Offered a dream job in Hollywood with a famous director and his actress wife, an insecure woman becomes their personal assistant where their secrets and lies place her in the crosshairs of a murder investigation.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from May Cobb‘s The Hollywood Assistant, which releases July 9th 2024.
Prologue
Sunlight glints against the windows of the Sterlings’ home, turning them opaque: a row of blank eyes staring back at me. The wind lashes at my car. An angry, raw summer day that stings like a fresh paper cut. The weather moody, unstable.
The sun slips behind the clouds. The windows are now two-way-mirror clear, the interior brightening into sharp focus. The cherry-red leather armchair in the parlor, a chenille throw dangling from the arm like a dog’s tongue. The newspaper flung open and sprawled across the seat.
The stucco fireplace, the light-filled dining room. The upstairs bedrooms, all the windows bare and naked, curtains cinched back as usual, even at night while they sleep.
From my perch I peer into the living room. Glimpse a blur of dark hair. Marisol’s, luscious and long, always lapping at her breasts. The back of her head, hair still swinging; Nate’s hands flying up on either side of her in seeming exasperation.
They are arguing.
I can’t hear them, of course, not from the front seat of my car, parked across the street, but I’ve witnessed their arguments so many times—the cracked accusation in his tone, the climbing in octaves of hers—that I autofill it, their voices throbbing from inside the walls.
Oh god, he’s grabbing at her now, his hands wrapping around her neck. But she lunges forward, pushing him down.
The sun skids out from behind the clouds again, frosting the windows. The show is over.
