ONE DEATH AT A TIME is the latest book by author Abbi Waxman. It is set in California like most of her books. The characters are closely associated with people from Hollywood if they're not directly Hollywood actors or directors. Though the story is set in a movie world it had a more Vegas feel, at least for me. 

The recurring or central theme of the book is people with some dying or with some chasing clues their killers left behind. Our main leads Natasha Mason and her sponsee-turned-boss ex-actress Julia, are recovering alcoholics. In one such alcoholic episode which Julia remembers very little of, her ex-colleague/estranged best friend, Tony, does in her house. Julia hardly remembers seeing Tony after many years and remembers nothing of their meeting by the swimming pool, the previous evening at her house. The next morning Tony is dead in her pool, the cops are already there and Julia remembering nothing of his visit the previous evening, decides to run. The cops on her tail and when they finally catch up with her, take her to jail. Upon bail, she's advised to stay put, she gets a sponsor from AA too. Sober Julia and Natasha Mason's first meeting at the actress's home ends with her offering Mason a job as her personal assistant. After much push and pull Mason agrees and they embark on a journey to unravel the mystery of Tony's death. 

As the duo searches for clues, and talks to people associated with Tony, as his team is also pursuing Julia to work in the remake of her hit film Codex, earlier directed by Tony, things get complicated. As they dig into the murder more people turn up dead and injured, including both Julia and Mason. Interestingly Julia is a lawyer too, which she accomplished during her previous stint behind bars. ONE DEATH AT A TIME, the duo unravels and acquits Julia while finding the real killer. 

The plot was fun with enough drama to keep the reader engaged. Julia brought glamour into everything she did. The characters were mostly stoic and nonchalant even when discussing murder and scandals, especially then. This made for a fun read as it manages to infuse humour in moments that would otherwise be dour and even morbid. The backdrop of the story is set in the movie business and while the glamour is visible the rest of it doesn’t overwhelm the plot and keeps itself in the backdrop. This is good as it keeps the focus on the story and I enjoyed the contrast of how the central characters are written amid power, money and influence. 

I always love an Abbi Waxman story as it takes me out of my comfort zone and in a good way, puts me right in the middle of chaos and drama with plenty of humour and glamour too. 

For a good guy/ bad guy chase of whodunit, some kickass women characters with men only in a supporting role, ONE DEATH AT TIME is a perfect pick to read. There's scarcely any romance that you wouldn't even miss given the drama and action in the plot. I hope you enjoy the shenanigans of these Californians.