Platinum Blues [Paperback]

William Deverell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

This legal thriller exposes the seedy underside of the music business through the tale of Oliver Gulliver, a small-town lawyer in northern California who never tested his legal prowess in a major trial. His daughter returns home from San Francisco with her new addict rock star boyfriend, C. C. Gilley, who Oliver finds repulsive. But a quirky friendship develops between the men when Gilley accepts Oliver's dare to go cold turkey and begins writing songs for his comeback album. After the tune of one of Gilley's love songs airs on the radio, performed by a new band, Oliver sues a billion-dollar record company in Los Angeles for plagiarism. His success in capturing the admiration of the court wins him a restraining order against the band and confidence in his abilities as a lawyer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Canadian author Deverell's fourth U.S. suspense novel is a fast-paced, wickedly funny send-up of a rock music industry incestuously bedded down with corporate America. Oliver Gulliver, lawyer, widower and mayor of tiny Foolsgold, Calif., is suffering from midlife crisis, lustful fantasies and empty-nest syndrome. After his 18-year-old daughter, Elora, a college dropout, falls rapturously in love with alcoholic rock star C. C. Gilley, Gulliver finds himself defending the wild-man guitarist in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit involving a plagiarized song. When small-town hotshot Gulliver takes on the moguls of L.A.'s recording industry, the stakes escalate, and arson, murder and a sting gone haywire keep up the beat. Reeling off witty turns of phrase and uncanny plot twists, Deverell offers wonderfully sardonic takes on the worlds of music, law, Hollywood, Southern California and fatherhood--just for starters.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Plagiarism in the rock music industry is the subject of attorney-and-screenwriter Deverell's fourth comic suspense novel. The book is already a best seller in mass-market paperback in the author's native Canada, and it resembles Elmore Leonard's Bandits in complexity of plot and slickness of dialog. Oliver Gulliver is a small town lawyer in northern California with a minor midlife crisis and a major family problem--Gilley, his future son-in-law, is a scruffy, alcoholic rock star whose career is on the skids. Our hero initiates Gilley's lawsuit against a major record company when his love ballad for Gilley's teenage daughter is stolen and subsequently hits the top 40 with suggestive new lyrics. Gulliver duels and deals with Tinseltown's music executives in a highly publicized legal wrangle that ends in murder. The book is rich in background detail on the industry. Recommended for larger collections of mystery/popular fiction.
- Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550225944
• ISBN-13: 978-1550225945
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,615,604 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anxious lawyer has his chance for glory... Great book!, October 12, 2003

By 

C. I. Black (Rayleigh, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Platinum Blues (Paperback)

Oliver Gulliver is a small-town lawyer beset with problems and worries. He's just turned fifty, old enough to know that he's never going to be a hot-shot lawyer , but now he's even losing his bread-and-butter work to a dubious competitor.

Family life is also fraught with anxieties. Oliver is a widower, having lost his wife eight years earlier to cancer. He's has sex once since then , and might never have it again. Just being a lone parent to two teenage girls is wearing him out.

Things seem to get even worse when his eldest daughter Elora finds a new boyfriend - C.C. Gilley , a wreck of a rock star, almost destroyed by booze and drugs. Oliver is horrified, but gradually accepts that they are a genuine loving couple, especially when Gilley writes a new ballad "Small-Town Girl", in honour of Elora.

When another band suddenly has a big hit with "Goin' Down for the Last Time", a track with very similar music and sleazy lyrics, Gilley is outraged and wants to sue for plagiarism. Oliver finally has his big lawsuit, his one chance for legal glory, his opportunity to sort out his life.

The plot flows smoothly , it has the right legal and rock-music details and there are twists all the way. The sex scene, when it comes, is funny and touching.

Buy this book, settle down with Springsteen, Tom Petty or Bachmann Turner Overdrive in the background, and enjoy!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Blues reading this, just a Platinum read, March 7, 2006

By 

R. Lowther - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Platinum Blues (Mass Market Paperback)

When I first spotted this book in a book shop's bargain bin, I didn't have any high hopes or inclination that I was about to read a classic legal thriller.

The story twists and turns like a roller coaster and then when you think your equilibrium is nearing a state of normal, another twist throws it up in the air again.

Small town lawyer Oliver Gulliver is down on his luck and feeling sorry for himself, until his daughter returns home. His joy is short lived as he discovers she is now dating a fading rock star with an drug addiction, CC Gilley.

A strange friendship between the two men blossoms; Gilley is persuaded to go cold turkey and returns to writing songs for a comeback album.

Gulliver is quickly drawn into the tale, when he called upon to test his advocacy skills after one of Gilley's songs is plagiarised by another band.

His success starts him on a road to recovery, or so he thinks...

A stunning read and which prompted me to devour the rest of the William Deverell canon like a starving man. In fact, it was the first book I have ever read, where I sent the author an e-mail to praise him on his work.