Saturday Night Dead

Besides writing Psychobabble and other notable nonfiction, Rosen created Harvey Blissberg, Boston private eye, the star of Strike Three You're Dead (an Edgar winner) and Fadeaway. The author also contributed briefly to the wildly iconoclastic TV series Saturday Night Live and uses his experiences as a base for mystery. Agreeing to keep a major-league ballplayer sober until his appearance on the TV show Last Laughs, Blissberg is in New York and in the midst of the group hired by the executive in charge, Roy Ganz, to revive the fading series. The detective hears complaints about Ganz and producer Leo Rhodes who are accused of being unfair to the actors but mostly to the team of writers: Karen Baldwin, Curt Geller, Dickie Nacke and weird Barry Sondell, among others. When somebody throws Ganz out of the high window in his office, a network vice-president assigns Blissberg to investigate. It is a wearying, disillusioning job that entails delving into Ganz's past and that of everyone who doesn't have an alibi. Fortunately, Mickey Slavin comes from Boston to keep her lover company and to help him discover who killed Ganz, and why. The story's skillful contrasts of edged satire and pathos make it irresistible, the third triumph for Blissberg and his creator. (June)