THE MAE WEST MURDER CASE

Baxt again at play in the Hollywood fleshpots—circa 1936. Mae West is at the height of her career, and Inspector Herb Villon (The Marlene Dietrich Murder Case, p. 486, etc.) is trying to get a handle on the killer of four of her impersonators—the first of whom was a talented young man calling himself ``Neon Light.'' Mae agrees with the Inspector that she's meant to be the ultimate target and surrounds herself with handsome young bodyguards. Meanwhile, Villon retrieves the Neon Light case from the dead files, where it was stashed by a crooked cop seemingly connected to Milton Connery—owner of the notorious Tailspin Club, rumored to have behind-the-scenes orgies attended by Hollywood's biggest names. The killer's MO produces much talk of vampires and witches, climaxing at a Halloween party at the Tailspin. The party adds more victims to the list but pinpoints the killer for Mae, who proves to be a hotshot detective. Loyal Baxt fans won't be put off by tired puns, graceless style, nasty resurrected gossip, and bizarre plotting. Others may wish the author would move his hard-working talents to fresher territory.