House Murders

About the Book

The murder of a prostitute, Cole, leaves the four remaining prostitutes in an unusual parlor "house" grieving, since she had been very special in their stunted lives. In desperation, since the murder of a prostitute lacks high priority with the San Diego police, they plead for the services of Melba Duncannon. She is an investigative reporter, who has come to their attention through lurid magazine accounts of her successfully bull-dogging the murder of a prostitute long after the police had lost interest.

Their pleas strike a responsive spark in Melba primarily because the murdered girl, Cole, came from an obviously affluent background. Why has she sunk so low, so fast? Who are her enemies? Did they come from her old world of privilege? Or from her new one of lawless degradation?

About the Author

In 1978 I was co-author (with Connie Nash) of two how-to books: The Screenwriter’s Handbook and The Television Writer’s Handbook, published by Harper and Row. Later, I was asked by Harper and Row to write a Dictionary of Film and Television Terms which they published in 1983. Besides these books, I have had many short stories published in magazines and an anthology and have spent thirty years laboring more or less joyously as a working journalist. I was also contributing editor of a highly respected (but, alas, now defunct) literary magazine, ANTE, which was published in Los Angeles.