Screenscam: A Rep & Melissa Pennyworth Mystery (Rep & Melissa Pennyworth Series Book 1)

Attorney Rep Pennyworth has the client from hell.... Charlotte Buchanan, author of a mystery of no particular merit, contends her 1997 novel was stolen and used as the basis for a 1999 film. She wants to sue. Rep would blow her off, but Charlotte is the daughter of the CEO of Tavistock, Ltd., the firm's major corporate client. So, aided by his literature-addicted wife Melissa, Rep files suit. By return mail comes a death threat, a grisly version of "Hold Your Tongue...." Then, in talks with the film's director, Hollywood legend Aaron Eastman, Rep discovers the outline of a bizarre scheme to destroy Eastman's credibility—and that of his films. Hoosiers Rep and Melissa aren't prepared for the larger licenses granted to political powerhouses, but they're quick on the uptake and soon armed....

Bowen...writes with such swift and cynical humor that you are sure to be entertained.—Washington Post Book World Rep Pennyworth faces the client from hell. She is Charlotte Buchanan, author of And Done to Others' Harm, a mystery of no particular merit. Charlotte contends the 1997 novel is the basis for the 1999 film Contemplation of Death. She wants to sue. Rep would blow her off, but Charlotte is the steely daughter of the CEO heading the firm's major corporate client, Tavistock, Ltd. Charlotte is resolute in demanding recognition. Rep digs in, aided by his literature-addicted wife Melissa, and files suit. By return mail comes a death threat, a grisly (and gristly) version of Hold Your Tongue.
Research shows the film's director to be Aaron Eastman, Hollywood legend, whose Red Guard should have been a box office and critical smash but fell oddly short. Eastman contends the Oscar balloting was sabotaged. Now he's on the comeback trail and anxious not to derail. He and Rep talk and, bit by bit, the outline of a bizarre scheme to destroy the credibility of Red Guard—and Eastman—emerges. Hoosiers Rep, who enjoys a little spanking, and Melissa, who smokes a little dope, aren't prepared for the larger licenses granted to political powerhouses, but they're quick on the uptake and soon armed....
Wisconsin lawyer Michael Bowen is the well-reviewed author of numerous crime novels published by Crown (Worst Case Scenario) and by St. Martin's Press.
Of Collateral Damage (0-312-20289-X)
this the cleverest whodunit of the season, wrapped up in the cleverest dialogue—Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Let other lawyers chase power, prestige, and billable hours; despite his secret fondness for corporal-punishment videos and chat rooms, Reppert Pennyworth has found a soothing backwater handling intellectual property work for an Indianapolis firm-until a plagiarism suit rocks his world in ways he couldn't have imagined. At first Charlotte Buchanan's claim that Point West Studio's In Contemplation of Death rips off her justly unheralded suspenser And Done to Others' Harm seems ludicrous (her list of similarities between the two is a perverse classic of vanity). But when Rep and his wife Melissa notice one resemblance too many, the case rapidly heats up. Point West head Aaron Eastman, amiably dismissing Charlotte's argument while he's in the Midwest scouting locations, is set up in a phony drug bust, apparently by Rep's own client. Charlotte's father Tyler, the CEO of behemoth Tavistock Ltd., is threatened by a hostile takeover by buccaneering Tempus-Caveator. Eastman's claim that his last mega-budget film, Red Guard!, was done in by ballot-fixing at the Oscars is backed up by still another screenplay that purports to reveal the whole scandal. And Rep, ever seeking the quiet life, can't back out of this circus because Charlotte's already discreetly blackmailing him about his taste for spanking, and his billing partner is about to find out too. Much merriment at the expense of attorneys, writers, publishers, filmmakers, and fetishists. This time, though, Bowen (Collateral Damage, 1999, etc.) gets so carried away with gorgeous plot complications that the result is a perfect paradise of dropped stitches, the first mystery in many a day that should have been longer.

"A gem of a book that just keeps getting more brilliant page after page."--Michael Stackpole, New York Times bestselling author Attorney Rep Pennyworth faces the client from hell. Charlotte Buchanan, author of a mystery of no particular merit, contends her 1997 novel is the basis for a 1999 film, and she wants to sue. Rep would blow her off, but Charlotte's the daughter of the CEO of Tavistock, Ltd., the firm's major corporate client. Rep digs in, aided by his literature-addicted wife Melissa, and files suit. By return mail comes a death threat, a grisly (and gristly) version of "Hold Your Tongue." The film's director, Hollywood legend Aaron Eastman, and Rep talk and, bit by bit, the outline of a bizarre scheme to destroy his credibility--and that of his films--emerges. Hoosiers Rep and Melissa aren't prepared for the larger licenses granted to political powerhouses, but they're quick on the uptake and soon armed... Attorney Rep Pennyworth has the client from hell ... Charlotte Buchanan, author of a mystery of no particular merit, contends her 1997 novel was stolen and used as the basis for a 1999 film. She wants to sue. Rep would blow her off, but Charlotte is the daughter of the CEO of Tavistock, Ltd., the firm's major corporate client. So, aided by his literature-addicted wife Melissa, Rep files suit. By return mail comes a death threat, a grisly version of "Hold Your Tongue ..." Then, in talks with the film's director, Hollywood legend Aaron Eastman, Rep discovers the outline of a bizarre scheme to destroy Eastman's credibility--and that of his films. Hoosiers Rep and Melissa aren't prepared for the larger licenses granted to political powerhouses, but they're quick on the uptake and soon armed .. Rep Pennyworth and his wife Melissa investigate when he is hired by the contentious Charlotte Buchana, who claims that her novel, And Done to Others' Harm, is the basis for the film Contemplation of Death, directed by Hollywood legend Aaron Eastman, but Pennyworth soon discovers that there is more at stake than money