some like it hot buttered jeffrey cohen

Some Like It Hot-Buttered - Jeffrey Cohen

Some Like It Hot-Buttered

A Double Feature Mystery

Jeffrey Cohen

Berkley Prime Crime

Mystery

Elliot Freed is the new owner of a seventy-year-old, single-screen

movie house in Midland Heights, NJ. The closest Elliot has even been

to the movies was when he sold his novel to be made into a film. And,

come to think of it, even that was a little too close, since what hit

the screen was barely recognizable as his story. But the money from

that sale bought him the movie house, now renamed Comedy Tonight.

During a double bill of Young Frankenstein and the latest Rob

Schneider `comedy,' a patron dies. Elliot thought there was something

wrong with the guy when he didn't laugh at the Gene Hackman scene in

Young Frankenstein, but figured everyone is entitled to a moment of

bad taste.

What really leaves a bad taste, though, is that the cops quickly

determine that the man was poisoned. And that the poison was in the

popcorn. High school junior Sophie mans the snack counter, and her

worst crime is that of being a half-hearted Goth. Since there's no

real break in between films (they show shorts) there's no way to know

exactly when the guy died. But it obviously happened at Comedy

Tonight. While the police are investigating, they discover several

boxes of pirated DVDs in the unused basement of the theater. The chief

suspect there is the projectionist, Anthony, a Cinema Studies student

at Rutgers. Up until now, his worst crime has been... being a Cinema

Studies student at Rutgers.

When the police decide that the two crimes are connected, Anthony

becomes their number one murder suspect as well. But Elliot isn't so

sure about that. With help from Officer Leslie Levant, and his ex-wife

(a doctor who pays Elliot alimony,) Elliot decides the best thing to

do for Anthony, and for his fledgling theater, is to look into the

case himself.

Even if you're not a movie buff, you'll love this first book in a new

series. There are movie references sprinkled throughout the narrative,

but you don't have to `get' them to enjoy the mystery. Elliot is a

unique character who is living his dream by owning and refurbishing

the old movie house. His relationships, especially with his dad and

his ex-wife, contain little quirks that speak to long familiarity and

make the characters seem very real. The author doesn't go for the zany

approach here; Elliot, who narrates, has a very dry and sarcastic wit.

The mystery is almost a locked room affair, and will keep the reader

guessing until the end.