This darkly hilarious tale of murder and mayhem set squarely under the bright lights of the show business world introduces Stella Pentangeli, "Lady Showbiz Detective," and Inspector Ng, a taciturn Chinese cop. The story explores the themes of winning, losing, and recovering fame and the relevance of traditional theater in the 21st century. The dialogue is snappy, the characters outrageous, and the story suspenseful. The cast of characters includes debauched stars, sleazy execs, brain-fried actors, and drunken playwrights.

Fiction writer and independent scholar Navas reconstructs a little-remembered incident during the US war for independence. Bathsheba took in and nursed a 16-year-old Continental soldier returning from a year under Washington, and became pregnant by him. Because divorce was nearly impossible and adulteresses were publicly stripped and whipped, she, with help from the boy and others, beat hubby to death and stuffed him in a well. It did not help her case that her father was the state's most prominent and despised Loyalist. There is no index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR