Pretty as a Picture features a mysterious island, a film editor out of her depth, and two grizzly murders across two generations… what’s not to love?
In its first few pages, Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little captures your attention with the promise of a unique glimpse at Hollywood’s filmmaking process: through the eyes of a film editor. But it quickly becomes clear that the book has much more to offer — and that editing isn’t the only intriguing mystery it holds.
The editor in question is Pretty as a Picture’s main character, Marissa Dahl, an extremely talented professional looking for her next gig. The book describes her as “socially awkward,” although to me and many other readers, Marissa clearly appears to be on the autism spectrum. She deeply struggles to understand non-verbal cues or navigate social spaces comfortably. She’s very practical, intelligent and detail-oriented, which is a great part of why she’s such a sought-after editor. But her circle of friends is very small, and her feelings about her place in that circle are fraught — all of it stemming from her deep anxiety that one day she will accidentally make everyone hate her by not understanding social dynamics properly.
Her frustration makes your heart break for her when people misunderstand her, but it’s also one of the most interesting parts of Pretty as a Picture. Little doesn’t set out to ‘fix’ Marissa. In fact, it’s that attention to detail — which stems from the skills she’s learned in trying to identify how others are feeling — that makes her so good at noticing what others don’t. This book doesn’t have a big epiphany where Marissa suddenly learns to relate to people like everyone else does. She doesn’t need to change to succeed or be accepted by the people around her. She’s just herself: clever, sarcastic, and not very good at reading social cues. And that’s so, so satisfying to read.
Anyway, on to the story: Marissa has been hired to edit a movie about a famously disturbing murder on an island. Except, that movie is being filmed on that very same island and a lot of the people who were originally involved in the case are still there!
To make things even more complicated, the film is being directed by Tony Rees, a man notorious for demanding way too much of everyone around him (although of course, that makes his fans absolutely worship his ‘methods’). Marissa doesn’t particularly like Rees, but she really needs this job. Which is why, when she arrives on set and finds that everyone is acting very, very strangely, she does her best to keep her mouth shut and just do her job.
But as strange events begin to take place, Marissa begins to suspect — along with an actor, a bodyguard and some teenagers — that a conspiracy is afoot. New suspects come to light, and when a second murder rocks the island and the movie set, the movie — and the ability to craft a story — become absolutely crucial to solving the case. What Marissa uncovers about both the past and the present through her detective work is both disturbing and unexpected.
Little does a great job of introducing a large cast of characters in a setting that feels very realistic, even though a mysterious murder island could have easily felt too fantastic to be real. Marissa, of course, is just an incredibly unique and fun character to explore the mystery with. And the novel’s tone smoothly transitions between drama, comedy and thriller, keeping your attention at every turn. These transitions are aided by transcripts of a true crime podcast supposedly recorded after the events of the novel — and for anyone who, like me, listens to way too many true crime podcasts, this just ads a whole other layer of fun and realism to the story.
I hope that Little will turn this book into a series, with Marissa solving various crimes on movie sets around the world as she gets more and more successful. I certainly think the potential is there, and the chance to immerse yourself in both scandalous Hollywood and a murder case is too tempting for any reader to resist.
If you’re looking for an intriguing yet ultimately heartwarming murder mystery novel that you will absolutely read in only one or two sittings, ignoring your responsibilities (it’s that gripping!), Pretty as a Picture is the book for you.
Pretty as a Picture is available for order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and your local independent bookstore. Also, don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads “to read” list!
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