Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Cowriting couple Knox and Mare (who previously collaborated on Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous, written as Mae Marvel) bridge Hollywood high drama, cozy mystery, and gentle slow-burn romance in this sweetly satisfying outing. The detective show Craven's Daughter never acknowledged the romantic subtext between leads Cora Banks and Henri Shannon--nor the obvious chemistry between the actors who played them, Bexley Simon and Samantha Farmer--but when the show ended abruptly five years ago, the fans wrote their own happy endings for the women in fan fiction posted online. When Bex and Sam join forces for a rewatch podcast leading up to a reunion special, their first guest, a former castmate, intimates that the most popular writer of Craven's Daughter fanfic may have been an insider telegraphing intel about on-set conflict in her stories, including clues about what really happened to Jen Arnot, the show's makeup designer, who fell to her death from a filming location's balcony. This new information spurs Bex and Sam to press their former colleagues about things many would prefer to keep quiet while simultaneously building the bravery to finally admit their feelings for each other. Readers who love to overanalyze their favorite shows will feel especially seen. This low-heat love letter to the queer fanfic community is a gem. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
When Bex Simon's parents died, her Broadway career became less important than supporting her younger siblings, and she took a role on a TV police procedural in order to get a regular paycheck. She had no idea that this show would become a beloved queer classic, spawning fan fiction, a real romance with Bex's costar Sam Farmer, and the mysterious accidental death of their makeup artist. Now, five years after the show suddenly ended, Bex and Sam are brought back together and have a chance at solving the mystery and rekindling their romance. Married couple Mare (Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon) and Knox (Completely) team up again--having coauthored mysteries and queer romances as Mae Marvel, including Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous--for a genre-blending novel that's full of heart. There's a multitude of plotlines, but the characters navigate their world in an honest, realistic way, propelling the story forward through the occasionally tangled narrative. VERDICT Readers who enjoy cozy sapphic mysteries will find a lot to love in Sam and Bex. Half cozy mystery, half romance, this read is entirely fun.--Ahliah Bratzler
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The reunion of a cult-hit TV detective series may mean a second chance at romance for the show's stars, who face a mystery that might bring them together. Returning to theCraven's Daughter set five years after the show ended, Bexley Simon can't help but wonder if the place is a little haunted. Although Bex's friend Jen Arnot, the show's makeup artist, tragically died on set, Bex is less worried about actual ghosts than about things that have been left unsaid. For example, just as the romantic tension between Cora Banks, the private eye she played, and Henri Shannon, the former FBI agent played by Samantha Farmer, was never resolved, neither was the relationship between the two actors, for whom the timing was never right. Now back together for a reunion special and an accompanying rewatch podcast, Bex and Sam are revisiting all those will-they, won't-they moments on air. As happened with the original ambiguously close Xena and Gabrielle, fans are rooting for the two to find their way to each other. Again echoing their predecessors, a large contingent of online fans have launched their ships into fan fiction, perhaps hoping to plant seeds in the head of Bette Holloway, the show's nepo-baby writer. While Bex and Sam try to sort out who they are and who they can be to each other, a guest on the podcast mentions that the person known only as Big Name Fan, a prolific writer ofCraven's Daughter fanfic, may have been more closely connected to the show than anyone realized. Questions of the Fan's identity swirl around set, making Bex wonder whether Jen's fatal plunge from a balcony could have been more than misadventure. A TV reunion is fertile ground for a queer pop culture makeover. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
