Title: The Red Carpet At Cannes
Subtitle: A Murder-at-the-Movies Mystery
Author: Duane Byrge
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ISBN: 1097989682
Pages: 228
Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop

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“Lights. Camera. Action!” There’s plenty of all three in this rousing homage to movies, mysteries, and murder. It all takes place in cinema’s Mecca, the Cannes Film Festival, where virtually anything and everything goes. Author Duane Byrge doesn’t hold back as he people’s his pages with colorful characters, name drops like confetti at a political convention, and interweaves a plot that’s as intricate as an M. C. Escher lithograph on steroids.

The protagonist, Ryan, is a dying breed—a movie critic who is actually well schooled in film history. He cares a lot more about aesthetics, emotion, and entertainment than he does about box office receipts, unending sequels, and what’s hot versus what’s not. That’s one of the things that gets him in trouble as he pens a negative review of the film that opens the festival. Before he knows (literally) what hit him, he’s belted by the film’s director and accused of actually murdering the movie’s female star. There follows a series of bizarre events that conspire to keep Ryan from doing his job the way he’s always done it. The police suspect him. The paparazzi hound him. His unwanted celebrity stature attracts hangers-on, wannabes, those wishing to take advantage of his newfound fame and those interested in getting him in even more trouble than he is already in. Soon, more corpses begin to turn up, more mayhem begins to go down, and one of the dearly departed somehow miraculously turns up very much alive. That’s when this whodunit becomes a what-exactly-is-it, plus a how-in-the-world-could-that-happen.

A coterie of crazy characters keep readers guessing as to just who are the villains and who are the good guys. There’s a fabulously wealthy industrialist who seems to be pulling a Howard Hughes and becoming a movie mogul, but why? There are two particularly sleazy brothers churning out porn but planning on moving into the mainstream, but how? There’s a damsel in distress who continues to be in danger, but from whom? There are countless gorgeous women, a cooperative concierge, multiple media flacks, and more. Leonard Maltin, Matt Damon, Halle Berry, and Robert Downey Jr. even have walk-ons. One of the most prominent characters however, is the city of Cannes itself. Its beautiful beaches, grand hotels, even its teeming underbelly take on roles that add sparkle, splendor, and spice as the high octane mystery gathers speed.

Byrge is the perfect writer for this tale. Prior to penning the novel, he was a film critic himself and covered the Cannes Film Festival seventeen times for The Hollywood Reporter. His familiarity with the people who attend, the inhabitants who host them, and all the elaborate environs, add an air of authenticity that makes this fiction seem almost as plausible as it is playful. Both movie fans and mystery buffs will enjoy the way Byrge works in frequent allusions to classics from the past. Films from Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean pop up often, as do multiple references to Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. There’s even a lovely up-front nod to Turner Classic Movies longtime host, Robert Osborne.

In The Red Carpet At Cannes, the pace is swift, the prose stylish, the plot stimulating. Like a good movie, this one leaves you wanting more. Which is fortunate, as apparently this is only the beginning of Byrge’s series of Murder-at-the-Movies Mysteries. Encore!