50. Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel

As a lover of all things Hitchcock, when I saw this book while browsing at my local library I knew I had to read it. While goofy at times, it was the perfect light hearted cozy mystery and one that I enjoyed. I give it a B.

From Amazon:
Cece Caruso—mystery biographer extraordinaire, vintage clothing enthusiast, and part-time sleuth—is in freefall. First, she calls off her wedding, for reasons even she can't explain. Second, her newest biography (of Alfred Hitchcock) is way past deadline.
So Cece puts on a houndstooth suit with peplum and heads out to see Vertigo, only to come home with a cell phone belonging to a stranger named Anita Colby. Nothing if not a good citizen, Cece tries to return the cell phone—only to hear someone push Anita off a cliff.
Now a woman is dead, and Cece is under suspicion (tip: don't leave rambling, incoherent messages on someone's answering machine just before she gets murdered). To clear her name and put the real murderer in jail, Cece's going on the lam, where she'll encounter mysterious strangers, unhelpful strippers, a bottle of blond hair dye, and twists and turns so eerie it's as if Hitch himself were writing the script

I loved all of the little details thrown in about Alfred Hitchcock's life and some of the stories behind his movies. Certain plot lines that occurred in the movies also happen in the book which I thought was real clever. This is part of a series, and while I normally don't enjoy reading books out of order, I thought it was ok in this sense. I think I missed some of the realationship aspects of Cece's life, but I don't think it will bother me. I even went to the library to check out the previous book in this series, Christietown, based on Agatha Christie books. I read this book while sitting at my grandmother's bedside while she was in hospice (we just lost her last night... I'm still numb from it all) and it was the perfect type of book to pick up and read a few pages here and there. It wa a quick read and probably would have gotten a higher rating if it weren't for the silly ending. I thought the ending was lacking quite a bit. Happy Reading!