cover image Green Light for Murder

Green Light for Murder

Heywood Gould. Tyrus (F + W Media, dist.), $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4405-6123-8

Author/screenwriter Gould (Cocktail; Fort Apache, the Bronx) casts a jaundiced eye on Hollywood in this madcap first in a series introducing Det. Tommy Veasy of the La Playita PD. (“La Playita” appears to be a stand-in for Santa Monica, Calif.) Having been suspended for beating up a suspect in a 10-year-old girl’s murder, Veasy is back on the force, much to the displeasure of police chief George Jonas. In between solving cases, Veasy ad-libs bad poetry and smokes weed. Meanwhile, washed-up director Jay Braffner (aka the Madman) is devising inventive ways of murdering various producers who have stolen his ideas and derailed his career, and he’s also directing an imaginary, and admiring, film crew while he does it. Filled with an insider’s knowledge of the backstabbing, cutthroat, libidinous one-upmanship of the film industry, this book will appeal to those with a taste for slapstick humor and cartoonish characters. (Mar.)