The DVD Murders

by: Bob Frey

Published by: Infinity Publishing

Reviewed by Julie Failla Earhart

When I agreed to review Bob Frey’s first mystery, The DVD Murders, I was interested mainly in the title and the log line: Someone is killing the A-list actors of Hollywood. I’m a sucker for Hollywood stories; what can I say? What I didn’t know was that the protagonist Detective Frank Callahan is gay. It shouldn’t matter, really, but I was a little leery. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into.

I was a little dismayed in the first fifty pages because the author seemed not to have done any research. Maybe I watch too much of TV’s “Law & Order.” I don’t think cops use terms like “stoolie” these days. Strictly basing my assumptions by looking at his photo, I think that Frey is a tad older than I am, he seemed to use an old-fashioned lexicon when trying to find a synonym for lawman, stoolie, etc.

All that aside, by page fifty-five, I was able to overlook these novice problems and focus on the story. It is good. The story opens with the brutal murder of Pete Dyes in the middle of the night–and a defaced DVD is left at the crime scene. The killer then begins to send editorials to the Los Angeles Times demanding that Hollywood change or more actors will die.

Callahan and his partner, Barry Jennings, are investigating, but there are no solid leads. Frey knows how to ratchet the tension. Soon after Dyes’ death, the beloved Allison Rodgers is killed with the same MO: two shots to the head. All they have to go on is that a gray-haired man was seen in the park the same time Allison was killed. A DVD Killer Task Force is set up, and Callahan runs into his share of harassment from a fellow officer who despises gays.

I hate to see The DVD Murders labeled a “gay mystery.” Except for the cumbersome first fifty pages, the story is taut and the tension is high. I expect to see more of Detective Frank Callahan in the future.

Armchair Interviews agrees.