Five great thrillers set in the world of entertainment ‹ CrimeReads

For my last thriller, With my little eye, I wanted to write a scary, twisty and fun story that would also allow me to examine our unhealthy national obsession with fame, the insane beauty standards we impose on women (especially as we age) and what life is like. privacy in the age of social media. The idea of ​​being watched is both enticing and terrifying to anyone with an Instagram. Look at me but not too hard, and not too long! If you’re an actor, dancer, musician, or even a writer, you can’t unsubscribe. You have to put yourself there.

As I began to write what I thought would be a multi-voiced story, the character of a working actor decided to take center stage, so to speak. Meribel Mills isn’t super famous. She’s best known for a small but juicy part of an iconic ’90s sit-com, but that doesn’t stop her from catching the attention of an obsessive fan. An actor’s life is fertile ground to tell the story of a stalker so removed from reality that he will follow the middle-aged single mother who played his teenage obsession across the country.

However, the actors are not the only ones to act. There are big egos and big money on the table in all aspects of the entertainment world, and some of my favorite mystery and thriller titles are set in the worlds of dance, broadcast news, high sewing, magic and music. These rich settings provide extra fun between plot twists.

Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelk Dale

Three ambitious young dancers meet in Paris Opera Ballet School in a story so confident and well-written it’s hard to believe it’s a first novel. Kapelk-Dale takes us back in time, through friendships forged in the ruthless and highly competitive world of professional dance to the insane demands and pressures placed on professional ballerinas. It’s a thrilling exploration of truly distorted power dynamics. A series of betrayals leads inexorably to a bloody conclusion with a twist you won’t see coming.

Prime time by Hank Philippi Ryan

News, let’s face it, has become a subset of the entertainment world. In Prime Time, Ryan debuted his compelling recurring character, Charlotte McNally. It’s a fast-paced story about a television journalist under pressure to deliver a story that will boost the ratings. She books an interview with the widow of a man who recently died in an accident, only to realize that the same man emailed her just before his death. The book won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and Ryan herself is an award-winning investigative journalist. Her behind-the-scenes understanding of the world Charlotte inhabits is a thrilling delight. If you’ve never read Ryans books before, start here and you’ll be hooked enough to read straight through to his latest release, The guest of the house.

someone had to do it by Amber and Danielle Brown

Brandi Maxwell, a young woman who has just landed her dream internship in the world of high fashion, learns that the rich are different. Microaggressions and drugs, titled models tear the veil of glamor over this gritty landscape, and then Brandi hears the wrong thing at a posh soiree. She gets caught up in the nefarious scheme of It-Girl Taylor, who is on the verge of losing everything to her own addictions and her father’s new wife. There is a thoughtful exploration of racism, privilege and the corrupting influence of power at the heart of a secret story of murder and ambition.

Maddalena and darkness by Julia Fine

Get this novel on your radar! Although it’s likely to be marketed as historical fiction, there’s such a palpable malice, such a growing sense of dread, that I found myself holding my breath as I read. Located in the lush and wild Venice of the early 18e century is the violent and suspenseful story of an ambitious young violinist who meets the titular Maddelena at a top music school that is also a convent. Maddalena has been stored there to protect her value as a bride-to-be, and as she plots a heist to steal his life and take control of her own future, their fates intertwine. Envy, ambition and obsession drive the novel to a bloody conclusion that still haunts me.

Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore

Is Violet Volk a famous or infamous magician? She lives big and leaves behind a mess, most of which has to be cleaned up by her sister Sasha. This genre story leans hard towards mystery when Violets’ last trick seems to be to literally disappear. Sashas’ narration is intercut with news reports and transcripts from a Violet-obsessed podcast, giving the book a real crime feel. The twists start early and keep coming, and I gobbled this one up in a couple of hours.

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