I worked in the business too. Or at least covered it as a
reporter and
columnist in New York and Los Angeles for 30 years. I have a
Hollywood Walk
of Fame clock on my office wall. I also have a Hanna-Barbera
clock. As well
as press passes to the Oscars and Emmys, my NYPD, United
Nations, and LAPD
press passes, and my credentials for various presidential
campaigns. I don't
live in the Hollywood Hills, however, having selected a home
not likely to
fall victim to a mud slide or brush fire. My sleuth in my
as-yet unsold
series is a screenwriter. My youngest son writes movies for
Disney, Fox,
etc., although he's never solved a crime. My mysteries have a
Hollywood
background.
Nevertheless, I don't consider it a "Hollywood novel." Any
more than I
would consider a Dick Francis mystery a "horseracing
novel."
It's simply the milieu in which it's set. The driving force
is not whether
Mr. Superstar gets the role--and girl--of his dreams. It is
first and
foremost a mystery. Whodunnit--and why, and how does he/she
get caught.
I know a lot of people disagree. Especially editors, who say
a) "I love the
Hollywood inside background," or b) "lf I see another
Hollywood mystery I'm
going to upchuck."
Jerry Buck
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