George Baxt: The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case (USA 1989)

From the Publisher:
THE AUTHOR OF THE DOROTHY PARKER MURDER CASE STRIKES AGAIN!
"I love reading George Baxt... Brilliant and exquisitely funny." Ruth Rendell

"In George Baxt's THE TALLULAH BANKHEAD MURDER CASE, the ferocious actress is joined by such other real-life viragoes as Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman. Baxt's comic turn mingles the actual and the imaginary like a pun-obsessed spin-off of E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime, and has a similarly political bent. Set in 1952, it sketches deft parallels between the paranoia induced by serial killer and the mania generated by McCarthy-era black listing." -- William A. Henry, Time, February 1, 1988

"An authentic barnyard of heretical harples... a sardonic acid bath of a book." William Ruehlmann, The Virginian-Pilot and Ledger, March 13, 1988

George Baxt: The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case. International Polygonics, ISBN: 0930330897 (January, 1989), 228 p., $5.95.

George Baxt: The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case (USA 1987)

From the Publisher:
It is 1952, the dawn of the McCarthy era. The communist blacklist is circulating; careers and even lives hang on the decision of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. In the midst of all the turmoil, suspicion, and fear is the irrepressible Tallulah Bankhead, enjoying a professional comeback as the star of the hugely successful radio program, "The Big Show." As confident and brassy as ever, she continues to sip her vodka martinis and inhale deeply upon her trademark Craven A cigarettes, refusing to succumb to the general paranoia. But then the blacklist touches Tallulah's life: A scheduled guest on her show kills himself after his name is given to the committee, Tallulah herself is threatened with the blacklist, and, worst of all, the first of a series of murders is committed.

Detective Jacob Singer begins the investigation alone, but soon finds that he has an avid partner. Tallulah tries her hand at detective work, drawing upon her intimate knowledge of the names and personal lives of countless celebrities and show-business personalities (including a certain theatrical agent named George Baxt). Together, Tallulah and Jacob Singer race against time to puzzle out the murderer's identity and put a stop to the killings in this brilliant new addition to the work of acclaimed mystery novelist George Baxt.

George Baxt: The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case. A Novel. St. Martin's Press, ISBN: 0312010982 (November, 1987), 228 p., $15.95.