Bobby Newman, a reasonably successful Hollywood screenwriter, owes a script to a director/producer and is blocked. He happens to witness a murder in a house below his: 40-year-old but still gorgeous former actress Linda Paulson, married to the older, fat, and extremely wealthy owner of a string of TV stations, has just had sex with her lover, Hispanic actor and acting teacher Ramon, gets in a fight with him, and clubs him. Ramon dies, but he has been videotaping their sex unbeknownst to Linda, so Bobby retrieves the video and decides to write a screenplay about the situation.
Detective Dennis Farentino catches the case, and Bobby interviews him for plot ideas and color. Farentino quickly determines that Bobby knows more about the murder than he's letting on. Bobby and Dennis discuss working on a TV cop series together. Bobby gets involved with Linda, and Bobby's estranged wife Vee starts seeing the detective. Angry at Vee, Bobby plants Ramon's video of his night with HER and some coke in her car, then sets it afire and calls 911. Although Dennis arranges a self-defense plea deal for Linda, things heat up again when a bootleg copy of her encounter with Ramon, including the murder, gets out to the tabloids. | ||
Plot & Themes Tone of story - Dry-cynical Time/era of story: Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 20 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20 % Crime Thriller Yes Crime plotlets: General Crime (including known murderer) Yes Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Ethnicity/Race Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 20's-30's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - money/treasure How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Setting United States Yes The US: - California City? Yes City: - Los Angeles Misc setting - fancy mansion Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex - descript. of breasts - descript. of other female areas Unusual forms of death - blunt clubbing (like seals) Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |