A PERFECT DEATH FOR HOLLYWOOD

Ex-L.A. cop Vic Eton reluctantly takes on the case of crucified Hispanic prostitute Rosa Luzon—raped, tortured, and dumped under the H of the HOLLYWOOD sign in the hills—for Allison Hutton, an upscale call-girl friend of Rosa's. The murder seems like the first entry in a series, and it's no surprise when a second corpse is found under the Hollywood O, killed in the same way. But the identity of this second victim—Richard Wheeler, intuitive president of Westway Records—makes Vic wonder who would kill two such different people, what Wheeler has to do with the snuff film documenting Rosa's last moments, and what his oh-so-proper wife Elizabeth and her father, legendary film director Ivan Ryan, have to do with the Mafia types he's tied into Rosa's murder. Not many surprises in this first novel, but the story moves efficiently from one familiar scene to the next.