Fingerprints & Facelifts
Once upon a time there were three very different little girls who ran a private detective agency. Claire was the soft-spoken, elegant one. Tess, the sexy, wild free spirit. And Dani was sharp, focused, a true leader. Together they posed as flight attendants, beauty contestants, circus performers, and pro-soccer players. They never blew a case, never lost their man, and they accessorized very well. Then, one day, they closed it down and went off to lead three very different lives.
Flash forward: Twenty-five years later. Los Angeles, California.
Tess Monahan and Dani Mendez have gathered at the home of their former partner, Claire Walker-Corley for the marriage of Claire's son. Tess is her usual sexual live-wire self with a Brazilian boy-toy in tow. Dani has just been unceremoniously passed over as Chief of the San Francisco PD where the young cops dare to call her "Mom." And Claire has become a loyal suburban wife and mother who stores all traces of her former life in her basement. But with all of their differences and old grudges intact, they still have a tight bond, especially when it comes to getting the job done. And when someone starts targeting their children, it's time for them to join forces once again.
Someone from their past is out to make them pay at last. With the lives of their kids on the line, it's time for the "LA Dolls" to come out of retirement and work together like old times. But old times ain't what they used to be. It involves a lot of ice packs, thugs calling you "ma'am," catching up with villains who now use Viagra, and not having a snowball's chance in hell of posing as a high-priced call girl. Still, with age comes wisdom, baby. They may be older, but like fine wine, they've only gotten better. And they will use every bit of their hard-earned life lessons to get what they need to protect their kids.
Getting back into their old bikinis may be impossible, but getting back into their old lives is absolutely exhilarating. The ladies can't deny they're having a ball doing what they do best. But someone else is enjoying being back in the game, too. Someone who has plotted revenge for twenty-five years and who will stop at absolutely nothing to see that dish served cold. And if Dani, Claire, and Tess aren't careful, their first case back could be their last.
From the Inside Cover of The Actor's Guide to Greed
Dying isn't everything it's cracked up to be.
Getting butchered at the hands of a serial killer in the "high concept" slasher film, Creeps, was supposed to revive former child star Jarrod Jarvis's career. Instead, it's a celluloid Titanic that makes Patty Duke's turn in Valley of the Dolls look like Swedish art house restraint. While nursing his wounds at the post-premiere party at a Starbucks on Beverly Boulevard, Jarrod runs into Wallace Goodwin, one of the former writers on Go to Your Room, the beloved eighties show that made Jarrod a star. He's shocked to discover that the neurotic, egotistical Wallace, whose biggest claim to fame was penning a very special episode of a Marla Gibbs sitcom and marrying leggy sexpot Katrina, as penned a play bound for London's West End, with a scene-stealing part for Jarrod. Like they say, when God closes a door, somewhere, he opens a window seat in coach.
Faster than you can say his catchphrase, "Baby, don't even go there!" Jarrod's hitting the boards in London… and the boards are hitting back, big time. As much as the actors all seem to loathe one another, they truly resent Jarrod. The hotshot young director with a thing for girls named Kate berates him at every turn. British legend Dame Sylvia Horner is so sloshed she can barely read her lines. Bollywood beefcake Akshay Kapoor's one facial expression seems to be handsome glowering - when he isn't making eyes at Jarrod's hunky LAPD boyfriend, Charlie. And since coming out has made him hot again, Sir Anthony Stiles wastes no time "tutoring" every young actor in a twelve-mile radius. Jarrod's only friend in the cast is the formidable Claire Richards. The sexy, forty-something, champagne-swilling, Oscar-winning actress is the undisputed star of the show - a lady who can chew scenery and her co-stars with equal abandon. No one can play a death scene like La Claire. Except that this time the diva isn't faking it. She's been poisoned, and the last person to see her alive was Jarrod himself. Suddenly, Jarrod's gone from begging for a small role as a lab assistant on Crossing Jordan to being accused of murdering a shining star of the West End theatre scene and stealing her Oscar from her dressing room.
It's the juiciest scandal to hit London since Prince Harry got caught smoking pot, and Jarrod has no intention of clicking his heels three times while repeating, "There's no such thing as bad publicity." He's going to find out who murdered Claire, clear his own name, and head back to the insanity he knows and trusts in Los Angeles. What soon becomes obvious is that there was more backstage drama going on than anything happening on stage—affairs, lies, secrets, betrayals, blackmail, and a desperate clawing for fame and fortune that makes anything on reality TV look like a kids' show.
Outrageous, wild, and absolutely fabulous, Rick Copp's The Actor's Guide to Greed skewers everything in its path and serves it up with mango chutney—proof positive that when the tart-tongued Jarrod Jarvis is on the case, the buzz is very, very good.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Murder is anything but civilized in Copp's London-based third whodunit (after 2004's The Actor's Guide to Adultery), a riff on Agatha Christie as if channeled by a young Dame Edna. Jarrod Jarvis, has-been actor and gay amateur sleuth, has snagged a pivotal role in Murder Can Be Civilized, a West End play by Wallace Goodwin, the writer who catapulted the boy Jarrod - now a well-preserved 34 - to TV stardom. Since Jarrod's latest slasher film flopped, he longs for a hit to please his lover, LAPD cop Charlie Peters. Though thrilled to be working with Claire Richards, a formidable Oscar-winning actress, Jarrod smells trouble when Richards drops dead after the first performance. With his usual nose for clues, Jarrod embarks "on yet another journey to uncover the truth," complicated by Charlie's vanishing with a South Asian hunk. Splice in a missing Oscar, another murder, a cast of irresistible suspects—among them, Claire's Irish boyfriend Liam; Goodwin and wife Katrina; Brit theater icon Dame Sylvia Horner; Bollywood sexpot Akshay Kapoor; and obnoxious director Kenneth Shields—and open the envelope please: another Copp winner.
Copyright ©Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The Actor's Guide to Murder
From the Publisher
Baby, don't even go there!
That was Jarrod Jarvis's catch phrase as the adorable, girl-crazy moppet on the eighties sitcom, Go to Your Room! It was a great ride until the tabloids caught the popular teen idol kissing another guy at the L.A. gay rodeo. Gay and teen heartthrob not exactly being career-making words at the time, Jarrod's star crashed harder than a Kathie Lee Gifford CD.
Flash forward: Now happily living with his cop boyfriend, Charlie, and their dog, Snickers, in the Hollywood Hills, Jarrod's ready to hit the comeback trail—but he never imagines how fame will strike this time. At a reading with his psychic, Jarrod is disturbed to hear that someone close to him will be murdered and even more shocked when it turns out to be his best friend, Willard Ray Hornsby, also a former child star. When Willard is found face down in his own lap pool, the cops call it an accident, but Jarrod's far from convinced—and he's ready to play the Sherlock Holmes of West Hollywood to prove his conspiracy theory right.
But what starts in curiosity soon becomes deadly serious. Willard was keeping some very weighty secrets and even more dangerous company. From a tattooed body-work specialist to Willard's formidable mother and her nefarious lover, everyone seems to have had a reason to want him out of the picture permanently. And when another body turns up, it's clear that in a town full of actors, somebody's playing the very convincing part of a killer. Now, among the hustlers and the wannabes, the boy toys, sadistic acting coaches, and the tabloid press, Jarrod's high-profile sleuthing is making him once more into a household name. Except this kind of publicity is a very bad thing—because Jarrod's newest fan is someone who doesn't want an autograph...he wants him dead.
Fast, furious, and outrageously funny, Rick Copp's debut mystery introduces a gay sleuth with the panache of William Powell, the timing of Paul Rudnick, and an acid wit that turns Hollywood deliciously inside out.
From The Critics
The Washington Post
The book is one of those totally readable, totally putdownable mysteries that will guarantee you a couple hours of pleasure. —Paul Skenazy
Publishers Weekly
A struggling '80s child actor on the brink of a career revival, Jarrod Jarvis shelves his audition schedule to solve the murder of a good friend in screenwriter Copp's pumped-up, promising debut. When a psychic delivers a "death card" premonition, Jarvis is only mildly perturbed until he discovers childhood friend Willard Hornsby face-down in his lap pool. The "obsessed conspiracy theorist" in Jarrod takes over and he's convinced of foul play. The "Sherlock Holmes of West Hollywood" picks up lots of clues during a secret search of Willard's home, but becomes the newest darling of the tabloids when he gets himself arrested. He's also in hot water with his police officer boyfriend, Charlie, who wants Jarrod to drop the private-dick act. More clues lead to a deadly tattooed hustler and to Willard's mother, Tamara, whose companionship with hunky, 20-something Spiro raises more than eyebrows. Both the public disclosure of Willard's HIV status and the murder of his therapist pile on even more suspects. Another psychic vision leads to a showdown in Palm Springs and a surprise network sitcom gig for Jarrod. Though Copp stays well within standard gay-fluff boundaries, the story has considerable zest and enough spritely humor to keep readers glued and giggling. (Nov. 4)
Forecast: With his Hollywood connections-he's written for such TV shows as The Golden Girls, Wings and Secret Agent Man-and blurbs from such established authors of lighter mysteries as Laura Levine, Laurien Berenson and Dean James, Copp should get off to a strong start. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Former child television star Jarrod Jarvis has few real problems: he has plenty of money, a police detective boyfriend, and requests for his signature comeback line. What he wants now are a few good roles and a resolution to the "accidental" death of boyhood friend Willard. As he sleuths, with assistance from friend/agent Laurette and boyfriend Charlie, he risks scandalous publicity and bodily injury-even attempted murder-to uncover the culprit. Hollywood characters, self-deprecating humor, and more than a few pokes at America's TV mentality make this a light-hearted first novel. For gay mystery collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
"Fast-paced and very funny, with a hip insider's view of Hollywood. The Actor's Guide to Murder is the reader's guide to a terrific time. I loved it." —Laura Levine, author of Last Writes
"A pumped-up, promising debut...the story has considerable zest and enough sprightly humor to keep readers glued and giggling." —Publishers Weekly
"I laughed all the way through The Actor's Guide to Murder. Here's hoping Jarrod stumbles across another dead body, and soon!" —Dean James, author of Decorated to Death
"Rick Copp's Actor's Guide mysteries read like some hilariously wicked Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous—revealing juicy Hollywood secrets by the page!" —Jerrilyn Farmer, author of Mumbo Gumbo
The Actor's Guide to Adultery
From the Publisher
They say bad news comes in threes. Jarrod Jarvis is about to test that theory.
Bad news item #1. Former child actor (and constant comeback candidate) Jarrod Jarvis fails to convince the California parole board not to release Wendell Butterworth, the stalker who has followed him since his first Oscar Meyer commercial. #2. Jarrod's NBC pilot flatlines before it even hits the air. #3. His agent/best friend Laurette decides to marry gorgeous Juan Carlos Barranco, a soap actor more wooden than a Steven Seagal romantic comedy -- and shadier than Cher's plastic surgery denials. To quote the eighties catchphrase that made Jarrod famous: "Baby, don't even go there!" But things are about to get worse. During Laurette's drive-thru wedding at the Hearst Castle, one of the guests has a heated scene of his own with Juan Carlos--just before he crashes into the three-tier wedding cake, poisoned by a glass of champagne.
Much to the dismay of Charlie, his hunky LAPD boyfriend, Jarrod is convinced that Juan Carlos has something to do with the murder, and he's determined to get the goods on Laurette's new husband, even if it means trailing him to the set of his latest movie, a "high concept" horror film, and taking a (gasp!) supporting role. It isn't long before Juan Carlos exposes himself not as a murderer, but as a Viagra-fueled player who is simultaneously bedding his sexy, older leading lady, his young female co-star and a hot Latin man he meets on the QT at a local motel. Talk about the role of a lifetime. Soon, the question is no longer, "Who is Laurette's new husband sleeping with?" but "Who isn't he sleeping with?" Juan Carlos seems to be a man of many secret alliances, including a connection to an embittered tabloid reporter and a ruthless Miami crime boss who's already made more than one person disappear. But why would a big-time crime czar be so interested in the affairs of a really bad soap actor? What other secrets is Juan Carlos keeping? And did Jarrod really agree to do a movie for scale?
Now, trapped in surreal South Florida, home of early bird specials, low-budget movies, neon thongs, and, God forbid, his own parents, Jarrod is living out his worst nightmare, keeping one eye on his best friend's cheating husband, fighting his own attraction to a butch P.I., playing opposite a child star who makes Linda Blair's "Exorcist" turn seem charming, and running from the mob. But while Jarrod has been channeling his inner MacGyver, following Juan Carlos' every salacious move, someone else has been tailing Jarrod. Someone who thinks he knows too much for his own good. Someone with the power to turn a cheesy slasher movie into cinema verite... and give Jarrod his final screen credit.
Like the wacky love child of Carl Hiassen and John Waters, Rick Copp's THE ACTOR'S GUIDE TO ADULTERY is another outrageous, wickedly funny, very sexy mystery featuring the caustic Jarrod Jarvis, who never met a part he didn't want to take, even if it might get him killed.
From Publishers Weekly
In screenwriter Copp's wickedly amusing second whodunit (after 2003's The Actor's Guide to Murder) to feature former child star Jarrod Jarvis, the irrepressible detective—whose voice crackles like a gay Sam Spade's as played by David Spade—is hot on the comeback trail as an actor when his insane childhood stalker, Wendell Butterworth, is granted parole. In addition, Jarvis is floored when Laurette Taylor, his manager and best friend, plunges into marriage with the promiscuous Juan Carlos Barrancos, a TV soap opera actor. Jarvis and Charlie Peters, LAPD (his "partner in life, not crime"), attend the whirlwind ceremony at Hearst Castle and witness the ultimate reception faux pas—an uninvited guest falling into the wedding cake, done in by poisoned champagne. Jarvis is immediately suspicious, since the groom's former girlfriend was ejected from the proceedings and the victim was seen arguing with the groom. Even though it means taking a supporting role in a horror film starring Barrancos, Jarvis plunges into the investigation while dealing with an upstaging brat, Florida mobsters and the fiendish Butterworth, who yearns to kill his "long-lost soul mate." This light confection is certain to tickle readers who appreciate Copp's flair in mixing mystery with a Hollywood Confidential wackiness and won't mind romance between members of the same sex.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.