Let's All Kill Constance (2003)

Let's All Kill Constance is a 2003 mystery novel by Ray Bradbury. It is a sequel to Death is a Lonely Business and A Graveyard for Lunatics and set a few years later, in 1960. Narrated by the unnamed Los Angeles writer, the protagonist of Death is a Lonely Business and A Graveyard for Lunatics (most likely a fictionalized version of Bradbury himself), 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.

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?

The novel references Ray Bradbury's better-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.

In Let's All Kill Constance, Constance Rattigan comes into the writer's home bearing two books: a 1900 telephone directory and her own personal address book. There are several names marked in both books. Some are crossed out entirely: these are names of those no longer of this earth. Others are circled with a cross beside them. Constance believes that these are going to be the next to die and she is frightened since her own name is one of those circled. Constance leaves the books with the writer, and then disappears.

The mystery itself is not as interesting as the characters and their relationships with each other. Although it feels at times (as with the female impersonator) that Bradbury is simply creating a character to fill his plot needs, he still makes each them real enough to justify the time spent with them.

The bulk of the novel concerns the search for Constance. Teaming up again with detective Elmo Crumley, the writer meets several people involved with Constance's past (many of whom she has just left when the writer and Crumley arrive) and puts together the pieces into a disturbing yet satisfying solution illustrative of the difficulties inherent in being a Hollywood actress. With the help of Crumley, Fritz Wong and Henry the narrator investigates the life of Constance who had different names, faces and roles and lived a few lives instead of one.

When her old teacher wanted to joke and sent Constance a 1900 telephone directory and her own personal address book, she was frightened so much that began visiting her old acquaintances and relatives. The meetings stressed the people (her first husband, father, brother, etc.) so much that they died. Being afraid of herself and wanting to eliminate all her past Constance hides in her family tomb where the narrator finds her and persuades to live.

But through all this Bradbury's youthful exuberance shines. Even at 82, his enthusiasm for life comes through as unadulterated innocence. He seems not to be jaded at all by the modern world, and so these books are not as “noir” as they would have been in other hands. And yet, it's refreshing to have, as a hero in this genre, a person whom the world has not made a pessimist.

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