The Paper Dynasty

Boardroom power struggles, scandal, murder, adultery, the heyday of immigrant California and the rise of Hollywood are ingredients of this big, old-fashioned family saga spanning five generations. Brazen, headstrong Civil War veteran Benjamin Raines Olin, hired as a printer's devil, transforms the four-page Los Angeles Tribune into America's largest newspaper empire. His future son-in-law, Arnie Sutler, an upstart from Vermont, will stop at nothing to push his way into the old-guard Republican WASP Olin clan, even poisoning his wife so that he can remarry. Later Arnie impregnates his secretary Theresa, whose true love happens to be his son Yank; when she dies in a suspicious bomb blast, Yank vows to destroy the family business, a mission that will consume Yank long after his hated father is dead. Olin Sutler, Arnie's Eastern-educated, liberal grandson, turns around the sagging paper's fortunes as he breaks down L.A.'s racial barriers. Gardner's robust saga provides crackling entertainment, even if the melodramatic plot travels in well-worn grooves, references to the Chandlerok family are scarcely veiled and the characterizations are often paper-thin. (Jan.)