“Evelyn Galloway, be careful what you wish for,” my mother always warned, pronouncing my name with a long ‘E’ as they did back in my father’s homeland of Ireland.
I didn’t listen to my mother’s warning, instead following my heart and my late father’s love for movies to secure a job at a Brooklyn, NY film studio where I found work as a script supervisor. For those unaware, the script supervisor works closely with the director to ensure that a film is both accurately and efficiently shot. That includes timing the script to find the ideal pace for the film, changing any ambiguous language that might confuse the audience, and correcting any continuity flaws, i.e. an actor holding a cigarette in his left hand at the end of one take, then holding it in his right hand at the beginning of the next take.
I loved my job and its proximity from the apartment I shared with my mother, but when the studio announced they were closing its doors to build their California business, the handwriting was on the wall: if I wanted to remain in pictures, I, too, needed to move to the west coast. The timing of that message was perfect – at age twenty-seven, my mother’s domineering ways had been grating on me for some time and, as I was getting over a failed romance (one I’d prefer not to speak about), a change of scenery was tremendously appealing.
And so, I applied for work on multiple projects in various studios, but at the top of my list was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca.
I, like the rest of the world, had spent the summer of 1938 captivated by the Daphne du Maurier novel and couldn’t wait to see it translated to film the following year. But when I learned that the film had been acquired by David O Selznick and that Alfred Hitchcock, director of the brilliant The Lady Vanishes and the talk of all England, had been hired to direct, I wished with all my might that I could be a part of it somehow.
My wish came true. And the job is everything I’d hoped it would be. On my very first day, I pitched lines to Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh for a screen test, met John Cunningham Margrave – my favorite actor of all time! – in the studio canteen, and I found a lovely roommate named Mary, who works as a dancer.
Things could not be better, except… John Cunningham Margrave is now dead. Shot in the back.
And since my bus stop is directly across the street from his apartment building, and I arrived at that bus stop right around the time of his murder, I am now a witness in the case.
I went straight to the police and gave Detective Ziegler my statement, but the things I saw that night don’t align with what’s being printed in the papers. Nor do they necessarily align with what’s being announced by the police themselves.
Margrave wasn’t the womanizing drug addict both the police and papers portray him to be. It’s inconsistent with the accounts of his coworkers and friends. And consistency is important in my line of work.
No, there was much more to John Cunningham Margrave than what met the eye and although I’m not exactly willing to bet my life on it, that might be what it takes to find the truth.
Death Upon A Star: An Evelyn Galloway Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: February 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
Be careful what you wish for . . . Introducing Hollywood script supervisor Evelyn Galloway, who’s drawn into a murder investigation after landing her dream job on the set of Hitchcock’s Rebecca.
1939, Los Angeles. Evelyn Galloway can’t believe her luck! On her first day in LA, she lands her dream job of script supervisor, and on the hottest film in town – Hitchcock’s adaptation of Rebecca. But her good fortune quickly changes when a legendary actor cancels their lunch the following day and is found murdered at home.
Evelyn realizes she could be a witness to the crime, having passed the bungalow’s grounds on her way home the night before. Who was the man looking upset in a gazebo? And why was movie starlet Madeleine Nabors running wildly away from the scene?
When the tabloid reports contradict what Evelyn saw with her own eyes, she soon finds herself pitted against powerful studio bosses and unscrupulous journalists as she races to uncover the truth.
About the author
Author of the critically acclaimed Marjorie McClelland Mysteries, Vermont Country Living Mysteries, and Tish Tarragon Mysteries, Amy Patricia Meade is a native of Long Island, NY, where she cut her teeth on classic films and books featuring Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown.
After serving as a technical writer for a management coaching firm and composing catalog copy for the Vermont Country Store, Amy relocated to southwest England, where she was a featured author at Agatha Christie’s Annual Greenway Literary Festival.
Amy now resides in Upstate New York with her musician husband and her two cats and serves as Vice President of the Upper Hudson Chapter of Sisters in Crime.