Babylon Nights: A David Spandau Novel (David Spandau Novels) [Hardcover]

Daniel Depp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2010 | Series: David Spandau Novels

Fifteen years ago, Anna Mayhew won an Oscar for Best Actress. Rich, famous, and beautiful, she had the world at her feet. Nearly forty years old, Anna is being offered these days only bland supporting roles, the kind she got her acting started with. So she spends much of her time thinking up clever and dangerous methods of self-destruction.

But she may not have to kill herself after all. Anna discovers she has a stalker—Vincent, a crazed fan whose idea of love involves a straight razor and lots of blood. What better way to propel the name Anna Mayhew into film immortality? Enter David Spandau, ex-stuntman and private investigator, who has been hired by Anna’s sister Pam to protect the star. But Anna doesn’t want help—until she meets Spandau and decides she needs his intimate protection all the way to the Cannes Film Festival, where she’s slated to be a judge.

Spandau finds himself falling for Anna, as well. But there’s the not so small problem of trying to keep a woman alive who’d prefer to be dead. To complicate matters, Vincent has followed Anna to Cannes intent on a bloody consummation of their relationship and he is being tracked by Special, an opera-loving L.A. pimp trying to recover the mob-owned money Vincent stole from him.

So a deadly cat-and-mouse game that begins in the meat market of Hollywood culminates at the Roman orgy that is Cannes. Author Depp proves again to have the deadliest and most perceptive eye trained on the entertainment business today. With an enthralling, hair-raising final act, Babylon Nights is a twisted and sharply funny thrill ride that will delight Spandau fans and newcomers alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Depp skewers the film industry with relish in his brilliantly comic follow-up to Loser's Town (2009). PI David Spandau, who specializes in serving Hollywood's elite, takes on the unenviable task of guarding aging actress Anna Mayhew, "Oscar winner and onetime tabloid fodder," whose career is in decline, but she's still glamorous enough to have attracted a stalker, weirdo Vincent Perec. Spandau, a rugged ex-rodeo rider and former Hollywood stunt man, reluctantly agrees to accompany the sexy, foul-mouthed Mayhew to Cannes, where she's to serve as a judge at the famous film festival. Sharply drawn supporting characters, including Special, an opera loving pimp, and a slew of movie stars, agents, and directors, enliven the lavish, ludicrous events at Cannes. Fans of Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty should enjoy Depp's clever complications and witty capers at least as much.
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From Booklist

Private investigator David Spandau (Loser’s Town, 2009) is back with another rollicking romp through Hollywood. When former A-list actress Anna Mayhew, past her prime and contemplating suicide, finds herself plagued by a stalker named Vincent, she reluctantly hires Spandau to protect her. Anna considers just letting Vincent kill her because she can’t get a decent role, but her sister insists that she protect herself. Vincent follows Anna and Spandau to the Cannes Film Festival, where Anna is on a jury judging, among others, a film by ex-lover Andrei Levin. Depp, a screenwriter, has the Hollywood milieu down pat. This novel is full of self-important Beverly Hills matrons, whiney stars, sadistic agents, mobsters who want to break into “the industry,” and jaded characters like Spandau. The fact that he finds himself falling for Anna while trying to deal with his ex-wife just adds to the complicated, fast-paced plot. This is great fun for readers who like a touch of satire mixed with a crime story. --Barbara Bibel

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (August 3, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439101469
• ISBN-13: 978-1439101469
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,489,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Depp tells a solid detective story in Babylon Nights, August 3, 2010

By 

Novel Chatter (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babylon Nights: A David Spandau Novel (David Spandau Novels) (Hardcover)

Anna Mayhew, an almost "has been" in Hollywood, is planning her suicide. Vincent Perec, a razor wielding fan, is planning her murder. Then along comes private investigator David Spandau to put a hitch in both their plans.

Babylon Nights is Daniel Depp's follow up to 2009's Loser's Town, which introduced readers to the cut-throat, seedy underbelly of the film industry through the eyes of former rodeo rider turned movie stuntman turned private investigator, David Spandau. With Babylon Nights, Depp has written a tight and well told story using his background in the film industry to craft a true noir crime novel.

The story opens with a twisted Perec standing over nude photos of the former Hollywood hottie, Anna Mayhew. After spending months on the internet tracking down the rare old photos, he traded two thousand dollars to a guy in San Diego to get them. Now the photos are his, and he's slashing himself with his father's razor, sending blood droplets onto Anna's photographs. All the time, he knows his controlling Maman would take them from him if she knew they existed.

The action then cuts to the top parking tier of the trendy Beverly Center as Mayhew, trades seven thousand dollars to student and neurotoxin peddler Kenny Kingston for enough poison to end her sagging career and her life. But while leaving a charity luncheon, someone gets too close to Mayhew and she realizes that her scarf has been slashed. Add in a stack of over-the-top, obsessed fan letters and it's no surprise that Spandau gets called in to meet with her.

We are quickly immersed in Mayhew's world as she heads off to the glittering Cannes Film Festival to serve as a panel judge, with Spandau along for ride. As the story unfolds, loose ends involving a few of Spandau's former associates and clients are neatly tied up. In a quirky but ingenious "wrong place at the wrong time" situation, Perec encounters a hooker named Chantarelle, a pimp named Special, and a bag full of the mob's loot. Of course, in the end, all roads lead to Cannes, with Anna being the hunter's prey.

Depp's stand-out talent is his ever-so-snappy dialogue. This is the stuff that makes old detective stories so darn much fun, and clearly Depp knows it and runs with it. With Babylon Nights, the story flows easily with well defined characters and more than enough intrigue to make you turn the page, or hit the "next page" bar on your e-reader. This time, Depp has done away with the non-essentials and sticks to a solid storyline while still including an interesting and somewhat satirical secondary plot with intriguing characters. Depp has wisely used his insider knowledge to enhance the story and has kept his tongue firmly planted in his cheek as the threads weave together for an I- never-saw-it coming ending.

This is a David Spandau book I'd buy and I would happily line up to see a movie version. I hope there's a next installment so we can find out what happens after "the end."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars David Spandau, PI, returns, September 12, 2010

By 

Brian Baker (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Babylon Nights: A David Spandau Novel (David Spandau Novels) (Hardcover)

After a stellar debut in "Loser's Town", Daniel Depp's Hollywood gumshoe David Spandau returns in yet another look at the seamy underbelly of Tinseltown.

This time he's trying to protect a former Hollywood glam-star from the possibly fatal attentions of a psycho intent on realizing his perverted fantasies which center upon her.

From the Hollywood Hills to the Cannes Film Festival, Depp again takes us on a roller-coaster ride seen through the eyes of a true insider as filtered through the humorously cynical lens of personal experience.

Throw in an opera-loving pimp and a French ex-cop-turned-security-expert, and you have a cast of quirky characters guaranteed to keep you glued to the pages.

This book rocks along to an action-packed climax, and definitely delivers on the promise shown by Depp in his first Spandau outing. I eagerly await the next.

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, March 15, 2011

By 

Vampiras C Ayala - See all my reviews

This review is from: Babylon Nights: A David Spandau Novel (Hardcover)

I think Daniel is an author to watch. His second book has once again surprised me. He pulls you into Davids world and grips you so much that you keep turning those pages. I think David Spandau is every womans dream man. He is all man but can be gentle with the ladies. He seems like a character who loves hard but guarded. I also love the way Daniel gets you inside the mind of a star stalker as well. He will scare you but you will also pity the guy some not much but some. I see that Daniel has a great creative mind and really I think this storyline out did his first book if that is possible since I loved that one too. I would highly suggest ordering this book. If you love romance with some thrills and some adventure and some chills then order this one today. Well Mr. Depp you have done it again! I cant wait for Daniels next book I want to know what Davids next adventure will be.