Dead To Me

Dead To Me

YA fiction
The cover of Mary McCoy's Dead To Me claims "The people who live
in the nicest houses have the dirtiest secrets." The text very nicely
lives up to this promise. Anyone who enjoys fast paced mystery
stories or has an interest in the less that over the rainbow aspects
of old time Hollywood will be hooked by the end of the second chapter.
"When I saw my sister in that hospital bed, she was different
from how I remembered her. She'd changed her hair. Her cheeks were
leaner.
And someone had tried to cave in the side of her head with a
baseball bat."
Four years have passed between the time Alice's big sister Annie
ran away and their less than fortuitous reunion. Annie can't shed a
light on how she came to such a near fatal point. She's in a coma.
But a Private Investigator, Jack, with who Annie has worked, may have
some clues. He instructs Alice to cover with her parents (especially
her father, whom he considers "a piece of work") so he can "get to the
bottom of this".
Annie and Alice's father is a head of a movie studio publicity
department. Their mother is a former starlet. A consumate Hollywood
couple, they used everything and anyone at their disposal to advance
their prospects, including, not surprisingly, their children. The
girls were command performers at house parties, graduating from hors
deuvres serving to musical entertainment. Annie eventually began to
be tarted up and sent out to mysterious private parties.
Coming home from the hospital, Alice realizes that Jerry has
given her more questions than answers. Becoming impatient, she begins
to look for clues, starting with her father's safe in which she finds
mysterious and disturbing photographs. She goes on to become
dangeeously familiar with people and situations she would not have
guessed her loved ones had anything to do with. In the course of her
investigations two things become chillingly clear. Jerry has ample
reason to consider Daddy Dearest a piece of work. Whoever put Annie
in a coma has ample motive to finish off the job he started.
On a personal note, today the Bangor Daily News ran an awesome story
in their Homestead section on Orono Community Garden. Earlier in the
summer the Homestead editor had asked readers to send ideas just when
I had decided that we needed more publicity. Well Robin Clifford Wood
spent a gardening session with us observing, taking pictures, and
talking to people. Everyone was at ease and really liked her. Her
story was the total cat's pajamas. It captured the vibrance of the
garden and the depth of its meaning.
A great big shout out goes out to Robin for doing the story, Bangor
Daily News for running the story, and my fellow gardeners for being
the story.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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