Literature / The Cinderella Murder

All spoilers for previous Under Suspicion novels will be unmarked

"She became known to the public as Cinderella [...] but to a mother, she was always Susan."

— Alex Buckley

The Cinderella Murder is a 2014 crime suspense novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke. It is the second Under Suspicion novel and the first to be co-written by Burke.

It's been nearly a year since the pilot episode of Under Suspicion was a smash hit. Now, producer Laurie Moran is making plans for a second episode, this time choosing to focus on the murder of Susan Dempsey. Twenty years ago, Susan was a bright, beautiful nineteen-year-old student at UCLA, who headed to the Hollywood Hills on the night of May 7th to audition for up-and-coming director Frank Parker. Susan allegedly never made it to the audition and just before dawn the next morning, she was found strangled to death in nearby Laurel Canyon Park. Her body was discovered missing a shoe, lost as she attempted to flee her killer, leading the media to dub the case the Cinderella Murder. Her killer was never identified, though there are several suspects.

Firstly, Susan's body was found only a ten minute walk from Frank Parker's home, but he claims he never saw Susan that night and was busy with the audition until midnight, well after Susan's estimated time of death. His alibi is backed up by Madison Meyer, one of Susan's roommates who subsequently auditioned for the role in her place. Some have wondered if Madison was willing to do anything to gain a chance at stardom, or if her winning the role wasn't just based on the strength of her audition. Susan's mother Rosemary has always suspected Susan's boyfriend, actor Keith Ratner; he was known to be possessive of Susan, yet also had a wandering eye. Keith says he was at a meeting with the then-fledgling megachurch Advocates for God at the time of Susan's murder, but while he claims he has witnesses to back up his alibi, the Advocates for God are noted to be a controversial and insular group, who may be willing to do anything to protect their members.

One of the last people to see Susan was her other roommate and best friend Nicole Hunter; at the time she was never regarded as a suspect, but she left Los Angeles soon after the murder and went to great efforts to cut herself off from her old life. Was she potentially motivated by more than just grief? Nicole also draws Laurie's attention to Susan's programming research partner Dwight Cook and her computer science professor Richard Hathaway, who both went on to found billionaire-dollar tech company REACH the same year Susan died; Dwight was known to be fixated on Susan, while Hathaway was rumoured to have been intimately involved with some of his female students... but is Nicole simply trying to deflect suspicion from herself? Laurie and her team realise any one of them could've killed Susan and may be willing to kill again...and this time it could be the creators of Under Suspicion in the line of fire.

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Tropes found in this novel include:

• The '90s: Susan attended UCLA in the early 90s and was murdered on Saturday, May 7th 1994. There's some emphasis on the then-budding World Wide Web and associated technology, especially given Susan was studying computer programming at UCLA. Dwight Cook founded REACH the same year Susan died, which was originally built around a revolutionary search engine that made finding information on the internet much easier (although it was later surpassed by more advanced engines like Google).
• Accidental Murder:
  • Steve Roman didn't go to Rosemary's gated community with the intention of harming anyone and when her neighbour Lydia catches him snooping, he initially tries to deflect her suspicions. When that doesn't work, he panics and attacks her; in his inner monologue he states that it had "gone really wrong", indicating he didn't intend to kill Lydia but lost control.
  • When Susan's killer is confronted, they initially try to make the killing sound like an accident, though the person confronting them doesn't buy it. Considering it was established that Susan was chased through a park, forced to the ground and manually strangled, it's kinda hard to see how any of that could be construed as an 'accident'.
• Age-Gap Romance:
  • When Nicole was eighteen, she had a romantic relationship with her church leader, Martin Collins, who was eleven years her senior. Nicole's youth and sheltered life made her impressionable and gullible, with Susan warning her this was probably the only reason he was interested in dating her, though Nicole refused to listen. Nicole later realised the hard way that Martin was indeed not only dating her to manipulate her, but to hide the fact he was interested in even younger girls (Nicole herself looked young for her age).
  • Laurie all but walks in on Madison and Hathaway having a romantic rendezvous at Madison's hotel room; Madison is thirty-nine while Hathaway is nearly two decades older at fifty-seven, although as they point out they're both consenting adults. Hathaway is still regarded as an attractive man (and has a thing for much younger women) and Madison is well-aware he's a multi-millionaire. It's revealed their initial flirtation began twenty years ago, when Hathaway was still a UCLA professor in his late thirties and Madison was a nineteen-year-old student; they understandably kept this very hush-hush back then. Madison gave him the brush off when he never arrived for their arranged date on the night Susan was killed. When Laurie realises this, she correctly deduces he didn't show up because he was giving Susan a ride to the Hollywood Hills and is likely her killer.
• The Alibi:
  • Frank Parker has a seemingly iron-clad alibi; he had arranged to meet Susan at his house at 7.30pm, at 7.45 he called Susan's room to see where she was and spoke with her roommate Madison, at 8.30 Madison turned up at his house to audition, they ordered pizza at around 9.30 and Madison left just before 12am. The autopsy estimated that Susan died sometime between 7pm and 11pm and her body was found ten minutes away from Frank's home (or five minutes away if she was running). As it takes at least thirty minutes to get from the UCLA campus to the Hollywood Hills (not accounting for L.A. evening traffic), it's thought that Frank wouldn't have had enough time to chase and kill Susan in Laurel Canyon Park, call Madison, drive Susan's car back to the campus and be back at his house to meet Madison... unless he and Madison are both lying about the timeline.
  • Madison's alibi is that she was at her apartment on-campus when Frank called her at 7.45pm, she got to his house at 8.30 and stayed until midnight. Her version of the timeline matches Frank's exactly, although it is pointed out it's odd Madison was dressed and ready to go the moment she got Frank's call if she was having a night in, especially as she's known to take ages to pretty herself up.
  • Keith says that he was at an Advocates for God meeting at a bookstore across town when Susan was killed and that he has six people who can vouch for him. However, considering how insular Advocates for God is, some people wonder if the other church members could've lied about how long Keith was at the meeting to cover for him. Keith counters that if he'd been at any other kind of meeting, no one would question it.
  • Nicole says that on the evening of May 7th she went out to a local student bar and stayed there drinking all night, with there being several witnesses. However, there is an unaccounted window of time from when Nicole argued with Susan at their apartment to when Nicole arrived at the bar.
  • Susan's agent Edwin Lange, who had arranged her audition with Frank Parker and was originally supposed to accompany her, isn't available for interview as he died several years ago. Although it means one less person on camera, the team don't consider this hugely detrimental as Edwin was never a suspect; he had been driving to Arizona to visit his sick mother at the time of Susan's murder, with calls made from his mobile phone confirming his location, and he was genuinely shocked to learn Susan had been killed.
• All Love Is Unrequited: In the backstory, Susan and Keith were a couple. Dwight was in love with Susan but she never realised this and was loyal to her boyfriend. Keith wasn't so faithful, cheating on her with Madison, who was in love Keith, but he was still devoted to Susan in his own way, refusing to leave Susan for Madison despite hooking up with her.
• Another Man's Terror: Laurie tries to imagine how terrifying it must've been for Susan, attempting to outrun her killer in Laurel Canyon Park. She also agrees to Jerry's suggestion of filming a recreation of the chase for the show, to help viewers put themselves in Susan's position. In the climax, the killer also chases and tries to kill Laurie in the same location, and she finally knows exactly how Susan must've felt, even referring to her pursuer as "our killer".
• Betty and Veronica: In college, Keith was in a relationship with Susan, but was also cheating on her with Madison, who hoped that he would break up with Susan and become her boyfriend. Keith thinks to himself that part of the reason he was attracted to Madison was because she was the complete opposite of Susan: Susan was his sweet, loyal high school girlfriend, while Madison was a sultry, "dangerous" party girl he met at college. In the present, Keith regrets the way he took Susan for granted and has a low opinion of Madison, regarding her as selfish and manipulative.
• Big Secret: Everything to do with Nicole's fight with Susan, her sudden move away from L.A. and her connection to Advocates for God. While Susan and Nicole did argue fiercely over Nicole involving Keith in the church and Nicole's devotion to Reverend Martin Collins (and this may have impaired Susan's judgement afterwards), neither Nicole or the church had any involvement in Susan's murder. The reason Nicole fled from L.A. and went to great efforts to keep a low profile is because after the argument, she caught Martin molesting a ten-year-old girl and realised Susan had been right to distrust him. Martin threatened to kill Nicole and everyone she loved if she ever told anyone about what she saw; terrified and ashamed, Nicole essentially went into hiding. Martin is concerned about what Nicole might reveal about him on Under Suspicion when he learns of her of involvement, which is why he orders Steve Roman and Keith Ratner to keep tabs on her and the others involved in the show, but he didn't kill Susan; as Nicole notes he had no real reason to and she of course saw him at his house at the time Susan was killed.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: May 7th was Jack Dempsey's birth date. In 1994, he turned sixty and his wife Rosemary organised a big birthday party for him with all their friends. His daughter Susan was originally going to drive down from UCLA to attend the party, but called to say she would be attending an audition in Hollywood instead. Early the next morning, Jack and Rosemary received a phone call which they initially thought was from Susan, wishing her father a belated happy birthday. Instead, they found it was the LAPD, calling to inform them Susan had been murdered the night before. From then on, May 7th was considered the day their daughter died more so than Jack's birthday.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When Alex traps Madison into all but admitting she got Frank to cast her in Beauty Land by promising to back up his alibi for Susan's murder, including asking her outright if she blackmailed Frank, Madison is silent for a few moments before simply saying "I earned that role."
• Chase Scene: The climax sees Laurie running for her life through Laurel Canyon Park, chased by the killer, Richard Hathaway. She eventually trips and ends up being held at gunpoint, but is able to get the gun away from him when he's distracted by a patrolman, with Hathaway being apprehended soon after.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Susan's car. At the start, it's mentioned that Rosemary and Jack worried about Susan driving long distances in her car, because it was a beater and wasn't always reliable. The car was found parked on the UCLA campus the morning after Susan was killed, with the police believing that Susan drove herself to the Hollywood Hills for her audition and that her killer drove her car back to the campus. It turns out the state of the car itself is significant; Madison reveals that the car had broken down again the night of the audition, which she had never previously mentioned and the police never discovered. Laurie realises that if Susan's car wasn't working, she may have been given a lift by someone else, which alters the timeline and places suspicion on whoever drove her (definitively ruling out Frank Parker and Madison Meyer). It indeed turns out that Susan was killed by the person who gave her a lift.
  • Susan's "lucky" necklace. It was found near Susan's body and she would've wanted to wear it for her big audition. Nicole mentions in passing that when she last saw Susan, she couldn't find the necklace in her room and it increased her agitation when they argued, though she obviously eventually found it before going to meet Frank. Dwight and Laurie both separately realise that Susan left her necklace in the computer lab, the other place she spent most of her time, and that when she went to retrieve it she overhead a conversation she wasn't supposed to.
  • It's mentioned at the start that Susan's father was a successful intellectual property lawyer for a tech research company, and so Susan herself had some knowledge of the subject. This means she realised right away that Hathaway's plans for REACH were considered intellectual property theft and fraud... which is why she was killed.
  • While filming in the park where Susan's body was found, Laurie gets emotional thinking about her own husband's murder and looks up at a large sycamore tree to distract and compose herself. Later, when Hathaway forces her to drive to the park at gunpoint, Laurie remembers the tree and drives straight into it at top speed, briefly knocking Hathaway unconcious and buying herself time to escape.
• Continuity Nod: It's mentioned several times that the Under Suspicion pilot successfully solved the Graduation Gala murder and that the man who murdered Laurie's husband was identified and killed, which were the subjects of the first book, I've Got You Under My Skin. Laurie also mentions that she intends to consider every possibility when it comes to Susan Dempsey's murder, as she realised from her own husband's murder that sometimes the obvious answer is incorrect, referencing that everyone assumed Greg was killed because of his work as a doctor, when he was actually targeted because of Laurie's father, a retired cop.
• Contrasting Sequel Setting: The preceding novel was primarily set in a mansion in the (fictional) town of Salem Ridge in Westchester County, New York State; the mansion was the primary filming location and the scene of the murder. This novel is primarily set on the opposite end of the country in Los Angeles, along with a few other locations in California. As the murder this time took place in a park in the Hollywood Hills, the crew borrow a mansion in Bel Air to film some of the interviews and use it as a base camp to shoot at other key locations, such as the park and the UCLA campus.
• The Corpse Stops Here: Though he wasn't found with the body, one of the main reasons Frank Parker is suspected of Susan's murder is because her body was found within walking distance of his house and she was headed there at the time.
• Cult: Advocates for God is a megachurch that claims to find a closer relationship to God by helping the needy. While this sounds harmless and benign, the church is extremely secretive and doesn't tolerate any criticism, either from outsiders or its own membership. Reverend Martin Collins wields complete power over his congregation and tends to fixate upon extremely vulnerable people to take into his fold, manipulating them into obeying anything he asks of them and encouraging them to sever contact with outsiders who want to 'corrupt' them, including friends and family. Martin insists that those who question the AG are either ignorant of the church's true nature, or are sinners who seek to prevent them carrying out God's will. The inner circle of AG also isn't above committing criminal acts in the name of serving God, seeing themselves as above ordinary laws. Nicole Hunter had a run-in with AG in college and she remains absolutely terrified of them.
• Damsel out of Distress: When Laurie is carjacked by Hathaway in the climax, she does a great job delaying him and assisting the police in tracking her. She manages to surreptitiously dial Alex's number from her cellphone (his being the last number she called), hidden in the driver's side door pocket; when Alex picks up she informs him she's being held at gunpoint by Hathaway in a way that sounds like she's talking with her kidnapper, also tricking Hathaway into revealing he's taking her to Laurel Canyon Park and that he killed Susan and Dwight. When they reach the park Laurie drives the car into a tree, giving her a head start to make a run for it. Although Hathaway manages to catch up to her, a nearby patrolman has already been alerted and quickly arrives on the scene; Laurie uses the distraction to kick Hathaway's gun away from her head, causing the bullet to miss her, before the patrolman drives into Hathaway to subdue him.
• Driving Question: A near-literal example: one of the biggest mysteries around the Cinderella Murder is how Susan got from the UCLA campus where she lived up to the Hollywood Hills where she was killed. She owned a car and had her driver's licence with her, but the car was found parked back on the campus after Susan's body was discovered, with the police theorising that the killer drove it back to UCLA after murdering her.
• Fairytale Motif: The media linked Susan Dempsey's murder to "Cinderella", albeit a very grim version: Susan was a pretty young woman who got dressed up to meet a director about a potential starring role, lost one of her silver shoes as she was pursued and was discovered shortly after midnight, while her car was mysteriously returned to her college campus. It's worth nothing that Susan's mother has always hated people referring to Susan as Cinderella, feeling that it dehumanises her and distracts from the fact her only child was hunted down and brutally strangled by someone, who then got away with it for two decades.
• Famed In-Story:
  • Dwight Cook and Richard Hathaway are famous as the founders of REACH, a highly successful Silicon Valley computer tech company established in the early 90s.
  • Frank Parker is a famous and critically-acclaimed film director, including having been nominated for an Academy Award. It's remarked that the Cinderella Murder may have been largely forgotten by the public if it weren't for the fact Frank became a household name and is known to be connected to the case, including rumours that he was responsible for the crime.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: While having dinner with Madison near the climax, Madison mentions to Hathaway that Dwight had surveillance equipment hidden all over the house he had lent the Under Suspicion crew, and Hathaway suddenly gets up and leaves, making a feeble excuse about stomach problems. A few pages later, it's revealed Hathaway is the one who murdered Susan and Dwight, and Madison's comment made him realise Dwight may also have had surveillance equipment on his boat, where Hathaway had earlier fought with and killed Dwight in an attempt to cover up his murder of Susan.
• Foreshadowing:
  • During a church meeting, Martin Collins pays particular attention to a Struggling Single Mother and her young daughter; he agrees to help them with an apartment and money, though requests they keep it quiet as he cannot so personally help all his congregation this way. It's revealed that Martin has done similar things for other families over the years, though only ones with young girls, and the reason he wants it kept quiet is so no one catches on that this is how he integrates himself into the families to abuse the girls.
  • Rosemary thinks it's a bit peculiar that Nicole and Gavin live in a huge, five-bedroom house, they can afford for Nicole to not work and Gavin mostly works from home, and yet they have no children, although she tries not to judge. The fact Rosemary draws attention to it suggests there's more going on than Gavin and Nicole simply not wanting children. Nicole later admits to Gavin, Rosemary and the Under Suspicion crew that she was reluctant to have children because she was terrified of what Reverend Collins would do to them; he'd threatened to have her children and even her grandchildren killed if she ever betrayed his secrets (and considering she was well aware of his predatory fixation on young girls, she would've had that to worry about too if she ever had daughters).
  • When he learns that Dwight intends to participate in Under Suspicion, Hathaway is concerned that the show will delve into the origins of REACH, saying he doesn't like people poking around that subject, only for Dwight to reassure him it has nothing to do with the murder investigation and wouldn't be brought up. Unbeknownst to Dwight at the time, it has everything to do with the murder.
  • Early on, Dwight remarks that after people discovered Susan was an actress and had been in the Hollywood Hills for an audition, everyone got distracted by the Hollywood connection and forgot everything else about Susan, such as the fact she was also a talented programmer. It's eventually revealed that Susan's death barely had anything to do with Hollywood, with her murder being far more closely linked to her academic studies.
  • Dwight does scuba diving as a hobby and repeatedly mentions he intends to go diving soon to clear his head. He ends being murdered on a dive by his dive partner.
• For Want Of A Nail: Susan's agent, Edwin Lange, was originally going to take her to Frank's house, but earlier that same day he learned his mother was seriously ill after having a heart attack; he had to drive all the way to Arizona to see her, leaving Susan to make her way to the audition by herself. Susan's mother can't help but wonder if her daughter would still be alive if Edwin had been able to accompany her.
• Grief-Induced Split: An unusual example involving infidelity. Keith had been in a long-term relationship with Susan, but was also having an on-off affair with Madison for around two years, with Madison hoping it could eventually become something more. After Susan was murdered, a devastated and guilt-ridden Keith permanently broke off his affair with Madison and made it clear he always saw her as lesser than Susan. He was also disgusted with Madison for taking the film role Susan had intended to audition for, especially given the director was a suspect. Twenty years on, Madison still holds out hope of rekindling things with Keith, but comes to realise he isn't interested at all and regards their affair as a mistake.
• Gut Feeling: When Leo Farley learns that Rosemary's neighbour Lydia was found murdered in Rosemary's backyard shortly after she'd agreed to appear on Under Suspicion, he finds it to be too much of a coincidence and starts following the case, eventually catching on that Steve Roman's pick-up truck was seen near Rosemary's house at the time of Lydia's murder and that Steve himself has been following Leo and his family.
• Happily Married:
  • Jack and Rosemary Dempsey had an incredibly happy five-decades-long marriage, marred only by the loss of their only child, Susan. Rosemary has been quite lonely ever since Jack's death three years ago and devotes herself to trying to solve their daughter's murder, feeling that Jack's spirit is encouraging her to participate in Under Suspicion.
  • Frank Parker once had a reputation as a ladies' man who would never settle down, but then he met his wife Talia, a small-time actress, and they've been married for ten years. She's pretty much the only person who can tell Frank what to do. Talia remarks to herself that in Hollywood, plastic surgery tends to last longer than most relationships, and she believes the reason her and Frank's marriage works is because they can compromise and make decisions for the good of both of them, even if they may not initially agree. Talia recalls that Frank blocked her from accepting what could've been her break-out role because of the director's sleazy reputation; she initially accused him of doing it from jealousy...until the movie came out and barely scraped an R rating because of its explicit nudity, which the lead actress later said was unauthorised. Talia herself goes behind Frank's back to tell Laurie about an argument between Nicole and Susan the night Susan died (which Madison overheard and relayed to Frank) and that her husband's lawyer intended to use Nicole as an alternative suspect if Frank were ever formally charged, hoping to take suspicion away from Frank for the Cinderella Murder.
  • Nicole and her husband Gavin have a loving and supportive marriage; Gavin is always kind and appreciative towards Nicole, and even though neither of them are especially attractive, Nicole says that she thinks of Gavin as gorgeous because of her love for him and that he makes her feel beautiful. Gavin insists on accompanying Nicole to L.A. for the filming of Under Suspicion and is deeply concerned for her well-being. After Nicole admits to her shady past with Advocates for God, Gavin stands by her and never once judges her.
• History Repeats: Susan's killer ends up taking Laurie to Laurel Canyon Park and getting into a chase with her, just as it happened twenty years ago with Susan, as Laurie - like Susan - has figured out too much. The killer even asks Laurie if she would like to die the same way Susan did and Laurie also loses a shoe trying to escape, the whole time thinking that Susan must have felt just as terrified and helpless. This time though, the killer is caught before he can kill Laurie.
• Horrible Hollywood: While not as cynical as some examples, Hollywood and those associated with it don't come off as too pleasant in the novel. Actress Madison Meyer is obsessed with fame, to the point it's rumoured she helped cover up her friend's murder or even killed her herself to get her role, and she still has the nerve to act like a diva on Under Suspicion's set even though she hasn't had any significant roles in a decade and is supposed appearing on the show to solve her friend's murder. Actor Keith Ratner was a playboy with a drinking problem when he started out, though he's genuinely managed to clean up his act, albeit by getting involved with a shifty megachurch, and some people still think he murdered his girlfriend. Televangelist Martin Collins is a money-hungry Control Freak who rules his congregation with an iron fist and uses their donations to fund personal luxuries, and that's the least of his misdeeds. Frank Parker is known for being a demanding director who mostly gets involved in Under Suspicion because he doesn't want people to boycott his movies thinking he murdered a 19-year-old college student, although he did prevent his wife from starring in a sleazy movie that left the replacement actress humiliated and has stayed married for ten years (quite a record for Hollywood). And at the centre of it all is the so-called Cinderella Murder, with a young aspiring actress on her way to an audition ending up strangled to death and the crime going unsolved for twenty years, with all kinds of salacious rumours surrounding the case.
• Immoral Journalist: A journalist out for a jog happens to be passing Martin Collins' home when she hears gunshots coming from inside. She initially pulls out her phone to call 911, then changes her mind and calls her editor first to ensure she gets first dibs on covering the incident.
• Internal Reveal:
  • It's revealed to the reader relatively early that Dwight Cook didn't kill Susan and doesn't know why she was killed, given he was in love with her and the lengths he goes to find out who killed her. The production team don't know this, though, treating Dwight as another potential suspect at least until he is killed, too, although Laurie can't help but think he's an unlikely suspect from the start.
  • Nicole's sections and Martin's reveal quite early Nicole has some past secret connection to Advocates for God, which neither of them want anyone to discover. The novel gradually fills in the details until Nicole breaks down and explains everything to the Under Suspicion crew and her husband, unable to bear the guilt any longer.
• It's Personal: Laurie already feels a personal attachment to the case as she empathises with Rosemary Dempsey, knowing what it's like to violently lose a loved one and have no answers for years. However, it becomes even more personal when someone breaks into the house the crew is using for the shoot and beats Jerry so badly he ends up in hospital, with Laurie realising someone is so desperate to stop the show going forward they're willing to target her crew. From this moment, she's determined to solve the case to find out who hurt Jerry.
• Jenny's Number: When Gavin is telling Laurie how he and Nicole first met, including that she gave him a fake name when he asked for her phone number, Laurie is reminded of the many occasions where she scribbled down "Jenny, 867-5309" in response to overeager bar patrons trying to chat her up.
• Killed Offscreen: While waiting for his dive partner to arrive, Dwight leaves a voice message for Laurie asking her to call him back, as he has important information. He's so focused on his phone call, he doesn't hear footsteps on the boat behind him. A little later, the police inform Laurie that they've pulled Dwight's body from the sea and it appears someone tried to make it look like an accident.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: When he kills Dwight, the killer smothers him with a life jacket before dumping him in the water and trying to make it look like a scuba diving accident. However, it doesn't work well, as the police are quick to suspect foul play; they find traces of bleach on the boat where the supposed accident occured and the autopsy doesn't find nitrogen levels in Dwight's blood consistent with diving, leading them to conclude Dwight was already unconscious when he went into the water.
• Murder-Suicide:
  • Upon realising that the police are after him and that Martin has no intention of helping him despite putting him into this position, Steve becomes completely disillusioned with Advocates for God and especially Martin's leadership. He breaks into Martin's home and shoots him, then shoots himself. Martin ends up surviving, though Steve's actions result in Martin's home being searched and the police finding evidence of him embezzling money from the church and sexually abusing children, so he's likely never getting out of prison.
  • Hathaway tells Laurie that after he's killed her, he intends to kill Keith and make it look like suicide to frame him for killing Susan, Dwight and Laurie, saying everyone will believe Keith snapped after the Under Suspicion crew got too close to the truth and helped expose Advocates for God - his strongest source of support - as being led by a scam artist and child abuser; Hathaway believes the fact Keith is already a suspect and is involved in a controversial fringe religion linked with violent crime will make it plausible. Luckily, Hathaway is arrested before he gets that far.
• Never One Murder: Susan Dempsey was murdered twenty years ago and the re-investigation into her death leads to more murders. Steve Roman beats to death Rosemary Dempsey's neighbour after she catches him lurking around her property, then Dwight is murdered after he figures out who killed Susan, Steve tries to kill Martin after he betrays him and Susan's killer attempts to murder Laurie to stop her exposing the truth.
• No Fame, No Wealth, No Service: Madison goes to meet Keith at a bar he frequents, which is a favoured hang-out of celebrities. Keith jokingly asks how Madison got in, considering she doesn't even qualify as a C-list celebrity these days. The comment stings Madison a bit more than Keith intended, as she'd in fact had to slip the bouncer $20 to get past the front door.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Played for Drama. After coming back to their rented house from a day's shoot, Grace, Laurie and Alex are horrified to discover someone broke in and beat the everloving crap out of Jerry. Dwight's secret surveillance footage reveals that when Jerry caught the intruder, he didn't even try to fight him and made a run for it, but the intruder - who is much bigger and more muscular - still went for him. Jerry is unconscious for three days and has to stay in hospital for the rest of the shoot because of his injuries. Luckily, he has made a full recovery two months later.
• No Sympathy: Laurie thinks that while she empathises with Nicole, she cannot fully sympathise with her when Nicole reveals she fled from Los Angeles after learning her boyfriend Martin was a paedophile and being given death threats to keep her quiet. While Laurie understands she was a scared and manipulated eighteen-year-old girl, she thinks that she was still mature enough to make her own decisions, that she was warned repeatedly by her best friend that Martin was no good but insisted on sticking by him, and that she abandoned the young girl she caught Martin abusing and never even tried to do something about it.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Lydia doesn't mind living in Castle Cross, a peaceful and friendly gated community in Oakland where it's regarded as so safe people hardly ever lock their doors, but she does complain to her husband she sometimes finds it boring. She often entertains herself by spying on the neighbours and imagining they're up to all kinds of mischief. Then one day, Lydia sees a strange man lurking around her neighbour Rosemary's house and goes to investigate. Poor Lydia pays for her curiosity with her life and Rosemary is subsequently only too happy to get out of Castle Cross for a while.
• Not Me This Time: Laurie is certain that the person who murdered Lydia Levitt and badly beat Jerry is the same person who killed Susan. However, she later learns that while Steve Roman's actions were motivated by an attempt to stop Under Suspicion from exposing Advocates for God's secrets, neither he or anyone else involved in the church had anything to do with Susan's murder. Reverend Collins is far from innocent either, and Under Suspicion does contribute to the exposure of his various crimes.
• Old Flame: When Madison agrees to be part of Under Suspicion, she hopes to reconnect with Keith, with whom she had the occasional dalliance in college and still has feelings for. However, when she realises that Keith's "do-gooder, Bible-thumping persona" (as she puts it) isn't just an act for publicity, she quickly goes off him; that Keith shows no interest in her and expresses regret over his past affair with her helps, too. Madison instead turns her attention to another former college flame: Professor Hathaway, though that one doesn't work out either (which is just as well given he's a murderer).
• Outliving One's Offspring: Rosemary and Jack Dempsey were both heartbroken to learn their daughter Susan had been murdered the same night as Jack's birthday, and that the police were never able to discover who did it. It's made even worse for them considering that Susan was their only child and they had to wait ten years before she was born, thinking they might never have children. Three years ago Jack died of a stroke; Rosemary always believed it was brought on by his grief for Susan and the stress of not knowing who killed her and why. Although the widowed Laurie can empathise with Rosemary to some extent, she admits she has no idea what it must be like to lose a child and she's determined to help Rosemary get answers.
• Plausible Deniability: A big reason why Hathaway was able to persuade Dwight to take sole credit for the REACH search engine and why he got away with it for so long is because while it was Hathaway's idea, Dwight helped him bring it to fruition and did most of the coding for the engine. Dwight therefore knew a great deal about the technology and it wasn't too much of a stretch to claim he came up with it all on his own.
• Production Throwback: It's mentioned that Keith Ratner played a prosecutor in a courtroom drama called Judgement Calls; Judgement Calls is also the name of Alafair Burke's 2003 debut novel and the first Samantha Kincaid novel.
• Rape Discretion Shot: In written form: when Nicole reveals she caught Martin abusing a young girl, she doesn't go into any detail beyond finding them "in bed". She's clearly so disgusted and horrified by what she saw she doesn't really need to elaborate.
• Red Herring:
  • The fact that Susan's body was found only ten minutes from Frank Parker's home is nothing more than a coincidence, besides that being where Susan was headed when she was killed. Frank had no involvement in her death; he not only had no motive for killing her, it was physically impossible for him to have carried out the murder and been back at his house in time to meet Madison based on the established timeline. The real killer did decide leaving Susan's body there would be a great way to throw off the investigation and place suspicion onto Frank, though.
  • Madison's motives for being so insistent on her and Frank's alibi, and for being so cagey about what she was doing shortly before her audition. Madison wasn't remotely involved in Susan's murder and didn't seriously think Frank was involved either, but when she learned of Susan's death and how close her body was found to Frank's house, she did strongly suggest to Frank that she would happily back up his alibi if he gave her the starring role in his new movie. While this is seriously manipulative and selfish of her, she's not a killer. Madison also lies about what she was doing right before she headed out for the audition because she'd actually been dressed up ready to meet a date, only to be stood up; she was reluctant to reveal this because her intended date was Professor Hathaway.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • Laurie and Alex speculate that Dwight and/or Hathaway could've killed Susan to hide that she really came up with the idea for REACH, though almost everyone they talk to insists that this is unlikely as Susan's project was related to dictation, not search engines. It turns out that Hathaway did kill Susan because she found out something shady about REACH, but it was because she became aware Hathaway actually invented it and persuaded Dwight to take the credit so he could get rich off it.
  • Laurie and Alex also mull over the possibility that Hathaway killed Susan because she knew of his affairs with students - and was potentially involved with him herself - and so was a threat to his career. Hathaway did kill Susan over something that could ruin his career, but it wasn't inappropriate relationships with students (and Susan had eyes for no one but her boyfriend), but rather that she knew he was trying to steal intellectual property from UCLA and potentially commit fraud with it, while also dragging a vulnerable student into his plot.
  • Grace speculates that Keith could've driven Susan to the audition, they got into an argument about his philandering, Susan got out of the car to walk the rest of the way and Keith followed her, with things escalating to violence. Grace's theory is pretty close to the truth of what happened, save for the identity of the killer and the reason for the argument; after her car broke down, it was Professor Hathaway who Susan got a ride from and subsequently argued with, over his illegal, unethical plans for REACH and his manipulation of Dwight.
• Ripped from the Headlines: In a downplayed example, Brett Young initially tries to talk Laurie into covering a twenty-year-old cold case where a child beauty pageant queen was found murdered in her own home in the Midwest; Laurie is extremely reluctant, arguing that the case has been covered extensively already and there's nothing new to say about it, there aren't any viable suspects available for interview seeing as the girl's family were cleared via DNA evidence and the police never found any other likely suspects, nor does she want to exploit a murdered child for the sake of ratings. It's strongly implied the case is inspired by - but not directly based upon - the murder of JonBenet Ramsey due to the similarities.
• Scam Religion: There have long been rumours that Advocates for God has been swindling money out of people under the pretense of helping the poor; while some of the money goes to things like soup kitchens, it's also noted that the founder and leader, Reverend Martin Collins, has become extremely personally wealthy through the church and isn't exactly trying to hide it (his main residence is a mansion in L.A. of which he's the sole occupant), not to mention some find the church's constant focus on donations and requirement that its members hand over a portion of their income questionable. It's made obvious from Martin's sections that AG is indeed a scam; Martin doesn't even believe in its mission but knows it's a great way to get rich and take control over others, while having 'helping the needy' to fall back on if anyone questions it. After Martin is arrested for child sex abuse, the police also find evidence to build an embezzlement case against him.
• Shout-Out:
  • Dwight jokingly says he's lost track of the number of times his mother asked him to create Rosie the robot maid from The Jetsons.
  • While the crew are discussing each of the suspects and comparing the evidence they've gathered both for and against them, Laurie compares it to Clue, saying they just need to find evidence that rules out each theory until they're left with only one possibility.
  • Jerry refers to a somewhat bossy hospital nurse as "Nurse Ratched".
• Show Within a Show: Practically a given seeing as the novel is set partly in Hollywood and some of the main characters are actors and directors.
  • Beauty Land is the name of Frank Parker's first studio-backed film; his previous three films were acclaimed indie productions. The film was set on a college campus and  the lead role called for an attractive college-aged woman. Susan Dempsey was invited to audition for the part, but according to Frank she never arrived; she was later found murdered in a park not far from Frank's Hollywood Hills residence. Madison Meyer auditioned in Susan's place and got the role instead. Madison won a Spirit Award (as she loves to remind people) and the movie was enough of a hit to launch Frank to mainstream success, but it is slightly tainted by its association with Susan's murder, especially as some people have speculated Frank and/or Madison were responsible (Frank even mentions that the studio nearly pulled Beauty Land's funding because of the scandal).
  • Frank Parker's latest movie is called The Dangerous Ones; it's set for a summer release and he hopes it will win big in the awards' season, particularly the Oscars. When Laurie Moran first contacts Frank's assistant about the director appearing on Under Suspicion, Frank initially assumes it's yet more journalists calling him to discuss The Dangerous Ones. Part of the reason Frank agrees to participate in Under Suspicion is because he's worried that if he appears uncooperative in the show's investigation, it will negatively impact The Dangerous Ones's critical and commercial performance.
  • A few of the projects Keith Ratner starred in are mentioned, including a shortlived courtroom drama called Judgement Calls (which attorney Alex Buckley says he was a fan of to put Keith at ease when they first meet; it's also a reference to Alafair Burke's Samantha Kincaid series) and a popular sitcom which ended four years ago; Madison notes that the sitcom was Keith's last regular TV appearance, thinking that, like her, he could also get a career boost from appearing on Under Suspicion, though she really needs it more than he does.
• Sisterhood Eliminates Creep: Played with. When Rosemary convinces Nicole to take part in Under Suspicion in the hopes of finding out who killed Susan - Rosemary's daughter and Nicole's best friend - Rosemary encourages Nicole by saying "We'll show Keith Ratner and Frank Parker what a couple of determined women can do. It has to be one of them, right?" Rosemary is wrong about the identity of the killer, while Nicole has actually been hiding a lot of information about Susan's last movements and an abuser of young girls to protect herself. However, Rosemary's participation in the show does help uncover the true culprit, while Nicole's guilt eventually prompts her to come clean, which does help to catch both the abuser and Susan's killer. Rosemary says she'll forgive Nicole because of this. Susan's other friend Madison also agrees to participate, though she's looking out for herself more than anything and Rosemary finds her suspicious. Madison ends up being surprisingly helpful in solving the murder, albeit she doesn't realise how important most of her information is.
• Terrible Pick-Up Lines: Gavin tells Laurie that when he first met Nicole at a bar, he used the pick-up line "Do you have a band-aid? Because I grazed my knee falling for you." Laurie groans that this really is a terrible line, although Gavin says he meant it to be silly and cheesy, hoping to win over Nicole with humour. It actually worked, given Nicole willingly gave Gavin her phone number and they got married six months later.
• They Know Too Much: It's finally revealed that Richard Hathaway murdered Susan because she knew of his less-than-scrupulous business plans regarding REACH and it would ruin his career if she told anyone, which she almost certainly would because of her principles. Hathaway later murders Dwight when he figures out that Hathaway killed Susan and confronts him over it, then attempts to kill Laurie for the same reason.
• Time Skip: The first three chapters take place on May 7th and May 8th 1994, introducing the reader to the Dempsey family and leading up to Susan's murder from the perspective of her mother. It then skips ahead twenty years to the main part of the story in 2014. The epilogue is set two months after the story's climax.
• Trashy True Crime: Given the book revolves around a murder that occurred in Hollywood, it's almost a given that part of the focus is on sensationalistic and insensitive media coverage of crime.
  • When Laurie first approaches Rosemary about featuring Susan's case on Under Suspicion, Rosemary tells Laurie that she's been "burned" before by people who claim they want to help solve her daughter's murder, but just ended up sensationalising it and making up all kinds of wild theories without a shred of evidence, including suggesting Susan was sleeping around with numerous men. Laurie finds a true crime blog covering the murder that Rosemary had agreed to be interviewed for, which is poorly researched, focuses on the most lurid details and also strongly implies Susan had a sexual liaison with Frank Parker to get the role she was auditioning for, which "went wrong" and resulted in her death, while providing absolutely no proof anything of the sort happened.
  • Brett Young initially tries to persuade Laurie to investigate the case of a murdered child beauty pageant queen, saying that "Every time we have an excuse to show those adorable pageant videos, our ratings skyrocket". Laurie finds the idea distasteful, especially as the victim is a child, and points out that not only has the case already been picked over by journalists numerous times, there aren't even any plausible suspects for them to investigate, which defeats the purpose of featuring the case on a show called Under Suspicion; Brett says they can just find the witnesses and have Alex Buckley grill them about the girl's murder on-camera, which sounds a lot like harassment. Brett is reluctant to greenlight the Cinderella Murder case because he says that without the Hollywood connection, it's "just another cold case" and that if Laurie can't get acclaimed director Frank Parker to sign on, she should take the beauty pageant case instead.
  • Laurie is able to reassure Rosemary that the aim of her show is to remind viewers Susan was a real person who lost her life, and to try to uncover what actually happened to her so her loved ones can have justice and closure. Laurie specifically demands that they focus more on things like establishing the timeline of Susan's last movements and the alibis of the suspects, rather than going into the graphic details of how she was killed. They also end the finished episode with Alex reminding viewers that while the victim became known as Cinderella, her real name is Susan and that's who they hope the viewers will remember her as.
• Troubled Production: In-universe, the filming of Under Suspicion goes a lot less smoothly for Laurie Moran and her crew this time around compared to the Graduation Gala case. Keith Ratner, one of the key suspects, walks out of a preliminary interview and initially refuses to participate before being talked back into it by his church leader. The crew and guests get stalked by a member of Keith's church, who also breaks into the house they're using for the shoot to steal research related to the church and seriously assaults the assistant producer, who is hospitalised for the rest of filming. Then one of the guests dies in suspicious circumstances after revealing he has important information and is also discovered to have been spying on the crew and other guests. The show is also linked to an attempted murder-suicide again involving Keith's church. To top it all off, the producer is carjacked and nearly murdered. Luckily, the episode is still a huge hit in spite of these issues.
• Urban Legend Love Life: Grace finds a gossip website called "Who's Dated Who?" (which Jerry grumbles should actually be called "Who's Dated Whom?"), which purports to collect information on which celebrities have been romantically involved with each other. Alex Buckley has a section, linking him to numerous actresses, models, anchorwomen and so on. Laurie feels a bit uncomfortable about it, while when Alex himself reads it, he remarks that's he's never even heard of most these women he's supposedly dated.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The epilogue reveals what happened to the characters two months after the main story's events: the second episode of Under Suspicion was another big hit, Jerry Klein has fully recovered from his injuries, Richard Hathaway and Martin Collins will both be in prison for a long time, Keith Ratner has become disillusioned with Advocates for God, is exposing them on talk shows and plans to write a tell-all memoir (with there already being a bidding war), Frank Parker plans to cast Madison Meyer in a supporting role in his next movie (which she hopes will be her comeback role), Rosemary Dempsey is happy to finally have her daughter's murder solved and says she will forgive Nicole for keeping quiet about so much all these years, Nicole Melling is finally finding some inner peace after exposing the truth about Advocates for God, and Alex Buckley tells Laurie Moran he's willing to wait until she's ready to have a relationship with him.

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