My Kansas author for the month of June, 2008, is Esther
Luttrell. She has been a friend ever since I took a course in Screen
Writing from her five years ago. I remember her best from that experience,
and remember the book of hers that we used in learning the formal
patterns for a professional Hollywood film script, Tools of the Screen
Writing Trade, especially well because I am working
through it again in doing a Treatment and Film Script Version of the short
novel I wrote two years ago (and have published on this web site), The
Sequel, as my summer writing project. That book is recommended
by Scott Anderson, Director, Harvard Square Screenwriters, Boston, MA,
in this sentence, "Esther's book has replaced all others and is my sole
reference book for my students." It was developed in the process
of teaching screenwriting workshops in conjunction with other Hollywood
film professionals across the country, which she has done for 14 years.
She uses an individual tutorial system that I hope to take advantage of
by sitting in on her current Topeka workshop (beginning June 11) for the
revision I am doing this summer. I definitely recommend it for anyone
interested in learning the trade who is within driving range of Topeka
this June and July. (For more information in this connection call
or write Esther Luttrell at (785) 234-5674 or estherwrites@aol.com).
---
--
------
---
--
-----
But the book I am featuring this month is the novel we
recently read in our reading group at Washburn, Murder in the Movies,
which was orignally published in paperback in 2005, but was re-published
in hardback and paperback in March of this year, so she again qualifies
as a Kansas author with a book in print. It is a murder mystery set
in the Hollywood community, a community which Esther knows well, having
worked there in various capacities for years. She always lets you
know exactly where you are geographically, as her heroine, Katlin Wallace
(who is "older than Rita Moreno, but not by much"--which is true for me
as well) drives all over that end of California. I grew up in Glendale,
California, during the war and was pleased by how often I knew how to get
home from where I was while I was reading the novel. The eleven
members of our Washburn group were pleased to hear how every place used
in the novel was either some place Esther had lived or worked, and that
almost all the characters in the book were people she had known, some of
whom she was getting even with (which led to other stories about these
people). Esther is a story teller, and this novel presents a very
readable story, starring the woman forced to be a detective, Katlin Wallace
(who is based upon herself), as she responds to an appeal from a friend
to return to California from the Florida she called home at the time, to
clear the friend's daughter, Lanie, once a well-known star, from the crime
of having murdered her husband in an argument by shoving him down the stairs.
While never declaring herself a detective, as her husband was, Katie goes
through the private eye experiences of receiving anonymous threats (and
being beaten up twice) to get her to return to Florida, before she finally
solves the crime. The story is told from her point of view, which
is the best thing about the novel, for she is a fascinating woman.
Its 300 pages are an enjoyable reading experience, and I think everyone
in our reading group must be recommending it. If you are interested
in obtaining a copy, try your local bookstore, or Amazon.com, or Esther
at the phone or e-mail listed above. Or, if you belong to a group
(wherever you live) ask her if she'll come discuss the novel with you--that's
a rare experience in itself.