Crime on My Hands — Craig Rice

“The Dorothy Parker of detective fiction” (William Ruehlmann) ghostwrites for silver-screen sleuth George Sanders in this “thriller with laughs on the side”(New York Herald-Tribune).
 
The snarky and debonair actor George Sanders (who would go on to win an Academy Award for his performance in All About Eve) has had enough of playing a B-movie detective in the Falcon film series. He's thrilled to land a role against type in an epic historical adventure opposite the hottest bombshell in Hollywood. Then, as the shooting begins . . . the shooting begins. During an all-too-authentic action scene, a background sap in a glue-on beard takes a real bullet. A tragic accident, or something more sinister?
 
Everyone now expects the big-screen sleuth to draw on his detection skills. But those murders were scripted. Being a pro, he's tempted to improvise -- especially when he learns the victim was much more than some hapless extra. Unfortunately, the slug is traced back to Sanders's gun, a key reel of evidence disappears, and the gentleman rogue himself becomes the star suspect. For Sanders, finding the real culprit in a world of illusion is going to be the most exacting performance of his life -- right up until the killer fadeout.
 
Having written two films in the Falcon series -- The Falcon's Brother and The Falcon in Danger -- Craig Rice was a natural ghostwriter for capturing George Sanders's trademark tone, a stiff dry cocktail of snark and sophistication. The result? “Lots of fun” (The New York Times).