Alive!

February 4, 2013
An intriguing McGuffin drives Shamus-winner Estleman’s third mystery featuring U.C.L.A. film consultant Valentino (after 2009’s Alone). Word reaches Valentino that a print may exist of Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein’s monster, a role Lugosi rejected, but that made Karloff’s career in the classic 1931 film. The scenes showing Lugosi as the monster may be related to the death of Valentino’s estranged friend, alcoholic B-list action actor Craig Hunter, whose repeated calls for help Valentino does his best to ignore. When Hunter is beaten to death after another such call again falls on deaf ears, Valentino feels heartsick. The precise mode of the killing, which included the breaking of both arms above the elbows, points to an L.A. mobster, but the mobster’s reason for taking out a hit on Hunter is obscure. Fascinating tidbits of Hollywood lore throughout more than compensate for the over-the-top ending. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency.

March 1, 2013
Another priceless bit of Hollywood lore surfaces, fascinating archivist Valentino and killing one of his best friends. Can't imagine anyone but Boris Karloff playing the Monster in the 1931 film Frankenstein? Well, Carl Laemmle Jr., head of production at Universal, could. He made a screen test of Bela Lugosi, fresh from his triumph in Dracula, but then went with Karloff instead. The test must have been wretched indeed, but the quality of Lugosi's performance wouldn't make Valentino salivate any less over a filmed record. So it's no wonder that washed-up action star Craig Hunter phones his old buddy, an archival consultant at UCLA, to try to share his news about this amazing find. Unfortunately, Hunter's been lost to drink and drugs for so long that Valentino dodges his calls all day long and then hangs up on him. When the cops show up the next day at Valentino's office to tell him that Hunter was beaten to death in the restroom of the Grotto, a tavern in San Diego, he feels so guilty that he not only takes a call from Hunter's ex, Lorna, a retired actress who's poised to dive into the bottle herself, but promises her he'll find the killer. It doesn't seem that hard, either, since strong-arm gangster Mike Grundage, who owns the Grotto, is reputed to have beaten lots of other people the very same way Hunter was beaten. Will Valentino look past the obvious. Sadly, he won't have to look very far. Veteran Estleman (Alone, 2009, etc.), clearly more interested in past Hollywood lore than present-day mystery-mongering, is better as a tour guide (his apercus are right on the money) than as a plotter, and the only thing the killer does to make himself memorable is slink off into the fog way too early.

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March 1, 2013

Actor Craig Hunter's life was on a downward trajectory that ended with his death from a beating in a San Diego bar. Valentino, among the last of his friends, feels guilty for ignoring Craig's final pleas for help. The deceased's ex-wife feels guilty too, but she might have a hidden agenda: it turns out that Craig had unearthed the legendary missing film reels of Bela Lugosi's horrible audition for Frankenstein. A rare find brings out the worst in collectors, and Valentino has trouble narrowing down which one crossed the ethical line. His formidable suspect list includes a mob boss, an elitist collector, and that ex-wife. Valentino's sleuthing resources may be limited, but his graduate assistant is a steampunk devotee, and his posse assists in a memorable showdown. VERDICT The UCLA-based film detective series, now at number three (after Alone) packs an impressive amount of film history into a tidy amateur sleuth entry. Leisurely paced and impressively researched, this is just the ticket for film buffs. [See Prepub Alert, 11/04/12.]

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2013
The third in Estleman's always-entertaining series starring film archivist Valentino again delivers a delightful mix of comedy, mystery, and movie history. This time the archival jewel that inspires murder and puts Valentino in hot water is a long-lost screen test of Bela Lugosi trying out for the role of Frankenstein's monster that would eventually go to Boris Karloff. A down-and-out actor and onetime friend of Valentino's was trying to peddle the screen test before he was murdered. The cops like Valentino for the crime, leaving Val no choice but to find the Lugosi snippet and clear himself. The backstory on Legosi, Karloff, and the horror-movie genre in general will have film fans salivating, and, as always, Estleman seamlessly incorporates the movie bits into the mystery plot. And, for good measure, this time he throws inequally seamlesslya subplot involving a gaggle of steampunkers who come to Val's aid in the hunt for the screen test. Great fun on multiple fronts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)