Dread journey
(Book)

A movie star fears for her life on a train journey from Los Angeles to Chicago.

Hollywood big-shot Vivien Spender has waited ages to produce the work that will be his masterpiece: a film adaptation of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. He's spent years grooming young starlets for the lead role, only to discard each one when a newer, fresher face enters his view. Kitten Agnew, the most recent to encounter this impending doom, won't be gotten rid of so easily. Accompanied by Mr. Spender on a train journey from Los Angeles to Chicago, she begins to fear that the producer might be considering a deadly alternative. -- adapted from jacket