Dolly Hollerday is a famous singer who had one point was a guest on a radio show although soon became a witness to the Dwight Dread's murder. She was one of the five suspects of his murder.
Plot[]
Hollerday was a regular singer who soon gained Melody Smith as her manager. Despite enjoying success due to her efforts, Hollerday constantly argued with Smith about what she should do. She has been told she has an appalling singing voice,but her body lets her stay famous
To promote her latest album, Smith had Dread, an old acquaintance, and Mike de Bonair, the director of the show, have Hollerday be a guest on Dread's show. Before the show went on air, Hollerday arrived at the studio with Smith and Dread. As Hollerday and Dread chatted, Dread received an odd fax request from "Angel O'Death". Dread joked he would die soon and just in case he would, he decided to eat one of the macaroons Smith brought in for them.
To Hollerday's surprise, Dread started choking and collapsed on the floor. de Bonair quickly had Randal Mann the sound man to have Hollerday's guest appearance switch to an ad about a sale on Farrods, and requested Hollerday and Smith to go to the waiting room while Mann went to call for help.
After the police arrived and the investigation started, Hollerday was forced by Hague the detective sergeant to go to the Mystery Room or else he would perform a cavity search on her. Hollerday reluctantly agreed and when she asked Inspector Alfendi Layton if she was going to be arrested, Alfendi explained they were going to ask her a few questions to bring the case to a speedy resolution.
Hollerday's profile card.
However, the investigation team already thought she was the culprit as seen by a message sent by Hague. Upon hearing of his message, Hollerday accused Alfendi of being a liar but reassured her that since she was being suspected of killing Dread, she could help with the investigation to clear her name.
During the investigation, the crime scene created several inconsistencies with Hollerday's statements. She had claimed he never touched his tea, despite the tea containing the poison, and he had only eaten a macaroon, which did not contain a single trace of poison. When Alfendi pointed out she would be their number one suspect due to her bringing the macaroons as a gift but Hollerday insisted that her manager killed Dread since Smith bought the macaroons for her. Despite her accusations, the poison must have been added after the gift was unwrapped and in full view of Dread, making it impossible. When Hollerday saw the wig near Dread, she stated his wig never fell off when he collapsed on the floor. Afterwards, the fax request, "I'll be the Death of You", was investigated and Hollerday confirmed it came from the fax machine during the show.
When they were no other leads to follow, Hollerday advised them to arrest Smith but her statements contradicted the crime scene. The investigators started to believe she was telling the truth so her statements created odd discrepancies. When they were questioning her, Alfendi received a phone call from Hague.
While he was busy with the phone call, Hollerday questioned Lucy's relationship with the inspector and remarked that while his looks weren't bad, his white coat was and he seemed a bit crazy. Lucy denied the allegation that she fancied the inspector but Hollerday, who was otherwise convinced, promised not to tell anyone about her "secret" and commented that she would date an older man as he would be more mature.
When Alfendi came back, he revealed new information of the case. The fax request was sent from the storeroom, where the body of the tea lady was found, and according to the evidence found at the scene, the tea lady was now considered Dread's killer since she had wrote the fax request and a broken bottle of poison was found near her. Lucy asked him why she would kill herself after she killed Dread but Hollerday suggested she committed suicide. As it turned out, the tea lady was a big fan of Dread and Alfendi assumed that they must have had an argument that would cause her to kill him. As the case was closed, Alfendi allowed Hollerday to go home.
Upon further inspection, the killer turned out not to be the tea lady, whose name was Anice Brewer, but de Bonair. When the inspector wanted to question de Bonair, Lucy had to ask Hollerday to have de Bonair come to the office. The fax request and the scene of Dread dying Hollerday saw was really part of a prank devised by Dread, Brewer and de Bonair but as the plan had Dread killed from the beginning, de Bonair killed both Dread and Brewer.
After the case ended, Lucy told Alfendi and Hague, who remarked that he was wrong about his suspects now and then, that Hollerday would soon release a new single. Even though the track was not released yet, it had caused much talk as Hollerday decided to call it, "I'll be the Death of You". Because of the infamous request, Hollerday gained much publicity. Alfendi admitted she was clever with the title but soon found out that Lucy was worried she planned to release another single called "Macho Man (in a White Gown)". Alfendi agreed that the title was strange but was oblivious about the title being a reference to Hollerday's opinion on his white coat.
Later on, while Lucy was cleaning the office, Alfendi watched Hollerday sing on TV.
Spoilers end here
Trivia[]
- Even though the "Case Files" stated Hollerday to be a terrible singer, Alfendi wonders if the person who wrote her profile hates her singing skills.
- Her first name "Dolly" is used as slang for an attractive young female.
- Her surname "Hollerday" contains the verb "holler" which means to give a loud shout or cry.
- Her full name could be a play on "Billie Holiday" an American jazz and swing music singer.