The Novel

Grouped Reader Comments (now over 120)

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:00:27 -0700

Kari B. — Please, please tell us which real life Hollywood celebrities your characters are based on.
Jenny M. — I’ve told all my friends to check out this blog.
Carl A. — Is John Waters a former cop?
Woody K. — Can’t wait to read the whole book.
Patti S. — Are Jake and Fuji going to get married?
Tim D. — It’s got everything ... love, hate, murder.
Pam H. — Very, very, interesting.
Rosanna S. — Outstanding story! Great blog! What company designed it?
Pati D. — You got my attention in a New York minute.
Matt B. — Way cool blog.
Ignacio L. — Are there any other books about Grant Westmore and his crew?
Naomi C. — Was Grant a real LAPD cop?
Aaron H. — Will this ever be a movie?
Valeria R. — I wish I thought of writing this kind of story.
Parnell S. — This looks to be a winner!
Ramona G. — Is this going to be a hardcover or a paperback?
Macee T. — I want to hire Grant Westmore.
Braxton Y. — Great blog, now where’s the book?
James O. — There should be more PIs like Grant Westmore in the world.
Yoli E. — Hoo-ray for the LAPD!
Ethan U. — Beautifully written.
Marcus E. — If Grant doesn’t marry Carmela I want her. LOL
Liza T. — I couldn’t put the opening chapters down.
Simon L. — Is the Time Capsule for real?
Kimberly J. — I’m sure glad I grew up in the 50s.
Walter M. — Dynamite story line. I can’t wait to read the whole book.
Stuart B. — The BFFs are spoiled brats!
Tommy K. — I love redheads, but I’ll pass on Allie Dolanne.
Georgia Q. — A great murder mystery in this pop culture world.
Mary Lynn C. — Was Grant ever married?
Naomi P. — Love scene are VERY sexy.
Matthew T. — Can I get Marlene’s phone number? Just kidding. Still, she’s a great character.
Chris I. — This book really pushes the concept of celebrity privilege. Nice work, John and Bud.
Jackson W. — Is your Carmela character based on a real life defense attorney? Who?
Ben S. — I would kill my wife if she gave me HIV. BTW, what’s the color of Mr. Westmore’s SUV?
Jodi H. — What’s the name of Allie’s baby?
Margaret L. — Jeez, what a great story. Never a dull page!
Mella C. — I can’t find the book anywhere. Help!
Lucy O. — Are these characters real? I hope so.
Paige U. — I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
Carter G. — If this becomes a movie, who will star in it?
Alexi R. — The Holloways got what they deserved.
Ernie Y. — Please don’t kill off Fuji in the sequel.
Brenda M. — The sex scenes made my panties wet!
Jasper B. — Being a cop I was able to feel Jake’s pain.
Cristian J. — All I can say is WOW!
Tammy W. — Did Allie get the death penalty?
Roy U. — Allie’s father is an asshole.
Senir T. — What is ADD?
Josie P. — Why isn’t this a movie yet?
Don I. — Great real! Noah is too nice to be with Allie.
Oscar C. — I loved it because you didn’t bash the LAPD.
Zelda N. — What parts of this story are true?
Kari U. — Paperback or hardcover?
Milt M. — I’m an older retired person, yet this story held my interest.
Rocco G. — The coroner, Packard, was very cool!
Nikki S. — I’m a young Italian hottie and I’d love to meet a real world Grant Westmore.
Nelson E. — Bravo, John Waters and Bud Stigall. Great story!

ADVANCE COPY READER COMMENTS
Jenny R. — Cover to cover a great storytelling.
Soni S. — Give me a sequel.
Zack P. — Never put it down.
Dave D. Jr. — A page-turner. Vivid characters.
Lea Ann O. — Good mix of murder mystery and current events.
Jim W. — Enjoyed the read. Liked the surprise relationship between Jake and Fuji.
Sean R. — First book I've read in years. Was able to relate to the story.
Debbie K. — This is what my school kids talk about every day. Perfect job.
Jennifer D. — Even though I don't read, this was hard to put down.
Jason Y. — I knew exactly who each character represented in real life.
Neff A. — Can I get Marlene’s phone number?
Kathy H. — My students will love this book.
Marilyn C. — Legal work was right on target, but didn't drag down the pace.
Stacy E. — The murder concept added to pop culture was great.
Lacey R. — I was able to relate to all the characters.
Carlos M. — Poison used was on the mark. Enjoyed the humor between Grant and his people.
Corey N. — Jeez, this is the stuff I've been reading about in the papers.
Nikki C. — Can't wait for my friends to read this one.
Adrian I. — Don Packard was very professional.
Monica E. — The fact that Paz Freeman sealed the case against Allie was not expected.
Danny T. — Glad you put in the golf stuff. Added something else I could relate to.
Robbie L. — Where did you get the idea to make Paris a serial killer?
Jerry M. — The twists and turns made me read this in one day.
Parker G. — I laughed several times at Grant's humor. His ways to solve a case are to say the least ... unique.
Hal D. — Police and coroner details are perfect. The pop culture aspect is compelling.
Kirsten A. — Could not have depicted this young Hollywood world any better.
Bob D. — Right on target with pop culture.
John Q. — The twists and turns of the story kept it very interesting. Story continuity was excellent.
Sarah D. — Interesting. Loved the characters, especially the relationship between Grant and Carmela.
Sally S. — Got better as it went on.
Pax B. — Is Kela still in rehab?
Taylor A. — I felt sorry for Allie, but then she turned out to be a bitch.
Waite F. — I stopped taking drugs after reading this.
Irwin M. — Holloway got what he deserved.
Ted C. — I would have killed my wife if she got HIV.
Faith I. — What happened to Kela and Tary?
Radley E. — Paz Freeman made the right decision.
Paps E. — What is a pooter peek?
Yollie W. — Does Kela ever recover?
Ozzie U. — Will Tary and Kela be in the sequel?
Mary H. — I stopped drinking green apple martinis after reading this book.
Meryl D. — Super easy read. I finished it in one day.
Helga T. — This Kela chic can’t keep her panties on, can she?
Oscar A. — Will Allie be going to trial in the sequel? I hope so!
Jim L. — Police jargon is right on!
Jewels R. — I wonder how the families feels about their spoiled brats?
Evan T. — Allie had no family backup. That was the shits.
Dalton O. — I guess Allie proves that one can’t buy brains.
Webster D. — The paparazzi are a real pain in the ass.
Quincy E. — I loved all the characters on Grant’s team.
Harold B. — Why can’t I find someone like Marlene Wilson in my search for a cool woman?
Bunny M. — Is Jake Baldwin molded after a real life LAPD cop?
Grace N. — Wow, I’ve been to almost every single place in the book. That is so cool!
Frank I. — Damn, I love the Pantry downtown. Only this is, I need a handful of Tums when I get out of the restaurant.
Ellie J. — I’m ready to propose to Grant.
Pedro H. — I can just see Marlene crossing and uncrossing those sexy legs of hers. Yum, yum!
Louise W. — How did Jake get his scar?
Adriano G. — Good ending. There has to be a sequel.

The Sequel - Studio Murders

Mon, 7 Apr 2008 11:12:50 -0700

A love triangle goes bad on the movie set for Secret Desires when a determined killer prowling Crystal Dreams Pictures brutally murders two Academy-Award-Winning stars under exclusive contract with the Hollywood studio.
Lance Vaughn, a handsome leading actor in his late-twenties, is rising to the top with unprecedented speed. Vaughn’s fairytale romance with Natalie Baldwin, the film’s makeup artist, begins to fade when his stunning, late-twenties co-star, Kela Ryan faces the critical decision to play her part opposite Vaughn and to become his lover. Kela is making an unprecedented comeback from her bimbo-esque behavior that led to a three-month stay in rehab after losing custody of her two kids and her career tanking.
When Vaughn doesn’t show up for publicity photos the morning after the mega-budget picture wraps, Natalie, along with Bobby Hatch, the film’s soft-spoken, mid-forties producer, and Zach Crowe, the flamboyant, late-forties director, rush to Vaughn’s house to find out why. There they find Vaughn in the guesthouse of his Bel Air mansion, dead.
Seasoned LAPD detectives Al Tyler and Rob Murray find a .38 caliber revolver next to the body. Although known within the police force for their never-ending bickering among themselves, this time they agree about one thing: the position of the body is inconsistent with a suicide, and the victim’s head was “placed” on a tan Pima cotton towel.
In his early fifties, Don Packard, the coroner, dark-haired and round-faced, with a ruddy complexion, rolls the body over and is certain the cause of death is one gunshot wound to the back of the skull just above the hairline. He further suggests that Vaughn knew his assailant because there was no forced entry, no signs of a struggle. Suddenly, a small shiny object catches his eye. It’s a loose diamond. After checking Vaughn’s jewelry box, and not finding a stone missing from any piece, the logical assumption is that it belongs to the killer. Judging by the quality of the diamond, he or she has some serious money.
Within hours of the discovery of Vaughn’s body, Tyler and Murray reluctantly arrest Jake Baldwin, a detective with LAPD, one of their own. The next day Jake’s daughter, Natalie, thinks of only one person who could possibly beat the rap against her father — Grant Westmore, Jake’s former partner on the Job.
Jake, a highly decorated veteran detective, finds himself charged with the murder based on circumstantial but troubling evidence: the gun found at the crime scene is his. After Grant recommends his girlfriend, Carmela Gambini, as defense counsel, Jake is free on a one million-dollar cash bond put up by Grant.
As the days pass in Grant’s exhaustive search for the real killer, Vaughn’s co-star, Kela Ryan, is found murdered in her Beverly Hills estate. At the crime scene, Marlene Wilson uncovers a startling fact: Kela died in the same manner as Lance Vaughn. Except this time the killer did not leave behind the murder weapon.
Within minutes, Grant finds that Jake has an ironclad alibi in the Ryan case, which is why Ellen Porter, the high and mighty Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney, does not file charges against Baldwin in the Ryan matter.
Grant, Marlene, and Carmela soon discover two serious flaws in the case against Jake Baldwin. Though Jake is black-haired, the police found no black hair at either crime scene; and though Jake is right-handed, the coroner is certain the killer in each slaying was left-handed.
In the meantime, Tyler and Murray feel the slayings may be the work of a financially motivated serial killer, since Vaughn had top billing and the producer paid Vaughn the most money, with Ryan next in billing priority and salary. Along with Tyler and Murray, Fujiko “Fuji” Nakamora, Jake’s pudgy-faced, loyal partner before his arrest, keeps a close watch on Dean Young, the young, up-and-coming actor who ranks third in pecking order in both billing and money.
As the investigation nears week three the real doer places complications in Grant’s path by stacking motives against Bobby Hatch. A few days later, Tyler and Murray arrest Hatch, only to find that his polygraph test indicates he is not the murderer.
Meanwhile Grant and Marlene consider that Lauren Hatch, the producer’s drop-dead-gorgeous wife, may be a suspect, too. After all, she is left-handed and has the same color hair found in a brush at Vaughn’s house. Unfortunately for Jake, three days later the police also clear Lauren.
This leaves only one obvious suspect: Natalie Baldwin’s newest boyfriend, Tommy Farley, the film’s blond-haired property master who as such has access to guns. Days later, the police arrest Farley, but after a sleepless night, Marlene isn’t at all convinced Farley is guilty of both murders.
Throughout the entire investigation, the police, along with Grant and his crew, have glossed over one person: Natalie Baldwin. Carmela doesn’t want to believe the possibility that Jake’s daughter is capable of two cold-blooded murders, but she finds it increasingly hard to deny.
Grasping at a faint hope that Marlene is wrong about Natalie, Grant orders a full-court press to find out one way or the other. However, sure she now has the right suspect, Ivanna Wolfe begins the official paperwork on Farley.
Wolfe is about to complete her charges against Farley, when Marlene identifies Farley as having been at the store where the two Pima towels were purchased. Adding to what may only be circumstantial the salesperson also remembers that a “foxy blonde” whom Farley called “Natalie” had accompanied him to the store. At Marlene’s request, she also looks up the sales slip, only to discover that Natalie used her credit card to make the purchase.
Stunned, but still hungry for more concrete evidence against Natalie, Grant, Carmela, and Marlene call upon SID to take a closer look at the diamond found under Vaughn’s body while Tyler and Murray search Ryan’s house and Fuji maintains surveillance on Natalie. Under a microscope, SID discovers a blood splatter that matches Vaughn’s DNA and markings consistent with a stone from a necklace, ring, or bracelet.
Teetering on the thin blue line, Grant contacts Farley to determine what time Natalie is due home from the studio because he wants to search their house. Farley tells Grant he needs to leave for work in a few minutes but that he’ll leave the backdoor unlocked. Not wanting to spend much time inside the house during his somewhat questionable search, Grant insists that Carmela and Marlene join him so the trio can spread out and take different rooms.
Carmela hits pay dirt in the den when she finds a tennis bracelet with one stone missing hidden behind a picture of Natalie along with her mother and father a few months before her mother had died in an automobile accident. Holding the bracelet in her hand, Carmela points to the clasp. Noticing that it’s broken, Grant figures the clasp must’ve snapped open while Natalie was in the process of killing Vaughn, and the diamond which was probably lose already, came out when the bracelet fell onto the floor.
Now, with the proverbial smoking gun in hand, Grant tells Jake he’s in the clear, but Natalie is the killer and she’ll be arrested before end of day.
Jake’s world is shattered, and with his heart breaking, he feels compelled to telephone his daughter. When he reaches Natalie at her home, he pleads with her to let him take her into custody. She agrees, but asks him to meet her at their favorite coffee shop in the mall.
Still lost in disbelief at Natalie’s brazen actions, all three LAPD detectives join Grant and Marlene in the hunt for Jake and Natalie at the mall. Grief stricken, Jake watches Natalie’s final desperate moments. Before anyone can move a muscle, Natalie touches a revolver to her temple, and speaks sotto voce, “Forgive me, Daddy.”
A heartbeat later, she fires. Natalie shudders violently and plummets backward, blood and brain matter oozing through her long blonde hair from the cavernous hole on the side of her head and the stench of gunpowder and the coppery smell of blood hanging in the air.
Grant flinches from the deafeningly explosion, staring into Natalie’s still open, glazed-over blue eyes. Jake kneels next to Natalie, Grant’s comforting arm resting on his old friend’s shoulder. Looking at his daughter’s body, Jake feels nauseated as Natalie’s head leaks a crimson pool onto the ground.
A moment later, Jake passes out.
Later in the afternoon, Jake accepts heartfelt condolences from a number of family members and friends who live in the immediate vicinity, various uniform and plainclothes police officers from the Job, and nearly twenty members of the cast and crew from Secret Desires.
Choking back his emotions, Jake opens an envelope and removes a hand-written note Natalie had given him minutes before she took her life. He shares the note with everyone.
In the note, Natalie confesses to having killed Vaughn and Ryan. She regrets using her father to cover her actions and she’s sorry she disappointed him as a daughter. She also explains that she had planned to kill Vaughn weeks ago. It seemed to be a foolproof plan until she forgot Jake’s gun at Lance’s house. That’s when she came up with the idea to hire Grant because she knew Grant would be able to beat the charges against her father.
After his arrest, she fell into a deeper mental state. She had nothing left to do but kill Kela, thinking it would distract the cops. As it turned out, Grant is smarter than she figured, and her house of cards collapsed.
She signed the note, “Natalie,” then below it, “your loving daughter today and in the hereafter…”

The story

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 11:00:20 -0800

With the paparazzi in their speed dial, and trumping world news such as the war in Iraq, the 2008 presidential campaign, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal, the latest contestant to get booted off American Idol, and O.J. Simpson’s latest caper in Las Vegas, the five BFFs enjoy celebrity justice and abuse their privilege by using the power of their social status and their checkbooks. Having created an epidemic of narcissism and self-importance, the world cannot get enough of these five young, fame-seeking Hollywood celebrities.
The pinnacle of all “breaking news” stories is when the self-destructive nature of Allie Dolanne leads her to the unfathomable: the cold-blooded murder of LAPD Detective Sammy Foxx. As far as Allie is concerned, she can’t possibly be guilty because her date, Dino Graziano, was driving and she claims she was unconscious in the passenger seat when Dino slammed her Bentley into reverse and ran over Foxx.
First word of Allie’s arrest reaches Tary, her sister, when a waiting paparazzo calls to her from behind his camera as Tary is sauntering up the red carpet at Hollywood hotspot Bordello to rejoice her taste of celebrity justice ― spending only eighty-two minutes jail for her recent felony DUI.
Allie offers to do penance by checking herself into rehab if the District Attorney will drop the murder charge. Instead, the DA hires renowned private investigator Grant Westmore to prevent Allie from wiggling her way out of this one.
Her problems only worsen when a paparazzo, Eddie Holloway, snaps photos of her and Lara Tait on the beach outside her Malibu mansion in some girl-on-girl action. Eddie tells Kanari, his adult film goddess wife, he wants to use his prize-winning photos to blackmail Allie and Lara. Kanari, however, knows of a far more profitable option and approaches Allie with her deal.
Shaken by the photos, Lara wants Allie to join her and come clean, and face the consequences during a special appearance on The Tonight Show. Waiting in the Green Room at NBC Studios in Burbank Lara suddenly clutches her chest and collapses onto the sofa ― dead.
At the autopsy, the coroner concludes Lara Tait’s cause of death was a heart attack. This makes Grant feel unsettled so he has his crew take turns tailing Allie. During their first day of surveillance, Allie meets with Eddie and Kanari Holloway. Grant can’t get his arms around why a starlet heiress like Allie is hanging around with a slimy porn queen and her paparazzo husband.
Grant’s case against Allie for the Foxx murder suddenly crystallizes when he screens the video footage taken by police and FOX News helicopters. Allie’s ubiquitous Apple iPhone is in her right hand at the start of the coverage and then it’s in her left, meaning she had been awake at least part of the time. But she’s not talking on the phone, she’s typing on the iPhone’s QWERTY keyboard.
Grant’s intuition tells him that if the person she had been texting also has an Apple iPhone, then the entire SMS text messaging session is stored as a running dialog in memory of both of their phones, thus making perfect evidence bookends.
Then things deteriorate for Allie even more when she sideswipes a parked car in Hollywood before an LAPD squad car pulls her over. It comes as no surprise that she fails the field sobriety test and the cops arrest her for yet another DUI. Facing a shower of flashbulbs, the driving-impaired diva makes bail and exits the jail around noon the next day.
Grant begins to uncover another story just below the surface when he and his crew discover Eddie Holloway is conspicuously missing among the throng of paparazzi present for the red carpet-esque debut of Allie’s new designer fragrance.
Fearing Holloway may be the victim of foul play Grant goes to Holloway’s house where he finds the unmistakable stench of death seeping through an open kitchen window. Clenching their throats, Kanari and Eddie Holloway are dead in a human pile on the carpet.
But just who killed them? Were they the target of a turf war from one of Eddie’s paparazzo competitors or was it a murder suicide?
At the crime scene a thought sweeps through Grant like a low-voltage prickle. Holloway’s whole life is taking celebrity pictures and making money selling those pictures. Yet, there isn’t one stinking photo in his laptop. Good detective work turns up an Apple Time Capsule hidden behind a wall in a walk-in safe. On the Time Capsule they discover the damaging photos of Allie and Lara, thus linking Allie to the Holloways.
The autopsy on Kanari and Eddie Holloway indicates that the only logical cause of death was heart attack. Grant doesn’t buy the odds of three people around Allie all dying from heart attacks. Inching closer toward the explosive truth about the real killer’s identity, Grant wants to exhume Lara’s body and check her tissues against Kanari and Eddie Holloway.
However, Ivanna Wolfe, the Deputy District Attorney, fights Grant tooth-and-nail because she wants to concentrate on only securing a conviction against Allie and Dino for the murder of LAPD Detective Sammy Foxx. Finally, she concedes but makes it clear that it’s Grant’s play and not hers.
Her head tilted, and a glance that says, “I am the queen of celebrity justice,” it’s another “Stop the Presses” moment for Allie with a plea of not guilty in Detective Sammy Foxx’s murder and a jury trial set for 60 days later.
Then Allie when takes a plea deal for her last DUI she infuriates the judge to the point she sentences her to 15 days in jail. The media swarms Allie later in the day when she makes a shocking move and reports to jail earlier than the date set by the judge to start her sentence for the DUI.
Watching the breaking news on television, Grant catches Allie in her one and only mistake. When she gets out of the limo, she hands the chauffer a cocktail glass and he casually tosses it onto the backseat. That simple, innocent action dooms her because another glass and a flask found under the rear seat have traces of the poison used to kill all three victims.
In an unprecedented action, Los Angeles County Sheriff George Zahn ignores the specific conditions of Allie’s sentence. With a monitoring device fastened to her ankle, he releases her from jail and places her under home detention.
That night, Allie stuns Noah Freeman, her sometimes-on-and-sometimes-off boyfriend, with the news of her pregnancy, the fact that the child is probably his, and that she is silently praying for a miscarriage.
The entire paparazzi nation is on hand at the courthouse when the judge orders Allie back to jail immediately. Fearful Allie may try to cause a miscarriage while in jail, Grant orders a DNA on Allie and Noah. Minutes later, he gets word from the coroner that they have a match and that all three victims have GHB, the date rape drug, in their tissues.
Grant calls a press conference at his office and explains how in a videotaped jailhouse confession, Allie admitted she finally abused her celebrity privilege to the point of no return by committing the four murders.
Ignoring the storm of questions from the anxious reporters, Grant turns to Noah. Shaking his hand, he says, “Congratulations, Noah, you’re about to be the father of a $10 billion baby girl.” Noah chokes up as Grant adds, “Please do me a favor. Teach her some values and never spoil her. And above all else, don’t let your precious new daughter abuse her privilege.”

The Best Friends Forever

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 10:01:11 -0800

Allie Dolanne
One of the most photographed stars of our time, twenty-four-year-old Allie starred in a sleazy sex video that accidentally launched her into superstardom a couple years ago. Since then, the iconic redhead has used her unusual voice and her salacious looks to transform herself into a multi-million-dollar international industry. There is Allie Dolanne, the trendy line of fashion clothes, and Allie Dolanne, the movie and TV star, and Allie Dolanne, the billionaire heiress-turned-hot-lingerie-commercial-lady.
Allie’s father is a honcho with one of the big-three automobile manufacturers and her mother putters around with various worthwhile charities. Allie’s grandfather founded the car company.
Tary Dolanne
The twenty-seven-year-old, singer-starlet is a big rock star, and when not on tour, she is a permanent shadow to her sister, Allie. She has had her share of brushes with the law, but lately it appears as though she is cleaning up her act.
The phone has been ringing off the hook after her inept performance during her opening number at the Video Music Awards Show. And the reviews in the trades and the Internet gossip sites are eating her up alive because she had failed to hide that she was lip-synching, and that she had fallen completely out of step on her choreography.
Lara Tait
With a personality more famous than her performance, the twenty-four-year-old, singer-actress-starlet likes to toss down one drink after the other. Her hunky buffoon boyfriend doubles as her bodyguard. The LAPD arrest her for suspected DUI and the Santa Monica PD arrest Lara again for possession of heroin, and for driving with a suspended license.
Rumors fly around the globe that Lara committed suicide because of failure for the one thing she actually did … acting on national television.
Kela Ryan
Talk about a train wreck, well, she easily takes the blue ribbon. Twenty-seven-year-old Kela has a death wish. She has slashed her wrists with knives, snorted line-after-line of coke, and even attacked her cocaine dealer with a gun for ripping her off.
Her career is yawnsville, her new single is a piece of garbage, her ex got temporary full custody of the kids, he’s trying to up her monthly support payment to him from fifteen grand to twenty-five, and her manager and lawyer just quit.
Sheli Lange
With her always-present best push-up bra and a bottle of booze, twenty-five-year-old Sheli is an illiterate high-maintenance number. The BHPD arrested her for suspected DUI and made bail two hours later. The wackadoodle actress has been in and out of Promises Treatment Center in Malibu so many times that they may issue her a "Gold Card."

The Other Players

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 09:04:54 -0800

Dino Graziano
The butt of watercooler jokes around the country, the self-described “crazy” actor, Dino Graziano, with his washboard stomach and a brain unfettered by education, has starred in dozens of feature films and has a recurring role in a TV series.
Having bounced in and out of rehab so many times that most folks have lost count, Dino is California’s glassy-eyed poster boy for the failed war on drugs. This hopeless junkie’s behavior turns self-destructive the night of the cop killing.
Jake Baldwin
A mid-forties active LAPD detective, Jake Baldwin, has a sacred loyalty to his ex-partner on the force, Grant Westmore. Never short on imagination in detective work, this highly decorated veteran detective contacts his valued confidant, Grant, for unanswered questions and assistance in successfully prosecuting Allie and Dino for the murder of his LAPD detective friend.
Fujiko “Fuji” Nakamora
Sporting a bowl-shaped haircut, Fuji Nakamora is Jake’s pudgy-faced, loyal partner. Third generation law enforcement and the first female detective of Japanese descent in the LAPD Robbery Homicide Division, Jake’s secret girlfriend hopes she will never have to face the wrath of her very proper Japanese father, should any one of Grant’s schemes to unearth the truth backfire in her face.
Ivanna Wolfe
A Harvard Law graduate, Ivanna Wolfe, is the high and mighty Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney prosecuting Allie and Dino for the cop murder. With a high society husband that comes from immense family wealth, the early-forties socialite DDA has more than a decade of service in the Los Angeles legal community. Even though there is a never-ending conflict between Ivanna and Grant regarding proper procedures and his ever-famous hunches, she knows that Grant is the only investigator that can keep her high profile case glued together.
Don Packard
While known for his skills on the job as the Los Angeles County Coroner, Don Packard is a heavy drinker and smoker who has never married but chases almost everything wearing a skirt.
It’s the salad-dodging forensic pathologist’s idea to bring in Paz Freeman, a toxicology scientist in the field of poisons, to substantiate Grant’s hunch that there’s a serial killer on the loose. Grant gets Packard and Freeman to analyze the substance found in the throats and tissues of all three victims and to check if it’s also in the vomit found at both crime scenes.
Noah Freeman
Although he really wants to be a stand-up comic, short, clean-cut Noah Freeman is going to medical school only to please his Noble Prize-winning doctor father. Allie’s sometimes-on-and-sometimes-off boyfriend likes to hang with the more wealthy kids even though his bland personality and white legs bore and frighten even hardened paparazzi. Noah genuinely loves Allie and is always there for her, no matter how the media spins the charges against her or what happens in the end.
Eddie Holloway
With Iowa in his background, Eddie Holloway, has something in common with John Wayne pictures. The only difference is that this toupee-sporting Hollywood paparazzo takes the pictures.
Unfortunately, Holloway’s career always takes a back seat to that of his wife Kanari, the curvaceous queen of adult films until the night he captures exclusive photos of the two-person sleepover on the beach at Allie’s Malibu mansion.
Kanari Holloway
Her smoldering looks and incredible body account for Kanari Holloway’s meteoric rise to the top in mainstream porn. A former Penthouse magazine “Pet” and high fashion model, this sultry adult film goddess flunked out of high school in the Mid-west, and usually sports an attention-getting getup.
Never short in the bitch-venom department, the peek-a-boob expert’s exotic look is a never-ending favorite among the ranks of Hollywood’s paparazzi.
Kanari masterminds the scheme to profit from her husband’s exclusive photos of Allie and Lara on the beach at Allie’s Malibu mansion.
Paz Freeman
Father of Noah Freeman (the father of Allie’s unborn child) this Nobel Prize-winning toxicology scientist’s test results provide the key to proving up Grant’s hunch that Allie Dolanne is the serial killer responsible for the deaths of her BFF, Lara Tait, and paparazzo Eddie Holloway and his wife, Kanari.
Aidrian Brodie
Having earned his law degree from Columbia University, the former deputy mayor to Richard Riordan and an entertainment attorney for a powerhouse legal firm, Aidrian Brodie, is now the Los Angeles City Attorney.
Walking with a limp and cane, Brodie ran a tight ship until now. When Sheriff George Zahn releases Allie Dolanne, he accuses her of enjoying celebrity favoritism. Amid his argument that Dolanne should serve more time in jail for driving with a suspended license and an alcohol-related reckless driving charge, Brodie finds himself under investigation for his own scandalous conduct.
George Zahn
Rumored to have been an unfaithful former cop on the take in New York City, the hard-nosed jailer, Sheriff George Zahn, had mob connections, although never proven. Zahn was notorious for arranging special conditions, including allowing women to visit organized crime members overnight while in jail. Sheriff Zahn angrily defends his release of Allie Dolanne from jail to home detention only one day after she began serving a 15-day sentence in county jail.

Meet Grant Westmore And His Crew

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 08:24:10 -0800

From the sunny beaches of Malibu to the corridors of power in Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney, Detective Grant Westmore’s kind of justice is interested in one thing: truth.
A former LAPD detective turned Beverly Hills private investigator, Westmore hasn’t come this far without learning that to catch a killer you have to think like one.
While around him loves are betrayed, lives are lost, the innocent are endangered and the guilty spin webs of deceit, Westmore gathers a team unflinching in their loyalty.
Depicted with such razor-sharp vividness, the compelling principal characters of Privilege come to life.
Grant Westmore
They broke the mold with Grant Westmore, a well-manicured, charismatic, chiseled-faced, mid-forties private investigator. Principled and sophisticated, tenacious and brilliant, Grant takes risks for a living. He is tough, a natural competitor, and a born leader who has a stake in every case. He invents his own rules, settling only for what works.
Retired from “the Job” nearly a decade ago, Grant thrives on justice more than affirmation or advancement, and never accepts unanswered questions. His clients and colleagues marvel at his clout in the City of Angels, but are even more impressed with his restraint: Grant only wields that enviable clout when necessary to defend his clients and unearth the truth.
And that’s why Grant and his crew are hired by the District Attorney: to ensure the young Hollywood privileged don’t wiggle their way out of the charges filed against them for murdering an LAPD detective.
In Grant’s world, the conclusion to a great week is solving the unsolvable case, and then celebrating with a round of golf at his country club with a fine cigar and a double-on-the-rocks single malt scotch.
Marlene Wilson
The dream girl of private investigators, Marlene Wilson is easily mistaken for a high fashion model or a Hollywood celebrity. If it weren’t for her career, she’d spend her days shopping for fashionable stilettos and driving fast cars.
This sultry, mid-thirties super sleuth quit the LAPD when Grant offered to triple her salary in order to provide his agency with the needed mortar in the areas of interrogation, surveillance, and technology. Grant’s loyal and most trusted assistant investigator, she is a “just the facts” sort of woman who thinks on her feet in tight situations and readily takes on tasks others would never attempt.
Grant calls upon Marlene’s unique talents to infiltrate Tinseltown’s inner circle.
But she’s also sincere, warm, and sensitive, mesmerizing others with her incredibly brilliant mind. Although Grant often teases her about how her marriage proposals arrive in mailbags, Marlene is an independent woman, a flirt without being flimsy.
Carmela Gambini
A former New York deputy district attorney, Carmela Gambini is Grant’s effervescent girlfriend who sticks around in case Grant and Marlene find themselves in a legal pinch, which happens quite frequently.
This self-assured and conscientious fortyish attorney is now in private practice in L.A. representing the same sort of people she had spent nearly a decade trying to put behind bars in Manhattan. Much to the dismay of her Soprano-like relatives, Carmela personifies the highest ethical and moral standards, outwitting some of the best legal minds in Los Angeles, starting with the two defense attorneys representing the privileged for murder.
Grant met Carmela while he was handling a murder case in New York. Trying her best to maintain a professional aura, this loving, faithful, and downright sexy Italian princess even consulted a speech specialist when she arrived in L.A. to eliminate her New York accent. Her zany personality no expert could normalize.
If Carmela has any flaws, her erratic temper would rank high, as would her 40 handicap in golf. Then there’s her need to be the consummate Italian cook by serving up what she considers to be a perfectly balanced meal — a slice of pizza in one hand and a plate of pasta in the other, and a bottle of wine under her arm.

The writing of privilege

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 06:28:23 -0800

Privilege is commercial fiction with strong elements of crime fiction and murder mystery to go along with the underling pop culture genre, pushing the ripped-from-the-headlines reality to the point of no return.
Constructed as a powerful narrative using the image-based energy of the modern cinema, it’s a one-month slice into the ever-evolving, pop culture world of privilege, where some stars go to jail, some die from their excesses, or merely fade away.
Launched into superstardom when a sleazy sex video she had starred in accidentally leaked to the public, billionaire heiress Allie Dolanne is at the top of the paparazzi A-list.
Along with her Best Friends Forever celebutantes, singer-actress-starlet Lara Tait, once-cute kid star Sheli Lange, and fashion model-actress-singer Kela Ryan, Allie and her singer-starlet sister Tary, feed the celebrity gossip tabloids and Internet sites daily with one shocking shenanigan after the other.
Captured on film by a prominent paparazzo, an unexpected sexual indiscretion between Allie and Lara forever changes their lives. This leads renowned Beverly Hills private investigator, Grant Westmore, to the breakthrough discovery of a blackmail plot by the paparazzo and his adult film goddess wife, and that there’s a serial killer on the loose in Hollywood.
Principled and sophisticated, tenacious and brilliant, Grant Westmore mixes the intuitive spirit of the beloved sleuths of classic detective tales with the irony, wit and creativity of a postmodern private eye in Tinseltown.
As the clues unfold, and relying on his gut and following intuition rather than stiff department procedures, he demonstrates the subtle artfulness of a great investigator: bits of information and events that seem of no particular importance are eventually pieced together to create a clear image of deception.
While around him loves are betrayed, lives are lost, the innocent are endangered and the guilty spin webs of deceit, Westmore gathers a team unflinching in their loyalty.
With acumen, wit and a bit of luck, Westmore, Marlene Wilson, and Carmela Gambini fight their way through fiendish schemes, fitting the many jagged fragments of evidence into a single, appalling truth: the world’s most photographed and Googled Hollywood celebrity, Allie Dolanne, is the serial killer.

Read The Opening Chapters

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 05:28:50 -0800

The Opening Chapters are password protected.

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Thu, 7 Feb 2008 04:35:57 -0800

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