Historical fiction with a mystery thrown in. Set at the beginning of WWII at the Hollywood Canteen. A place for servicemen to go and dance and mingle with Hollywood greats.
I loved the idea of this book. Old Hollywood and film sets, but it was just way too long. It could have been 100 pages shorter and still been the same story. I appreciate the writing and all the research that went into this, but I became bored for about the last 70%.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion. 3⭐️

Tense, suspenseful, and fun!

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen is a scheming, twisty whodunit that sweeps you away to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Age and into the life of Annie Laurence, a New York playwright who, after a devastating breakup and the end of her show, heads to LA to start a new life writing for the movies only to find herself quickly in a world of trouble when one of her new friends, a famous critic who seems to have had a little bit of dirt on everyone is found murdered and everybody seems to have had at least one reason to want her dead.

The writing is witty and tight. The characters are ambitious, self-obsessed, and vulnerable. And the plot is an enticing mix of lies, secrets, drama, duplicity, manipulation, mayhem, substance abuse, movie-making, amateur sleuthing, and murder.

Overall, Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen is a menacing, nostalgic, highly entertaining tale by James that is the perfect choice for fans of 1940s Tinseltown mysteries that have an abundance of quirky characters, Hollywood legends, and straight-up detective work.

Witty repartee with an amusing cast of characters, all definitely left of center in their lifestyle
and relationship choices, Sarah James’, “Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen,” is a 1940s WWII comedic historical fiction set around the murder of a LA gossip columnist at an actual former locale where GIs were treated to free food and entertainment by studio celebrities before shipping off to foreign battle destinations.

FYI—There are no explicit scenes depicting any type of carnal relationships; however, the novel is filled with ongoing innuendo and straightforward references to what may be considered atypical romances that may be offensive to some readers.

JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Sarah James, and Publisher Sourcebooks Landmark, and imprint of Sourcebooks for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review,

Despised film critic Fiona Farris is found dead at the Hollywood Canteen in 1943, and murder mystery playwright Annie Laurence is determined to figure out what happened. As Annie cozies up to Fiona's friends, dubbed the Ambassador's Club, she learns how unhappy each of them are, mirroring her frustrations with her own career. The glamour of the Hollywood Canteen starts to dull as Annie realizes solving a real life murder is significantly more difficult than writing one.

This book is a glitzy, captivating mystery thriller that encapsulates the Hollywood culture of the 1940s. I grew to love Annie, and was pulling for her to figure everything out. Readers who happen to love mystery/thrillers AND Evelyn Hugo will go crazy for this one!

I love witty banter as much as the next person but this twist and turn murder mystery was stretched out about 75 pages too far. I loved the character development but never truly cared about any of them, aside from Victor, which made it difficult to want to engage in their relationships. Well written and a beautiful premise but I found myself skipping ahead past dialogue to continue on with the underlying story.

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James is a fresh "who done it" with lots of twists and turns that leave you guessing. I found myself immersed in WW2 wartime Hollywood. Her characters were so rich and well rounded I thought they were real people! The author did a lot of historical research about the Hollywood Canteen (A real place) it made me feel as though I was there. The book is also ready made for book clubs as it includes questions, as well as an author interview in the back.

This was an enjoyable mix of historical fiction and mystery that I really enjoyed.

What I liked:
*Glitz & glamour of 1943 Hollywood
*Learning more about the Hollywood Canteen
*Great characters full of drama

Final thoughts: This was a fun & entertaining read. I really enjoyed this different take on Hollywood characters and life in the 1940s. There were a lot of characters so it was hard to keep track of sometimes and they were full of drama which added to the murder mystery.

DNF at 10%. I wasn't connecting with the main character. The synopsis sounded interesting so I it's sad I wasn't connecting with the character and story.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

This book will take you back in time and bring you to a whole new era. I hung on every word. Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen is a novel filled with drama. Perhaps the best place in 1943 Hollywood to see the stars is the Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed exclusively by those in show business. Murder mystery playwright Annie Laurence, new in town, definitely hopes to rub elbows with the right stars. But Hollywood proves to be more than tinsel and glamour. When despised film critic Fiona Farris is found dead in the Canteen kitchen, Annie realizes any one of the Canteen's luminous volunteers could be guilty of the crime. So who dunnit? My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The year is 1943. After a tough breakup, New York City murder-mystery playwright Annie Laurence moves to Hollywood to write for Pacific Pictures, one of the less successful studios. As part of the war effort, the movie community was entertaining servicemen before they headed overseas at the Hollywood Canteen. Top actors, comedians and musicians performed, and studio employees worked there as volunteers. When it was Pacific night, Annie decided to help out and mingle. She managed to connect herself to an interesting group which dubbed itself the Ambassador's Club, as they would frequently meet, drink, gossip and exchange witticisms and barbs at one another at the Ambassador Hotel. The group was made up of a comedian/radio host with a drinking problem, a musician, a Chinese actress who yearned to be taken seriously but was relegated to being a sex symbol, a female producer and Fiona Farris, top film critic who seemed to hate everything she reviewed. When she is found dead one night at the Canteen, it was first deemed a suicide. But Annie suspects she was murdered. She is determined to uncover what happened. Soon everyone becomes a suspect, including Annie.

Author Sarah James brings back the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood in Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen. The book also depicts the dark side of the studio system during this era. Many secrets were kept and some of the most talented people lived in fear that the media would reveal them. The studios had powerful people in their pockets to keep their secrets. What I enjoyed the most about the book was the humor and banter between the members of the Ambassador's Club, who weren't a very likeable bunch. As for the murder, my early assumption as to who was guilty turned out to be right, so I wasn't surprised by the ending. But I didn't get the sense that the author was going for anything shocking. This quick-read book did a good job creating the ambiance of the Golden Age of Hollywood, which I found very appealing. If this era is of interest to you, it's worth checking out.

I was blown away by this book what a read.
It was a Historical murder mystery well written I enjoyed it from the first page to the last.

To be honest, I found there to be too much going on in this book and too many characters. I think that it was over done - but if simplified a little it would have been incredible. My favorite part of the book was the history of the Hollywood Canteen. I found that the drama, secrets and lies from the characters were often annoying and not realistic. It was also difficult to like the majority of the characters, which may be way I found their drama annoying. All that being said, the book kept me entertained and I truly enjoyed the historical piece of it.

In 1943, Annie Laurence, a new in town, murder mystery play write, finds herself at the Hollywood Canteen - a club for servicemen staffed by those in show business. But when her new friend, and despised critic, Fiona Davis is found dead in the kitchen, Annie finds herself a suspect. Will she be able to help catch the killer among Fiona's bitter, unhappy and cynical friends?

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

Annie Laurence is a New York playwright, but when her long-term relationship is terminated and her lead actors move to Hollywood, she finds herself desperate enough to take a job at the third-tier movie studio. Wanting to meet Fiona Farris, a critic who reviewed her New York play, Annie meets the whole Ambassador’s Club. She believes that she finally has met people who could assist her with her career and help her move on from her failed relationship.

Then Fiona is murdered and one of the Club have been implicated. The more Annie investigates, though, the bigger a target she has on her back.

I really did not like the characters! I was hoping that I could start cheering on Annie, but then she would do something so stupid that I just couldn’t keep reading. Obviously, I hated Adam and Beverly Cook. I really wanted Annie to punch one of them. When the Ambassador Club was introduced, I really was hoping they would bond and make one or two of them better. Unfortunately, they were all “woe-is-me” crybabies, and I just couldn’t bring myself to pay much attention.

There are plenty of suspects, and many motives as Fiona was not a nice individual. However, the general landscape of Hollywood, the Hollywood Canteen, the people including the sailors, and the overall political atmosphere are so well written that the reader feels like they are there.

Overall, I rate this novel 3 out of 5 stars.

I'm not really sure what to think of this one. I didn't dislike it but I also didn't quite love it.
The premise was super interesting to me: I love a story of old Hollywood and I love a murder mystery! I also really enjoy historical fiction, typically.
Unfortunately, I feel like this book just took too long to really start. The first half felt like it dragged on and on without much actually happening, but when the story finally picked up I enjoyed it a lot more. That made me a bit sad, because I think if the pace were fixed this could have been a much better read in my eyes.
The characters were all rather unlikable, which might have been intentional but left me, at times, completely disinterested. Maybe more likable characters, or at least characters we could more easily connect with, would carry the reader through that slow first half more efficiently.
I did enjoy the author's writing style though and would still be interested to read more from her. I think with better pacing and characters that feel closer to the reader, she could deliver a great story.

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen is set in the 1940s during the war. I must admit that the author did a wonderful job of setting the Old Hollywood scene. I enjoyed the trip to past. I really enjoyed that the story takes places in some locations that really existed in the 1940s.

Fiona, who is a play critic is poisoned. Her death is ruled a suicide, but her friends (who to be honest feel quite insufferable) don't believe this is the case. They set out to figure who her murderer is, and to me, it gets a little chaotic.

I was really hoping that I was going to LOVE this book, but honestly I just didn't. Like I mentioned before, I found the characters pretty insufferable. They complained so much about their own lives and were so self centered. Maybe this is on par for celebrities (I don't personally know any).

Sarah's writing style is good. I would absolutely read another book of hers. I feel like there will be plenty of people who will actually enjoy this book. I just found myself getting really annoyed with some of the "woah is me" whining that some of the characters displayed and too much drama between them.

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen is available on November 7th.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a bit of a meandering trainwreck from the first page but I could see it being a very clever movie with a star studded ensemble cast. I love the time period and would love to read more about the Hollywood Canteen but this book just felt so disjointed. There was a lot of whining and a lot of red herrings to get to nowhere fast. Hope you have better luck!

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen comes out next week on November 7, 2023 and you can purchase HERE.

The article was full of one ridiculous detail after another, the least of which was that the Hollywood Canteen had been completely scrubbed from the situation. The way Variety reported it, Fiona may as well have died in the back room of some seedy nightclub, surrounded by gangsters and criminals. God forbid Hollywood's bastion of patriotism be tainted with the truth. There was also the suicide note, allegedly found in Fiona's pocket: Please forgive me. I can't go on like this. The pain is too much. Fiona Farris would never have written anything so hackneyed, so vague and unspecific.

Someone poisoned Fiona and it wasn't Annie. This historical mystery takes you back to 1944, the The Hollywood canteen that served members of the military, and to a group of failed actors who console one another, even while nursing grudges. Annie is new to town and Fiona was the one who introduced her to the Ambassadors club. She knows Fiona wasn't well liked but not how badly someone wanted her gone. This is almost a cozy given the plot elements but it's got a little more bite. Annie's an interesting character and the setting is fun. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen was a fun blast back to 1940s Hollywood with an interesting murder-mystery twist. The novel centers around Annie, a struggling playwright, who is hired by a third-tier film studio as a script writer. Annie seizes the opportunity and flees West, where she finds herself entangled in lives of a group of fledgeling writers, actors, a producer, and composer. Just as Annie was forging a place for herself in the group, one of its members is murdered leaving the friends in a tailspin of doubt and shifting blame.

Sarah James does a wonderful job of diving into the painting the landscape old Hollywood studio system while crafting characters with sardonic wit. I was left wanting more in terms of the timing and pacing of the book. Annie's relationships with her new friends felt sudden and rushed, yet it also seemed like nothing was happening in the first half of the book, just meandering conversations that lead to nowhere. When the pace finally picked up, James tied the novel up neatly with a clear, concise resolution.

Ultimately, I am not sure if I actually liked any of the character in Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen but I almost think that was the point?

Thank you to the publisher, Netgalley, and Sarah James for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.

‘Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen’ really appealed to me in terms of my love of murder mysteries and 1940’s cinema.
Overall I enjoyed the pacing and the way James writes in first person from the MC’s, Annie, point of view. The whole novel has an ease and a cosiness to it which I feel is sympathetic to the traditional murder mysteries synonymous with this era, such as those of Agatha Christie. However it still felt modern through Annie’s eyes, she is coming out of a complicated breakup and is trying to find her identity as a writer in this glitzy but often dark era of Hollywood. There were moments when I was really rooting for Annie as a main protagonist and others where I got so frustrated with her, but for me that is not a negative whatsoever. For me James constructed Annie with so much care and vividity that I couldn't help but feel real emotions to her as the novel and the mystery played out.
The murder and the set suspect list felt very in line with traditional mysteries I have read and enjoyed, so although at times it read a little formulaic the details and glamour that James has tied in kept me turning the pages.
This is one of the thrillers that has enough wit and humour to feel very fresh but enough of the warmth and familiarity of a perfect who-dunnit to curl up and get utterly lost in. Definitely a perfect winter ‘it’ read- Loved it!

I enjoyed some elements of this book more than others. The historic Hollywood setting is what originally drew my interest, and I felt that was the strongest part of the book. The intrigue and machinations going on within the studio system can barely be believed, but this was the sort of thing going on in the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood.

I had never heard of the Hollywood Canteen but it was real institution run by volunteers from the various movie studios, with the intention of entertaining servicemen on their last nights on US soil before they shipped off to war. Stars such as Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra performed there over its three years of operation. So I enjoyed what the book could teach me about history.

I actually liked the resolution/solution to the murder. It seems ridiculous and over the top, but it fits right in with that time and place. People were ridiculous and over the top in 1940s Hollywood.

However, there were two major aspects that let me down. The first was Annie, our main character writer-turned-investigator and first person narrator. As a general rule, I don’t have a problem with first person (even though I prefer third), but there was just something about the way Annie was written that annoyed me that I couldn’t really put my finger on. That combined with the fact that she would jump to a new conclusion every time some new information came to light was really frustrating to me!

The second thing was… it just wasn’t that exciting for a thriller? I read 30% in one night and all that really happened was that the characters cleverly found a way to get their hands on the murdered person’s work files, and then… spent the night going through them and speculating. The climax was… satisfying, but even as everything came to a head, I was more just thinking, “Ah, yes, this makes sense” than dying to turn the page to make sure the main characters came out the other side.

That said, the writing style is quite readable, and I never even as I felt nothing much was happening, I equally didn’t feel like the book was necessarily dragging. I am sure for the right reader, this will be an enjoyable historical mystery!