Amazon.com Review
Penzler Pick, March 2001: Hollywood mysteries are a popular subgenre. While some writers (Stuart M. Kaminsky, George Baxt, and Loren D. Estleman, for example) have made it their practice to depict a bygone Tinseltown, back when legends were deserving of the name, Jay Russell prefers the present time, in all its pecking-order-mad, insincerity-reeking and trend-crazed lunacy.
Welcome to the world of Marty Burns (hero of Celestial Dogs and Burning Bright), a former sitcom star turned private eye, now acting again in a souped-up version of his own life, the spoofy shamus series Burning Bright. While on episode hiatus, Marty's agreed to do a favor for Hall Emerson, one of his poker-game buddies, which involves looking for a print in the studio archives of a forgotten 1950 noir program, The Devil on Sunday. The late Frank Emerson, father of Hall, was the screenwriter for the flick. Now that there's talk of a remake, Hall's being tapped as a possibility for the screenplay job, with the paternal legacy angle looking like a publicity plus. The only trouble is, there seems to be a scene missing from the final cut of the original--a scene that Emerson pére didn't write--and Hall's hoping Marty will help him find a copy so he can see exactly what was in it.
The request seems simple enough, but this is a Jay Russell mystery, after all, and asking Marty for a favor in any of them usually involves his chasing some Hollywood version of the White Rabbit into a very dangerous Wonderland. But if Alice had her wide-eyed innocence for armor, the show biz veteran Marty's wisecracks are often all that stand between him and oblivion. The fun of Greed & Stuff, as with the two earlier books, is not just the story. It's perfect for anyone who welcomes an excuse to rummage around in the dusty storerooms of forgotten noir movie-making, while simultaneously satirizing its current hot status for Hollywood hipsters.
Jay Russell is a brave man. He spares no one, or rather, he spears everyone, from Calista Flockhart to Chris Carter, from Joel Schumacher to Joel Silver. Greed & Stuff is sharp, comic, and out there--a book for mystery readers not satisfied with tamer stuff. --Otto Penzler
From Publishers Weekly
Following Celestial Dogs (1997) and Burning Bright (1998), actor Marty Burns is back for another entertaining plunge into Hollywood noir. Marty has seen both sides of life in Lalaland--as a sitcom star in his teens and later as a private detective with a firsthand familiarity with the underbelly of Tinseltown. Finally back on top as star of a TV series, he's enjoying his beach house in Malibu, his weekly poker game and the good life, until poker buddy Hall Emerson asks a favor. Hall needs some missing footage from The Devil on Sunday, a classic noir film his father helped write. His mother, a featured player, was murdered during production and the killer never found. Hall's request propels Marty into that world where people reinvent themselves almost daily. Meanwhile Marty is waiting for word from his agent about his series renewal and a role in the remake of The Devil on Sunday. When Hall is found dead, an apparent suicide, Marty feels he owes him. First stop is the powerful blacklist hero and studio head, MacArthur Stans, who may hold the key to Hall's past. Russell casts this very showbizzy tale with an oddball selection of chasers-of-the-dream, including bikers, seedy dealers in memorabilia, gofers and a bartender or two, most of whom are not destined for the A list. Looking beneath the Big Orange, he has produced a thoughtful riff on truth, responsibility and the price to be paid for a few feet of celluloid.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
