Devil's Playground." According to the PR mill, it has a "curse" on it.