Kirkus Reviews QR Code
I AM NOT A PSYCHIC!  by Richard Belzer

I AM NOT A PSYCHIC!

by Richard Belzer with Michael Black

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4165-7089-9
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Law and Order’s Detective Munch takes a break from the Special Victims Unit to pen a tale of murder and corruption in the fantasy capital of the world.

After taking pains to vaunt his civilian status in I Am Not a Cop! (2008), TV star Belzer can’t resist the urge to snoop like a lawman. While in Las Vegas to help old friend Johnny Leland with his telethon, “Richard Belzer” (the author’s metafictional alter ego) gets sucked into a side trip to Los Angeles to hear his older friend Paul Venchus’ conspiracy theory about the decades-old case of starlet Brigid Burgeon, who was killed while filming with Johnny’s former partner Sal Fabell. Paul thinks Brigid’s demise was triggered by her liaison with congressman Mark Kaye Jr., himself killed in a car crash ten months later. But though Belz expectantly chomps a cheesesteak with fries at Phil’s Deli, Venchus never shows. Back in Vegas, Belz learns that his buddy has joined Brigid and Mark in the great beyond. He doesn’t think Venchus’ death is foul play until psychic Veronica Holmes hops a Greyhound through the desert to confront him. Veronica’s aunt, gossip columnist Constance Penroy, died shortly after Brigid, and Veronica’s sure their deaths are linked. Still skeptical, Belz goes with Veronica to meet Brigid’s mother. When her trailer bursts into flames moments after their visit, his detective instincts kick in for good.

Noncop, nonpsychic Belzer wisecracks his way from coast to coast.