| Plot Summary of She Walks in Beauty |
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"Samantha Adams, a cynical, crime journalist for the Atlanta Constitution, travels on assignment to Atlantic City, New Jersey to cover the Miss America Pageant. She brings her boyfriend Harry and her dog Harpo along for the weekend, a weekend that she assumes will be filled with vacuous females, spangles and glitter. But, when one of the judges fails to show up for the first evening's show, Sam sees his disappearance as a chance to use her investigative skills. Harry and his friend Lavert bet against Sam that the judge's disappearance was not through sinister means.
While Sam talks to the manager of the Pageant, hotel telephone operators, the head of housekeeping at the hotel, and various friends and relatives of the missing judge, she discovers that Miss America is not the air-headed beauty contest that she expected. She finds humor and substance behind the gorgeous facades of Miss Louisiana and Miss Texas, ambition in the eyes of Miss Georgia, and power in the guise of Miss New Jersey.
Things come to a header when the nephew of the hotel magnate is also proclaimed missing. Sam, Harry, and Lavert share their findings with the local police department. Subplots include Mafia relationships, filmmaking, the quest to better one's situation, love/romance, and gambling."
Samantha S., Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of She Walks in Beauty |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
Murder of certain profession?
- conventioneers
Kind of investigator
- amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- journalist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- insanity
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- Dirty, dangerous (like New York)
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 2
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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