Let's All Kill Constance is a 2003 mystery novel by Ray Bradbury. Narrated by an unnamed Los Angeles writer (most likely a fictionalized version of Bradbury himself), and set in 1960, it chronicles an unexpected visit from aging Hollywood actress Constance Rattigan who gives him two death lists of once-famous people — with Constance's name on one of them, and the gradual unraveling of the mystery by the narrator with the help of private investigator Elmo Crumley.
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Author | Ray Bradbury |
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Language | English |
Genre | Detective novel/Mystery novel |
Publisher | Avon Books; Reprint edition (December 30, 2003) |
Publication date | 2003 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
Pages | 256 pp (Mass Market Paperback) |
ISBN | ISBN 0-06-056178-5 {{isbn}} : Check isbn value: invalid character (help) |
Preceded by | A Graveyard for Lunatics |
The narrator visits the listed people in order, all of whom die under mysterious circumstances shortly thereafter. Suspiciously, each of them claims to have met Constance, who always flees one step ahead of the narrator. Is Constance the true murderer, or is someone seeking to sever all ties to her associates before finally killing her?
Let's All Kill Constance is a sequel to Bradbury's Death Is a Lonely Business (1985) and A Graveyard for Lunatics (1990).
The novel references Ray Bradbury's more well-known work, Fahrenheit 451, in chapter 16. In it, the protagonist muses on the possibility of people using books to start fires in the future. He also considers writing a book about "a hero who smells of kerosene," an obvious reference to Guy Montag.