INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Quick conjures up a celluloid world that will be catnip to fans of that era evoking the sensation it was plucked straight from the Warner Bros. vault.”–Entertainment WeeklyThe New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Knew Too Much sweeps readers back to 1930s California–where the most dazzling of illusions can’t hide the darkest secrets…After … illusions can’t hide the darkest secrets…
After escaping from a private sanitarium, Adelaide Blake arrives in Burning Cove, California, desperate to start over.
Working at an herbal tea shop puts her on the radar of those who frequent the seaside resort town: Hollywood movers and shakers always in need of hangover cures and tonics. One such customer is Jake Truett, a recently widowed businessman in town for a therapeutic rest. But unbeknownst to Adelaide, his exhaustion is just a cover.
In Burning Cove, no one is who they seem. Behind facades of glamour and power hide drug dealers, gangsters, and grifters. Into this make-believe world comes psychic to the stars Madame Zolanda. Adelaide and Jake know better than to fall for her kind of con. But when the medium becomes a victim of her own dire prediction and is killed, they’ll be drawn into a murky world of duplicity and misdirection.
Neither Adelaide or Jake can predict that in the shadowy underground they’ll find connections to the woman Adelaide used to be–and uncover the specter of a killer who’s been real all along…
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My story about Amanda Quick’s (who is also Jayne Ann Krentz) new book actually starts with the first of the series, THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. I bought the book and left it on the kitchen table. The next day I came out for breakfast and my husband was reading it. I couldn’t wrestle it away from him. After he finished it, he raved about it to everyone! When I was lucky enough to score an early copy of THE OTHER LADY VANISHES, he gobbled it up. He’s a dedicated fan, and so am I. Long before I met her, I loved Jayne Ann Krentz’s books, and THE OTHER LADY VANISHES is a wonderful romantic suspense set in glamorous 1930’s Hollywood.
All in all, this was a pretty entertaining read with some surprises and, I feel, a satisfactory ending. But here’s the thing … the beginning of The Other Lady Vanishes was pretty darn confusing for me. After reading for a few chapters, I began to wonder if this book was actually the sequel to a previous book. I wondered if it was confusing because I had missed the first act, so to speak. Early on, there were references to Adalaide’s past and what had happened to her and I felt like I was supposed to know what this meant, but I didn’t. After searching online, I couldn’t find Adalaide’s story beginning anywhere other than in this book. While Quick has written at least one other story set in Burning Cove in the 1930’s, it seemed to be a standalone novel rather than a first installment in a series. I suppose that there is meant to be a good bit of mystery in the beginning of the book because we as readers are following along with Adalaide as she tries to piece together the puzzle of the last few months of her life. But it read kind of confusing.
I also found the trio of “doctors” (Massey, Gill, and Paxton) confusing. Their relationships to each other and to Adalaide were difficult to follow. I kept forgetting who was who between them. All in all, I feel there were just too many characters thrown into the beginning and it was difficult to sort them out and keep them straight. One of my favorite characters in the book was Madame Zolanda. I would love to read a prequel that tells her story and details her journey to becoming “psychic to the stars.”
If you like mysteries and the old days of Hollywood, you should give this book a read. If you prefer pretty straight-forward reads with little mystery and complications, then you probably want to give this one a pass.
I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Read full review at KaitsBookshelf.com
The Other Lady Vanishes
Another fabulous read from the amazingly talented Amanda Quick!!! I adore her romance mysteries and her burning cove series has all her trade mark suspense and great action.Jake and Adelaide make a great couple and their chemistry is a slow sensual burn. I always love her characters,even the villian’s. As in true Amanda Quick fashion it’s a true whodunit right to the very end and just when you think it’s all wrapped up, out of the shadows comes the master mind to throw you for a loop ! I’ve been hooked on Amanda Quick books for years,and she never lets me down! She’s a great storyteller and writers a great read everytime. Until next time luv’s
I really enjoyed this book. Once I started reading I could not put it down. The book opens like a classic Gothic mystery with a mysterious woman escaping a private sanitarium. She lands in Burning Cover and tries to make a new life for herself. Burning Cove is home to Hollywood’s Rich and Famous and everyone has a secret. When the local physic to the stars is found murdered and they tried to frame Adelaide she and Jake set out to solve the murder and unlock her past. The author does a very good job with historical setting. The mystery was good with plenty of suspects and lots of twists and turns. The plot moves very quickly and the ending made sense. Enjoy.
Excellent read typical of Amanda Quick
Like all of Amanda Quick’s book, you go into it wondering where it is headed. With a character that was confined by her “husband” to get her money, this book was a page turner that was hard to put down. The surprising twist at the end makes it very worthwhile.
Adelaide Blake escapes from a private sanitarium and ends up in the town of Burning Cove. Burning Cove is a small town of secrets and people either hiding from someone or hiding some secrets of their own. Adelaide meets Jake Truett while working in the town’s tea shop. Par for the course Jake is in town with secrets of his own and takes an interest in Adelaide. Is he friend or foe? Along with the movie stars, who come to this seaside town to relax and enjoy the resort another person with her own agenda came along with them. Madame Zolanda psychic to the stars is giving her predictions and maybe hiding a few secrets of her own. Adelaide will have to find out who she can trust with a wide group of suspects who may or may not be sent by someone who knows about her escape. A super romantic suspense.
Good read.
I like the Amanda Quick books. They are the perfect combination of mystery, action, and romance. This book is another success.
Keeps you tuned to what’s going on with the characters . Goes into detail about what is happening to them.
it was very good. it kept my interest going, I enjoy her books. Good writer
Amanda Quick, also known as Jayne Ann Krentz is one of my favorite authors. She continues to entertain with her second novel in Hollywood Heyday romantic suspense series. “The Other Lady Vanishes” brings us back to Burning Cove introducing as to waitress, Adelaide, an escapee from an insane asylum and her customer, LA businessman, Jake Truitt.
Adelaide blends teas for a local tea shop, creating specialty teas for the Hollywood set who come to relax in the town of Burning Cove. When psychic to the star predicts a death, it begins a series of deaths and destruction that throws Adelaide and Jake together. Are they just using each other to solve their own personal mysteries or will their attraction to each other develop into something more?
Adelaide discovers she is stronger than she believed as she saves Jake and over comes her fears. Together they unravel the tapestry of duplicity but will they be able to stop the con artists and drug dealers who are preying on glamorous Hollywood set.
Amanda Quick’s characters are unique, strong and flawed but it is often their flaws that gives them their strength. The love story is beautifully woven like a golden thread through the shadows of suspense and the brightness of the action. She keeps the setting true to the era, using the backdrop of time and place to add another layer to the intrigue and enlightenment of the story. I can’t resist reading or listening to any story by Amanda/Jayne Ann but I’ve truly enjoyed this romp through Hollywood’s heyday. If you like history, romance, a good mystery and suspense, then you need to read “The Other Lady Vanishes,” or any of her other intriguing novels.
I enjoyed this book.
Love all of her books,easy reading.
Very enjoyable sequel The Girl Who Knew Too Much. I would recommend any of Krentz’s books, and this is no exception. She always takes you on an exciting journey.
Loved it! Wanted to keep turning pages after I had come to the end!
Typical Amanda Quick but a different setting. Enjoyable.
I really enjoyed the latest by Amanda Quick. There were lots of plot twists and a feeling that more books set in this era are coming in the future.
When I picked up this book, I expected to be transported back to the interesting times of the 1930s California, specifically Hollywood and its “retreat” up the coast, Burning Cove. I never expected to find myself in an insane asylum with our heroine escaping for her life! That heart-pounding opening chapter sets the stage for Adelaide Blake’s story in The Other Lady Vanishes, a great mix of mystery, a tinge of gothic horror (those asylum scenes beckon for me to add that) and a very satisfying romance!
Once again, Ms. Quick immerses us in 1930s Burning Cove, where the Hollywood stars retreat for some well-scripted “privacy” in plain sight. Brilliantly layering mystery upon mystery, I found that there was a lot of riveting threads of this story that I was not entirely sure would come together to reveal a satisfactory conclusion. But I needed to have more faith in the author, as this book may be my new favorite from the historical-writing side of Jayne Ann Krentz. You get the jist of the story from the blurb, so I will not belabor the plot. Be assured that there was just enough of the trademark character quirkiness and wit that I love, especially between Adelaide and Jack. Our Burning Cove regulars were in attendance as well, with Oliver Ward mentioned, Irene Glasson Ward making some cameos and the mysterious Luther Pell entering a number of scenes. And I loved seeing that Raina Kirk found her way to Burning Cove – I wondered what was to come of her after The Girl Who Knew Too Much. I do not blame Jack for falling in love with Adelaide and Adelaide with him – I would have fallen for him too. All in all, a fun, fabulous read!
A mad house, a drug ring, a psychic to the stars, blackmail, and secrets pepper this installment of the smoldering Burning Cove historical romantic suspense series set in the 1930’s. I eagerly sought out the older books in this series to catch up on the earlier stories because I knew they were not to be missed.
The Other Lady Vanishes is book two in the Burning Cove series. Each book standsalone quite well and I can say from experience that they stand up well to being read out of order as I started with book three and only came back for the first two after reading the fourth.
Adelaide makes her carefully-planned escape from the mental institution on a night when other sinister intentions are about so she sees murder done and attempted murder toward herself. She can’t go back to her old life where they will find her and bring her back so she runs to Burning Cove and uses her intimate knowledge of herbs to bring a tea shop into fashion as a place where the Hollywood elite come for their herbal teas. She feels paranoia rise each time she thinks about getting caught and sent back. This is why giving in to the attraction and curiosity she feels for one of her regular customers is a really bad idea.
Jake is shrewd and is well aware that Adelaide has secrets. He does, too. She’s welcome to them. Then one of her customers falls to her death the same night her house is broken into. He doesn’t like those sorts of coincidences. Adelaide wants to get to the truth of Zolanda’s death because she knows that the drug, DayDreams, her parents invented was used in the death and it was no suicide. Just like she feels the net closing in. Jake is after a blackmailer and their goals are separate, but involve the same people. He can keep Adelaide safe while getting back his late wife’s tell-all diary.
Meanwhile, a certain lady PI and a suave night club owner match wits and more. Burning Cove is the playground of the rich and famous, but it has a dangerous side.
I was so certain that Luther Pell, owner of the Paradise Club and man with shadowy ties to the government and the mob, and Raina Kirk, remade woman and private detective, were getting their story next. But no, we get all new characters, Adelaide and Jake. After a brief pout, I jumped back into the story and enjoyed both of them.
We all have our fears and for me sanitoriums, insane hospitals, etc scare the bejeebers out of me. This one had to be some monstrosity of a Gothic Victorian Mansion set off by itself with a creepy scientist and skeevy doctor experimenting on their patients to promote their drug ring. Yeah, not worked up at all…
In truth, most of the story takes place in Burning Cove, but the heroine, poor Adelaide, got locked up in that place so the two creeps could treat her as a science experiment and the man she thought loved her could abscond with her inheritance. After time spent in the place, she can be forgiven for being shaky on the point of her own sanity and clutching her secrets to her. She remakes herself as an herbal tea specialist and a waitress in a tea shop. She had nothing and a lucky break in her kind-hearted boss, but she made the most of it. She is wary of trusting people especially a man, but eventually chooses to partner Jake even though he has his own agenda and secrets.
Jake’s wife died of suicide or so it is thought until he tells Adelaide differently. He is convinced the psychic to the Stars, Madame Zolanda isn’t just a fake showy psychic, but also a blackmailer and he plans to get back his wife’s diary. It’s obvious he has a colorful, exciting past when he hooks up with Adelaide, but it was fun seeing him open up and share with her. With this pair, the sharing of secrets was tantamount to most romantic pair’s falling into bed together- they do this, too, eventually.
The Other Lady Vanishes offers up several suspects at first and more than one motive. I had no trouble putting my finger on the murder, the motive, and the obvious means after the first murder. I felt it was foreshadowed strongly so the final twist was no surprise. I admit that I would have liked to be surprised, but the dangerous and exciting scenes that came before it along with the romance kept me happily occupied.
Luther and Raina’s first encounter was fun and I’m glad to have it along with a few other brief encounters, but I have to say that I was left wanting way more than I got. No surprise since I was anticipating this being their story. I can only hope for more later.
Meanwhile, I will savor the story I got and my visit back to Burning Cove. I love the lush, but sharp Old Hollywood world that is portrayed in this series and can’t wait to move on with the next new release in the series. Those who love spicy historical romantic suspense should definitely pick these up.