Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Photoplay: A Short Tale of Suspense
    Photoplay: A Short Tale of Suspense
    Photoplay: A Short Tale of Suspense
    Ebook31 pages21 minutes

    Photoplay: A Short Tale of Suspense

    By Hallie Ephron

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Duane Foley thought shooting movie star Bunny Nichol's glamorous Hollywood party was going to be just another job. All the A-listers will be there, of course: Rock Hudson and Doris Day, not to mention Bunny herself and her current Argentine playboy, Tito Acevedo. And Duane's being paid up front, not working on spec like he usually does. (He's still smarting over having gotten that shot of Jack Kennedy and Marilyn all lovey-dovey over dinner, only to have a pair of goons tackle him in the parking lot and smash his camera.)

    Bunny's party is about what Duane expects—too many beautiful people, too much alcohol, Bunny's 15-year-old daughter looking too grown up—but what he doesn't expect is the shot he gets at the end of the night: a dead body. Nor does he expect to be left with an unsettling question: Is getting the shot his lucky break, or is he being played?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 10, 2015
    ISBN9780062399700
    Photoplay: A Short Tale of Suspense
    Author

    Hallie Ephron

    Hallie Ephron is the New York Times bestselling author of Never Tell a Lie, Come and Find Me, There Was an Old Woman, and Night Night, Sleep Tight. For twelve years she was the crime fiction reviewer for the Boston Globe. The daughter of Hollywood screenwriters, she grew up in Beverly Hills, and lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

    Read more from Hallie Ephron

    Related to Photoplay

    Related ebooks

    Suspense For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      How I Write

      Aug 27, 2020

      Husband-and-wife crime-writing duo Nicci French are experts in delivering a killer twist. They reveal how they approach their psychological thrillers. We’ve been writing together for 25 years. When we’re not writing together, we’re talking about w

      1 min read

    • Article

      About Ed

      Jun 14, 2022

      I walk into the orchid show with Ed. As soon as I see the tumultuous hall I know he won’t last long. Ed walks like an old man though he is forty. After ten minutes on his feet, he vomits on some purple phalaenopsis. I get him outside through a fire e

      18 min read

    • Article

      Inside Flynn Bloom’s $5 Billion Life!

      Jun 26, 2022

      For young Flynn Bloom, life coudn’t get more charmed. Up until he was 2, the tot happily accompanied his parents, Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom, between LA and the Aussie supermodel’s family home in Gunnedah, NSW. In 2013, the pair suddenly split,

      2 min read

    • Article

      Abandoned

      Jun 3, 2021

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • Article

      Exhaustively Researched, Often Brilliant Biography Of Sylvia Plath

      Nov 7, 2020

      ALMOST six decades after her death, Sylvia Plath stands as the most consequential poet of her generation. As a feminine voice, she dominates the 20th century. At the time of Plath’s death at age 30, critic A Alvarez wrote: “The loss to literature is

      13 min read

    • Article

      March’s BOOK CLUB

      Feb 2, 2023

      Other Women by Emma Flint (£16.99, HB, Pan Macmillan) Bea Cade can’t resist the charms of Tom Ryan. Any time the attractive and enigmatic salesman visits the offices where Bea works she goes weak at the knees. But Tom is married to Kate. While it’s

      4 min read

    • Article

      Friend Or Foe?

      Aug 24, 2023

      Sitting on the grass beside my girlfriend Grace, I spotted a familiar face approaching from across the park. ‘Can I join you?’ Chelsea, then 17, smiled, plonking herself down. It was March 2018 and I’d been with Grace, then 16, for six months. I was

      4 min read

    • Article

      Jenkins

      Feb 4, 2021

      Jenkins
      6 min read

    • Article

      It’s All Relative

      Aug 1, 2021

      It’s All Relative
      9 min read

    • Article

      Prepare Your Dairy for Winter

      Sep 17, 2021

      Prepare Your Dairy for Winter
      7 min read

    • Article

      August’s BOOK CLUB

      Jul 7, 2022

      Joan by Katherine J Chen (£16.99, HB, Hodder & Stoughton) In this inspired, lyrical reimagining of Joan of Arc’s life, the author transports us inside the head of a young woman whose divinely inspired military gifts were viewed with awe and suspicio

      2 min read

    • Article

      Good Bones

      Mar 19, 2020

      Good Bones
      18 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Photoplay

    4/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Photoplay - Hallie Ephron

      cover.jpg29702.png

      CONTENTS

      Photoplay

      About the Author

      Also by Hallie Ephron

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      Photoplay

      THERE WERE MIRRORS everywhere in Elenor Nichol’s house, reflecting the perfection of the glamorous movie star’s life. It would be a challenge, Duane Foley thought as he dropped his camera bag in the front hall, to keep the flash from bouncing off them, wreaking havoc with the carefully composed shots he had been hired to take during the party.

      Duane lit a cigarette, inhaled, and gave a wet cough as he stooped to check his gear. He was winded from lugging his camera bag up the long driveway from the carport near the bottom of the driveway off Sunset, where they’d asked him to park. Felt like he’d run a mile by the time he’d finally reached the front steps of the white house with its colonnade and Palladian windows—­Gone with the Wind meets Giant, with a cast to match.

      This gig was more than a few cuts above his usual: stalking celebrities and taking pictures on spec, as they said in Hollywood. Maybe he’d find a buyer, maybe the celebrity would pay him not to. His most fruitful venue was Holiday House, Malibu’s exclusive celebrity hangout. His best get so far was Frank Sinatra and Juliet Prowse, walking arm in arm through the parking lot. Not because their affair was secret, but because the picture showed how much she towered over him. That same day, on a roll, Duane had snuck into the restaurant and scored a close-­up of Jack Kennedy and Marilyn all lovey-­dovey over dinner, only to have a pair of goons tackle him in the parking lot and smash his camera. Wiped out his profit on Frankie. Some days it was zero-­sum game.

      Duane checked his watch and stubbed out his cigarette in the base of a

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1