Best Murder of the Year — Jon P. Bloch

Gossip columnist Rick Domino finds himself the prime suspect for a murder during the Academy Awards ceremony.

Rick Domino is one of the most sought after men in Hollywood but he's not an actor, director or even a film producer. He's a popular gossip columnist covering the Hollywood scene and a word from him can be very influential.

Normally, Rick loves his job and the scene itself but tonight it's different. Tonight he's hosting a live telecast of the Academy Awards and his secret lover, young heart-throb Shane Kirk, is one of the nominees for Best Actor. But there has been trouble brewing between the two, not helped by the fact that publicly Shane portrays himself as "straight", even bringing an actress as a date to the awards ceremony, and Rick can hardly focus on the task at hand.

The ceremony itself goes relatively smoothly until Shane actually wins the award for Best Actor and is nowhere to be found. Surprised and worried, Rick goes back stage to look for Shane and, lured by an open access door and a hunch, checks the back alley. He does indeed find Shane, but Rick also finds himself in perhaps the most deadly situation in his life.

By the time the police arrive, they find Rick standing over a corpse, holding a gun and looking not-so-innocent. The truth of what happened in that dark alley, and who was responsible, is tightly intertwined with some of the darkest of Hollywood's secrets...and if anyone knows about ferreting out secrets, it's Rick Domino.