| On a dark and stormy night, an unnamed writer of fantasy and science fiction is visited by a terrified actress friend. She gives him two books - a 1920s telephone book and a personal address book. Most of the people she knows from the 1920s are dead, and many of the names in the address book are circled in red. Her name is among them.
The implication is that those whose names are circled are marked for death. The writer goes off on a madcap chase that takes him to an ancient collector of tons of old newspapers, a fortune-teller, an ancient priest and the projectionist in Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. After the author and his sidekicks interview these witnesses, the witnesses mysteriously die. In Grauman's, photographs and names of obscure actresses appear and disappear, and finally the author and his sidekicks discover an underground tunnel in a sub-sub basement of the theater, and a wild car chase takes place under the streets of Los Angeles. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - Dry-cynical How difficult to spot villain? - Moderately Challenging What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70% Murder of certain profession? Misc. Murder Plotlets - "All in the family" murder - killer purposefully leaves puzzle clues Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 30 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Ethnicity/Race Unusual characteristics: Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - long-lived adults Profession/status: 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 Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment Unusual forms of death - crushed Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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