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Sep 1, 2009

Stardust - Joseph Kanon



1945 : Ben Collier, US Citizen but German Jew by birth arrives in Hollywood to sit by his brother Danny’s deathbed. Danny took a drunken swandive off a rented apartment balcony. His wife Liesl thinks he tried to kill himself the police have it down as an accident but some of the pieces don’t fit. Seeing the life Danny had and the wife Ben’s having trouble keeping his hands off he can’t see why Danny would try to kill himself. But did Ben really know his brother at all. To find out what happened to Danny Ben will have to become him, walk the same paths, inform, cheat, lie, steal. Enmeshed in the studio system, Ben is caught between the German émigré community, the unions and an ambitious commie hating Senator who wants Hollywood to dance to his tune. This book is a rich tapestry of old Hollywood glamour, shot through with glimpses of the show trails of the McCarthy era.

Published 29 September.

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