You Don%E2%80%99t Die of Love: Stories

Ten loosely interconnected shorts by screenwriter Thonson reveal the insular, sordid, and somewhat touching world of Hollywood, its insiders, and those who prey on them. In %E2%80%9CWestern,%E2%80%9D former movie star cowboy Lee Rockwell, now the owner of a successful clothing store, returns to the scene of an earlier scandal in the Hollywood Hills after his erstwhile lover, Harry Dare, dies suspiciously. In the title story, Nick and Nora Dare, Harry%E2%80%99s estranged children, plan a memorial party in their father%E2%80%99s honor, despite their mother%E2%80%99s affair with a neighbor and other shenanigans. With edgy humor, Thonson also explores film noir in %E2%80%9CTwo Noirs,%E2%80%9D tracking the transformation of a police detective into a budding writer via the love of his dancing instructor, and science fiction in %E2%80%9CClips,%E2%80%9D in which the pool man serves as a kind of nutty grim reaper who foretells the death of his client. Dark, pointed details and heavy atmosphere haunt these engaging tales.