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Where The Truth Lies

by Rupert Holmes

'Rupert Holmes is an American Treasure' - so states the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Holmes is a treasure indeed in the entertainment field. In this latest addition to his many accomplishments, Rupert Holmes has provided us with a story which anyone old enough might recognize as based on the relationship between the very real Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. L say 'based' - since the fictional differences are obvious, especially near the end. I don't happen to be a fan of slapstick such as Abbott and Costello or Lewis and Martin, but thankfully Rupert Holmes spends little time on those routines except for some of the jokes. One of the team is vastly different offstage; I've no oubt this was also true of the Lewis/Martin team.

Rupert Holmes has written a delightful mystery for us. Told by a young lady named O'Connor, my one an only objection to this book is the 'Author's Note' at the beginning, signe K. O'Connor. To anyone reading the novel it's a bit confusing, since you're apt to think that 'Rupert Holmes' is simply a pseudonym for this O'Connor woman, who is ostensibly the actual author. Any confusion is dissipated when looking at the photo on the book jacket. Maybe it would have been better if Mr. Holmes had titled his 'Author's Note' a 'Preface Note' or some such instead!

In Where The Truth Lies, Ms. O'Connor is about to write a book regarding one Vince Collins, a singer-actor and former straight man for Lanny Morris - a famous slapstick comedian onstage and a big-hearted individual off. She's warned away from her project by the contingent representing Mr. Morris, who is supposedly penning his own book. Lanny Morris oesn;t want the competition or overlap which might occur. But as a journalist with an impressive list of accomplishments, Ms. O'Connor isn't about to be put off - then, unfortunately, on a first class flight from Los Angeles to New York, she encounters Lanny himself.

O'Connor passes herself off under another name, using the same friend's identity as the girl who has traded apartments with her while O'Connor is in New York. She gives Mr. Morris the name of Bonnie, plus her friend's occupation - that of teaching second grade in a New York school. O'Connor is hoping to uncover the reason Larry and Vince separated to go on in individual careers, and their present disinterest in each other. She encourages Lanny's obvious interest, with the result that she becomes equally interested in him - to the extent of sleeping with the man only to wake and find him gone from their expensive hotel room without a trace - and no note.

Vivacious, free-spirited, young and attractive, O'Connor normally has no problem ferreting out secrets from the rich and famous, but she's never been so ignominously dumped before. Her focus then centers on why the former showbiz team of two highly desirable men suddenly decided to go their own ways.

The balance of Where The Truth Lies is concerned with the fact they were supposedly driven apart by a strange, unexplained death; a young lady which one or the other of them may have murdered. O'Connor finds herself equally drawn to both men, discovering more about each than she really wants to know. Her interviews with Vince Collins, plus the ultimate penetration of her disguise by Lanny Morris exacerbates her position and her knowledge makes her fearful.

Where The Truth Lies dances giddily back and forth between the frenetic Manhattan and the glamourous Hollywood of the 1970's, with some fascinating glimpses of Orange County's Disneyland thrown in. Rupert Holmes leads us merrily down the garden path as we read - sure that first one, then the other of the famous duo is responsible for the murder. The ending, and O'Connor's final realization of the truth, is satisfactorily surprising.

Alan Paul Curtis

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