The Wicked and the Dead

Screenwriter Billy Winnetka likes to write about crime, not solve it. But when an old producer friend dies under suspicious circumstances, Billy's doubts about the cause of death are too troubling to ignore. True, Harold Clausen was embroiled in some shady business deals--and he might have been having an affair--but that's all par for the course in Tinseltown. Yet, as one by one more movie veterans are permanently cut from the picture, Billy suspects a more complex plot. When an irascible cop named Goold dismisses his theory that all these deaths are linked, the curious writer enlists the help of Harold's erstwhile, guileless assistant, Tony, to help find the murderer. The pursuit leads to a cast of eccentric characters even a B-list screenwriter couldn't dream up. But the killer eludes them . . . until Billy and Tony themselves become his next candidates for the big sleep.