Best Murder of the Year
A Rick Domino Mystery
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Gossip columnist Rick Domino finds himself the prime suspect for a murder during the Academy Awards ceremony.
Rick Domino is one of the most sought after men in Hollywood but he's not an actor, director or even a film producer. He's a popular gossip columnist covering the Hollywood scene and a word from him can be very influential.
Normally, Rick loves his job and the scene itself but tonight it's different. Tonight he's hosting a live telecast of the Academy Awards and his secret lover, young heart-throb Shane Kirk, is one of the nominees for Best Actor. But there has been trouble brewing between the two, not helped by the fact that publicly Shane portrays himself as "straight", even bringing an actress as a date to the awards ceremony, and Rick can hardly focus on the task at hand.
The ceremony itself goes relatively smoothly until Shane actually wins the award for Best Actor and is nowhere to be found. Surprised and worried, Rick goes back stage to look for Shane and, lured by an open access door and a hunch, checks the back alley. He does indeed find Shane, but Rick also finds himself in perhaps the most deadly situation in his life.
By the time the police arrive, they find Rick standing over a corpse, holding a gun and looking not-so-innocent. The truth of what happened in that dark alley, and who was responsible, is tightly intertwined with some of the darkest of Hollywood's secrets...and if anyone knows about ferreting out secrets, it's Rick Domino.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This may not be the best mystery of the year, but this debut is a clever, witty, campy and amusing Hollywood mystery, as gay gossip columnist Rick Domino becomes the prime suspect in an Oscar night murder. Bloch sets a fast pace with his on-target Oscar nominations: "Kevin Spacey played to perfection a priest with an obsession for flashing himself at nuns in the Coen Brothers' newest quirky comedy, Saint Thang." And he sends up the awards show, where Jewel is to be joined by Meat Loaf and Placido Domingo to perform "I Can't Find Me Anywhere" from the animated feature Where's Waldo. When a famous star is murdered backstage at the Oscars, there are plenty of suspects, but Domino is the one found holding the gun. Despite the assurances of his high-priced lawyer, Rick figures using his own skill at fer reting out secrets is his best bet. Naturally, the sexual proclivities of the various suspects and their personal and professional entanglements tend to complicate matters as every suspect had reason to want the victim dead. The actors, producers and other Hollywood types who populate Bloch's zany tale are wonderfully outrageous and may obscure the fact that underneath the craziness is a serious mystery. The comic whodunit is a difficult feat to pull off, particularly when the author goes for broke as Bloch often does. This debut mystery won't win an Oscar, but it deserves consideration for best first mystery. .
