Personal Effects

The lives of four talented teenagers, involved in a publicity stunt, are forever transformed by the life and mysterious death of legendary movie star Gilda Greenaway

Film critic Reed (Do You Sleep in the Nude?, presents a Hollywood mystery that simmers more often than it sizzles. The novel is framed by the murder of Gilda Greenway, cat-eyed "Pearls Girl" of the industry's golden days. The chief suspects are the so-called Four Fans, one or more of whom might have had reason to hate the woman whose generosity helped them to attain stardom. Gossip columnist Billy Buck sifts through their shared past for clues. There's Inez, whose need for drugs and alcohol whittles her writing talent to a nub; her husband, King, a silver-screen legend who hops from bed to bed in the hope that his wife's friend Devon will be lying in the next one; the latter, meanwhile, is driven by a social conscience that alienates her public; and Gilda's goddaughter May, who brought the group together, is a raucous libertine and the shrewdest agent in town. Bursts of crass, campy good humor liven up an otherwise ordinary tale of Hollywood libido, stocked with familiar characters. First serial to Cosmopolitan; TV rights to Highgate Pictures/NBC-TV; major ad/promo; author tour. February 27
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.