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Hollywood Detective (2011)

by Loren D. Estleman(Favorite Author)

3.4 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

8889541806 (ISBN13: 9788889541807)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Gargoyle

series

Valentino

review 1: I loved every word of this clever, funny mystery, the first in a series. It's a premise that is tailor-made for me - it might as well just have my name on it. Valentino is a film archivist. He buys a movie palace that is crumbling to dust, because he finds promising reels of film in the storage cupboard. He finds something a bit more sinister in the basement. With witty dialogue and an interesting, fun set of supporting characters, Loren Estleman gives us something particularly fresh and lively. He uses an intelligent, good human being as his protagonist; he chooses a slightly roguish gent for Valentino's co-worker and conspirator, and peppers the story with quotes from classic films and anecdotes regarding old Hollywood. It's fun, it's smart and it's completely irr... moreesistible.
review 2: 10. Estleman, Loren. FRAMES. (2008). ***. This is the first novel in Estleman’s new series featuring Valentino, a film archivist for UCLA. In it, we are introduced to the new cast of characters including Valentino and his co-workers, Kyle Broadhead, a Professor of Film, and Ruth, their ascerbic secretary. Val has just purchased the old delapidated Oracle Theater in West Hollywood, a relic from the glory days of the Silver Screen. He and Kyle, and Kyle’s new girlfriend, Fanta, a twenty-year-old law student, are looking the place over and discover cans of film in the projection booth that are labeled, “Greed.” Could this be the long-lost film by Von Stroheim of which only a two-hour version now exists? When they go down to the basement of the theater, they start digging around and find a wall where there shouldn’t be a wall, and start to remove some of the bricks. When they are finally able to enter, they find another treasure trove of “Greed” reels that leads them to believe that they have found the only copy of the director’s cut that was rumored to be ten hours long. On exploring this secret room further, they finally shine a light into a corner and see a skeleton – obviously someone who has been dead for quite some time. The police have to get involved, but not before Val and his friends remove all traces of the film. Who is the skeleton and who killed the man it was. This is a light plot and a good easy read from one of the masters of the genre. It does seem, however, that Estleman tries a little too hard to try and fit in all of the film trivia he managed to turn up dealing with the actors and films of the era, and some of story requires a long suspension of disbelief. I read the second book in the series first – having missed this first one – and actually thought it was better than this one. less

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