Frames

Valentino is an archivist with UCLA's film preservation department. Looking for a new place to live, his realtor shows him an old movie house up for sale. When he finds a cache of twenty-four film cans labeled Greed, it seals the deal. Valentino just may have discovered the Holy Grail of silent film on his hands: the original, full-length 8- (or 10-) hour cut of Erich von Stroheim's masterpiece (basically a filming of Frank Norris's classic novel McTeague in its entirety). Needing help with the possibly volatile silver nitrate stock, he approaches his mentor, Professor Broadhead, who loans Valentino his intern, a junior copyright-law student named Fanta. When they look deeper into Valentino's new home, the trio locate a walled-off hidden room containing a Prohibition liquor stash and eighteen more film cans. Oh, there's also a dead body, but reporting the death would make the theater a crime scene, and make the film evidence, endangering its longevity. So, they try to hide the film from the police. But when the investigating detective learns of its existence, she gives Valentino three days to make a copy on safety stock, or she'll send a cruiser to pick up the film -- and him, for obstructing justice. Three days isn't nearly enough time to do the job, literally impossible given that each frame of the forty-two reels has to be copied individually, so the only other option left to Valentino, Broadhead, and Fanta is to solve the case themselves in the next seventy-two hours. (The "film detective" gets to try on some real gumshoes.) Meanwhile, Valentino is being visited by the ghost of Erich von Stroheim, who is rather determined that his kindling be saved. While author Loren D. Estleman's P.I. Amos Walker's adventures fall solidly on the hard-boiled end of the mystery spectrum, Frames tends toward the opposite, "cozy," end. There's only one murder, and it happens fifty years before the story begins. In fact, Valentino, Broadhead, and Fanta will be lucky to discover if the murderer is still alive! But classic film fans will eat this one up: Estleman has loaded his characters' dialogue with film trivia and fascinating information about film preservation, including the five stages of decomposition of silver nitrate film stock (the source of the moniker "silver screen"). This otherwise laid-back undertaking (apart from the suspense involved in whether the film will survive the storytelling) results in an emotionally intense denouement (at least as performed by William Dufris in the audiobook version of Frames) that is a surprise given all that happened before. With the addition of a romantic subplot with a crime scene investigator, the book is quite a pleasant and educational read, and I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series, Alone.

"You give your mouth to evil, And your tongue frames deceit." -- Psalm 50:19 I found Frames in a most unusual way. I'm a big fan of Loren D. Estleman and picked up a copy of the second book in the Valentino series, Alone. Utterly charmed by that story, I pulled my reading temporarily to a halt mid-way through and headed out to find Frames. The back story for Alone seemed just too good to be true. I had to find out more. I'm sure glad that I did. If you are looking for an action thriller with a hard-boiled detective in a noir style, this book won't appeal to you. But if you have a fondness for Hollywood, the history of the movies, the silent movie era, and a romantic mystery filled with outrageously good humor, Frames will charm you for sure. On the surface, Frames can feel like fluff . . . but beneath the almost self-satirical humor lies a delightful plot, a gag environment, and a Keystone Kops-like approach to detection that fits closer to Stephanie Plum than to Sherlock Holmes. Be warned that the murder mystery is simply there to move the plot along. If you like difficult whodunits, this book also isn't for you. To me, the humorous mystery is the most difficult kind of book to write. Mr. Estleman carries it off like the pro that he is. He's having so much fun with this story that you cannot help but smile at the plot and in his obvious pleasure in writing the book. Bravo!

Calling himself the "Film Detective" Valentino earns a living as film archivist at UCLA. He considers buying the Oracle, a dilapidated theatre that back in the 1920s was a showcase. However, as he inspects the crumbling edifice, he finds several reels of Erich von Stroheim's classic epic, Greed; though long lost to the ravages of time, stupidity, and avarice. However, his discovery takes a setback when Valentino also uncovers a skeleton. He would prefer to ignore the old bones and run off with the film, but his conscience will not allow Valentino to do so. He calls the cops informing them of the human remains, but remains silent re the reels out of fear the evidence takers will damage the valuable work, which would put his conscience in suicide mode. This is an entertaining Hollywood mystery as the lead character hides evidence from the police rationalizing why he did it. The cold case investigation is fun to follow as the Film Detective tracks cinematic clues one frame at a time; while also rationalizing again why he is making inquiries. Apparently Valentino has appeared in short stories, but in his novel debut he seems complete and able to hold together an enjoyable somewhat movie fun fluffy whodunit. Harriet Klausner

I read a fair amount of crime fiction, but had never read anything by prolific multiple award-winner Estleman until now. The film preservation milieu of this first in a projected series caught my attention, so I decided to give it a whirl. The story revolves around a UCLA film archivist named Valentino, who, in the course of buying a crumbling historic theater in LA, makes the discovery of a career. Many film buffs know the story of Erich von Stroheim's film Greed (based on Frank Norris' novel McTeague), which the studio chopped from ten hours down to a confused two hour release, tossing the remaining footage in the process. That missing footage is a Holy Grail for film archivists, and naturally Valentino discovers it in the old theater he buys. However, he also finds a skeleton, and once the police are alerted, it's a race to solve a 50-year-old murder before the police decide to confiscate the priceless (and highly unstable) canisters of Greed as potential evidence. Fortunately, he's got help in the form of his 60-something UCLA mentor, who's a walking encyclopedia of film history and a flouter of convention and law to boot. There's also Fanta, a smart and sexy co-ed who's interning with the film preservation office. Finally, there's the sexy (4 of the 5 primary female characters are described as highly attractive) LAPD crime scene investigator Valentino meets and falls for. The story is best described as of a fun romp, somewhat reminiscent in tone of a Scooby Doo episode. Valentino and friends have to figure things out while keeping their investigation secret from the cops, which gives the proceedings a bit of a farcical air. There are several outsized funny characters, such as the crotchety old department secretary, and the hilariously affected Russian restoration specialist, among others. There are tons of references to Golden Age Hollywood which may or may not send readers to the internet to look up, and plenty of interesting information about the art and science of film preservation. Some of the gags and wordplay are kind of corny, and it's best read with a willing suspension of disbelief. For example, even though the theater is totally falling apart, how does a 30-something film preservationist have enough money to buy it? But on the whole, it's a fun lightweight read that should appeal to mystery readers with a taste for classic Hollywood fare. Note: Valentino has apparently previously appeared in ten short stories published in Ellery Queens Mystery Magazine. Hopefully these will be collected in book form at some point.