Murder at the Academy Awards (R): A Red Carpet Murder Mystery - Tapa blanda

"Miss Marple in Manolos, Bond with a boob job.... The fun is in detecting where the fictional Maxine stops and Rivers begins." -- New York Daily News "Fun...juicy...[with] a biting, breezy style not unlike Rivers herself." -- Chicago Sun-Times "Can we talk...murder? Only the outrageous Ms. Rivers could bring blood to the Red Carpet in such high style while giving us the lowdown on Hollywood!" -- Jane Dentinger, Editor in Chief, Mystery Guild "Joan Rivers has always made me laugh, and she's done it again -- this time as a writer! Murder at the Academy Awards is very funny and very smart, with a clever plotline that probes deep under Hollywood's famous red carpet. It's suspenseful, provocative, and filled with Joan's inimitable voice and humor." -- Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of A Woman of Substance and Being Elizabeth "My friend Joan Rivers has 'murdered' more people at the Academy Awards than anyone else -- and made us all laugh in the process. Now she's written a murder mystery and it's her best show yet." -- Regis Philbin

A just-back-from-rehab starlet drops dead while entering the Academy Awards, and the only ones who can solve the crime are Maxine (Max) Taylor and her daughter Drew, fun and thinly disguised versions of Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa. Oscar night. The Kodak Theatre. Hollywood. The red carpet is out and Max and Drew are on the job - mikes in hand. Suppose hot young actress, Halsey Hamilton, is trying to reform her image after a bad year of too much partying. She's moved herself, semi-permanently, into rehab. Imagine Halsey's triumphant sober return to Hollywood as she marches up the red carpet, bypassing all the other camera crews, and heads straight for Max. Alas, what if she doesn't exactly march so much as stagger? And then fall down at Max's feet, clutching the bottom of Max's divine Michael Kors gown? Is this a case of one of the most public overdoses on record? Or is it murder?