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If you have not read a Cece Caruso mystery by author Susan Kandel, you are in for a real treat.

Her latest madcap adventure, "Dial H for Hitchcock" (Harper Books, 306 pages), is a wickedly funny tribute to the master of suspense, the great film director Alfred Hitchcock.

Cece Caruso has called off her wedding, but not the honeymoon cruise which she gladly takes solo.

Upon returning from her honeymoon, she stops to watch the film "Vertigo" for the umpteenth time as part of her research for a book on Hitchcock. During the movie, she is slipped a cell phone belonging to Anita Colby. While attempting to return the cell phone, she appears to witness Anita Colby being pushed to her death.

Cece believes she is trapped in an intricate plot involving murder and identity theft. While on the lam from both the police and the killer, she stops at a cheap motel with a very odd attendant at the front desk (does the movie "Psycho" ring a bell?)

Her stay culminates in a terrifying shower scene straight from the masterpiece; only in this light-hearted version she is repeatedly stabbed by frigid shower water which causes her to scream bloody murder.

The book pays homage to the great Hitchcock and his wonderfully macabre sense of humor.

Ms. Kandel blends Hollywood lore (she explains the origins of Hitchcock's famous feud with Producer David O. Selznick) with plenty of raucous fun.

As the author writes of her kooky Cece: "They write books about women like me, who cancel weddings and then go on the honeymoons by themselves."

Thank heavens, Ms. Kandel has written about Cece, who just might be the greatest Caruso since the tenor, Enrico.

(Just a side note from this reviewer, few people may realize that the great Hitchcock was educated by priests of the Society of Jesus.

I believe one might spot an occasional hint of Jesuit humor in his works; especially, his early film "Rich and Strange."

The film is about a young, British couple who seek their fortune abroad but find themselves facing one calamity after another. When their ship sinks in the South China Sea, they are rescued by a Chinese junk.

On board the tiny boat, a woman gives birth. The baby is promptly taken by a man dressed in a long robe and doused with copious amounts of cold water.

The sophisticated couple is shocked by what they believe to be torture but is really a baptism.)