The Pictures by Guy Bolton, Scorpion rebinding being 1/12 in red leather with raised bands, gold and red marbled sides and an added text approved and signed by the author.  It is issued with a photo of screen siren Lana Turner with explanatory text connecting the actress to a character in the novel.   This book will appeal to fans of Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy.

This, the first novel by British screenwriter Guy Bolton is a Hollywood novel and a gripping noir detective story. It is the thirties – a time of hardship when Hollywood, the sunny base of the film studios, is becoming a magnet for dreamers and those seeking a lucky break. Stars such as Humphrey Bogart have had a little too much revelry with friends such as Joan Crawford. The studio, needing to protect its investment from scandal, has an LAPD detective on its roll – fixer Jonathan Craine.

Craine’s first task is not to squash any scandal involving antics of the stars; it’s to close down a robbery and grizzly murder investigation, pinning it on a black offender. The murdered victim was an actress. More serious for MGM is the discovery of a possible suicide of one of its producers. Pressure builds from on high to close the file and move on. But Craine’s new partner Patrick O’Neill believes the crimes are connected. Then someone brings in a contract killer and all hell breaks loose …

The Pictures is, for noir fans, an exciting mix of Hollywood glamour with undercurrents of manipulation, police corruption, prostitution, drugs peddling etc. Craine had become involved in this world. He appears as an unlovable, secretive figure withdrawn into this work since his actress wife committed suicide and his son became retarded. He really wants out but is trapped for the time being. Then the fervour for truth from colleague O’Neill gives him heart. His questioning of witnesses and concern for the mute son renews his character. The story builds and is boldly told from different viewpoints. The actresses in particular are no air-heads, but rounded characters. The deceased mogul’s wife, Gale Goodwin, is a pivotal character drawing Craine out of his shell; but she too carries contradictory impulses that could either save or destroy him. Even though the novel is set in 1939 it speaks to today’s controversy surrounding Weinstein. And the handling of the naivety and innocence of the actresses has echoes of Nathanael West’s classic 1939 novel The Day of The Locust: “He believed that while she often recognised the falseness of attitude, she persisted in it because she didn’t know how to be simpler or more honest. She was an actress who had learned from bad models in a bad school”.

Issued in February 2020.