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John Dandola's West Orange Mysteries Dead at the Box Office An Edie Koslow-Tony Del Plato Mystery In 1940, Hollywood decided to pay homage to a small New Jersey town. It was where Thomas Alva Edison had lived and worked for nearly fifty years, ultimately making it the birthplace of motion pictures. What better place to hold the World Premiere of Spencer Tracy's Edison, the Man? The idea seemed not only flawless but guaranteed to generate terrific pressuntil a series of sexual murders breaks out a week before the festivities are scheduled to begin. Already straddled with the ever-reticent Spencer Tracy and overly exuberant starlet Ann Rutherford, M.G.M. publicity girl Edie Koslow is forced to reluctantly hush the crimes and then just as reluctantly solve them in the midst of studio manipulations and small town politics with only the help and protection of a local mystery man. "An ironically funny picture of the differences between west coast film executives and [an] east coast residential community...It is these ironic ideas, the reality of the period, and the discrepancies in fact that create humor in the retelling." The Essex Journal "Dandola infuses a sense of humor about movie-making and the glamour and glitz associated with Hollywood." The Star-Ledger Dead in Their Sights An Edie Koslow-Tony Del Plato Mystery Set in 1942, two years after the Edison, the Man debacle which first introduced her to readers, M.G.M. publicity girl Edie Koslow is reassigned to the studio's Manhattan offices. Thanks to her mentor, M.G.M. East Coast Publicity Chief Howard Dietz, a simple favor to help promote a new Broadway ingenue once again lands Edie in the middle of small town New Jersey politics and murder. With circumstances set in motion by legendary producer George Abbott and actress Joan Caulfield, Edie's run-of-the-mill assignment eventually becomes complicated by Thomas Edison's sons, Nazi saboteurs, British Military Intelligence, the I.R.A., the F.B.I., and entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. In the ensuing mayhem, Edie's disquieting relationship with Tony Del Plato is also put to the test. "Edie Koslow and Tony Del Plato reteam in this sequel to Dead at the Box Office. Although darker than their first outing, Dandola's affable writing style and his extraordinary grasp of time, place, and subject matter still gives the reader a wonderfully perceptive inside-out view of movie studios and small town politics." International Titles "[With] a great deal of research to ensure historical accuracy...Dandola has certainly carved out a place for himself as a regionalist writer; perhaps [West Orange's] first." Suburban Essex Magazine "[Dandola's] roots in the area enable him to fill his mysteries with so much local color and detail that even readers unfamiliar with the town can create vivid pictures of it in their minds....One can almost hear the Irish, English, and Norwegian accents as the characters come to life." Seton Hall Magazine Dead by All Appearances An Edie Koslow-Tony Del Plato Mystery When Teddy Edison, youngest son of the late Thomas Alva Edison, asks Tony Del Plato to investigate some odd occurrences at the castle laboratory of millionaire inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr., it is a request more for Tony's much needed change of scenery than out of any real necessity. While leaving West Orange, New Jersey, might prove to be therapeutic following the recent events in Tony's life, little could anyone foresee that this forced vacation on the restful and beautifully rocky coastline of Massachusetts would ultimately involve local gangsters, murder, and espionage. Adding to the confusion is a scheduled remote radio broadcast from the castle not to mention an unexpected rivalry between M.G.M. publicity girl Edie Koslow and Paramount actress Marjorie Reynolds, who is visiting after a War Bond tour in Boston to promote her new film, Holiday Inn. "Well-written by American author John Dandola, these thrillers unveil an odd and novel pair of amateur detectives: a movie publicity girl and a barber, who is one authentic and intriguing Italian-American." Giornale di Sicilia "Through movie publicist Edie Koslow and local barber Tony Del Plato, whose mysterious skills go well beyond hairstyling, Dandola presents Edison family history, small-town politics, and Tinsel Town gossip of the period and melds them seamlessly." Mystery Scene Magazine "These entertaining novels contain both history and gossip about the old MGM Studio System. They impressed me and I'd recommend them to any fan of Stuart M. Kaminsky's Toby Peters series." Linda M. Esler, Bloomfield Life Copyright © 20042009 John Dandola, Ltd. All rights reserved. |
"Fact and fiction mingle in [Dandola's] third mystery that uses West Orange as a
setting during World War II.... New Jersey readers don't realize how much history is in their backyards." "Jersey Ink" The Star-Ledger February 1, 2008. |
National and international sales gave rise to a series, but Dead at the Box Office is still known locally as West of Orange.* |
*West of Orange is a trademark held by John Dandola, Ltd. |