MURDER AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS

by Joe Hyams ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 1983

When sexy young producer Eva Johnson collapses and dies on her way up the aisle to collect her Oscar for Best Picture of the Year, there's a near-ludicrous profusion of people with murder motives. (Was it in fact murder? Yes indeed: the weapon was a minibomb which Eva had ingested in the form of a capsule.) Among the many likely suspects tracked down by cop Punch Phillips: Eva's ex-lover, whom she used in her seam to rig the Academy Award, then dumped; Eva's ex-husband, whose career and life were destroyed; the furious husband of Eva's lesbian lover; Eva's other ex-lover, a bigtime producer whom she was blackmailing; and the man whose daughter Eva turned into a porno-actress. Not enough? Well, Eva's father was a name-namer in the McCarthy hearings--giving rise to revenge motives. And there's more as well, as a couple of other deaths ensue, mini-flashbacks cornily fill in the plot. . . and Punch ends up denouncing the deranged killer in a funeral-service showdown. Thin and tawdry as Hollywood exposÉ, inept as murder-mystery.

Pub Date: April 11, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION