cover image A Perfect Death for Hollywood

A Perfect Death for Hollywood

Richard Nehrbass. HarperCollins Publishers, $18.95 (245pp) ISBN 978-0-06-016636-6

Its protagonist an anemic addition to the ranks of hard-boiled detectives with a heart of gold, this novel is only occasionally interesting. Rosa Luzon, a 15-year-old hooker from Mexico, was repeatedly raped, shot and finally crucified before her body was washed and left under the H of the famous Hollywood sign. High-priced call girl Allison Hutton, who set Rosa up with an escort service, feels responsible for her death and calls upon PI Victor Eton. Vic isn't intrigued by the case until middle-aged record executive Richard Wheeler, a porn aficionado with tenuous ties to organized crime, is found in the same spot with bullet wounds and stigmata. After Vic's teenage daughter is kidnapped and his prized Morgan sports car blown up, he knows that he is dangerously close to discovering the murderer's identity. Missing from Nehrbass's unconvincing account is a protagonist bullheaded enough not to be awed by Hollywood legends and power-mongers, and brash enough to solve a case more commandingly. (July)