Film star Amanda Delany has the world at her feet. Never one for the quiet life, she has had a string of affairs with the hottest actors around. Then, coming home late from a night shoot, Amanda puts the key in her front door for the very last time. The next morning, Amanda’s body is found, stabbed many times, only her beautiful face left unharmed. DI Anna Travis is ordered to the team assigned to the Delany murder, headed by Anna’s former lover, the demanding DCI James Langton. Anna is shocked by the truth behind Amanda’s public image: her addictions to drugs and starvation diets; her cold, unemotional parents; her elusive film agent; and the former lovers so quick to distance themselves. But Anna has challenges of her own to overcome too. Promotion to Chief Inspector is within her grasp, but when the time comes for her to stand before the board, she faces a shocking accusation of personal misconduct. With insider authenticity derived from La Plante’s years in the film world and a heroine worthy of her predecessor, Prime Suspect’s Jane Tennison, Silent Scream is La Plante’s best yet. La Plante, a former scriptwriter for the acclaimed Prime Suspect, collars readers with an absolute wow of an opening chapter in which a woman fights down terror in a posh London townhouse; convinces herself the threat is only her imagination; returns to work the next day; and is found dead the next day, stabbed in bed. La Plante keeps the suspense high throughout this fifth entry in her Anna Travis series. Detective Inspector Travis is put on the investigative team for the high-profile murder—the victim was a movie actress just about to make it to the big time. The actress was also a mess physically and emotionally, addicted to drugs, starvation diets, and promiscuity. The suspect count includes dealers, lovers, rivals, and perhaps deranged fans. La Plante puts in a neat twist on the procedural staple of interviewing. Rather than merely describing the interview and leaving it at that, she follows Travis’ interview with a bit of dialogue, a thought, or an action that intensifies the suspense concerning each suspect. A consistently strong series. --Connie Fletcher "As ever, La Plante excels" --"Sunday Express" (UK) "Fantastic...addictive...La Plante's tale races." Daily Express (UK) "Lynda la Plante writes fantastic crime novels." -"Daily Express" (UK) "Lynda La Plante practically invented the thriller." --Karin Slaughter Lynda La Plante's many novels, including the Prime Suspect series, have all been international bestsellers. She is an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and a member of the UK Crime Writers Awards Hall of Fame. She was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2008. She runs her own television production company and lives in London and Easthampton, New York. Visit her website at LyndaLaPlante.com. Silent Scream An Anna Travis Mystery By Lynda La Plante Touchstone Copyright © 2010 Lynda La Plante All right reserved. ISBN: 9781439139288 1 The driver was not her usual one, but as the night filming had been completed ahead of schedule, she had been released from the set in West London earlier than expected. Amanda Delany didn’t mind, though; all the unit drivers had become friends of the entire film company. The Mercedes drew up outside her mews house in Belgravia, and she jumped out quickly. The driver made sure she was safely inside the house before he drove off. She liked that because the overhanging ivy around her front door made it possible for someone to hide there, and she was cautious, although none of her fans knew her new address. Amanda loved the little house. She had really been in residence only eight weeks, but she had purchased it eighteen months ago. The renovations and the decoration had been completed before she had moved in, and it still had the lingering smells of new carpets and paint. She was tired, it was almost midnight, and she decided to go straight to bed, relieved that she wasn’t still filming until four in the morning—which was when the night shoot usually ended. Tomorrow she would be collected midafternoon. They were shooting in summer, and it didn’t get dark until almost nine. Amanda took a quick shower and got into her bed, new, like everything else in the mews house. This was the first place that she had owned, the first time she had lived on her own, without flatmates or boyfriends. She had changed partners almost as frequently as she had filming commitments, which made perfect fodder for the tabloids. Her lovers had invariably been her costars, and although she was still only twenty-four years old, Amanda had broken up two marriages. Her last affair, with a famous movie star, had been very public. Amanda was one of a clutch of young, very beautiful actresses about to break into the big time, and her agent had warned her to curb her sexual exploits or risk damaging her blossoming career. She fell deeply asleep straightaway but