THE SECRET OF SAM MARLOW: The Further Adventures of the Man with Bogart's Face

A sequel to The Man with Bogart's Face, which introduced California private eye Sam Marlow--a Bogart lookalike thanks to plastic surgery and a Bogart soundalike thanks to Fenady's silly, likable obsession with old movies. This time Sam divides his spare time between hanging out at Mother's Gym, dragging unstable starlet Sandra Kent back to Pantheon Studios whenever she freaks out, and saving the life and diamonds of exiled Shah Tabriz. His main job, however, is to solve the poisoning murder of legendary director John Flint (just like John Ford), quickly followed by the suspicious car-crash death of Flint's #3 wife, legendary star Mona. The solution involves some utter nonsense about a priceless prop from an old movie--but the repartee is mildly amusing, the film-buff chat is knowledgeably intense, and the general level of giggly foolishness (except for a grossly overdone dumb-blonde sidekick) is smoothly painless.