Cover of Frames

Frames

Valentino seriesbook 1 of 5Next:Alone(2009) →

Enter Valentino, a mild-mannered UCLA film archivist. In the surreal world of Hollywood filmdom truth is often stranger than celluloid fiction. When Valentino buys a decrepit movie palace and uncovers a skeleton in the secret Prohibition basement, he's not really surprised. But he's staggered by a second discovery: long-lost, priceless, reels of film: Erich von Stroheim's infamous Greed.

Read more

The LAPD wants to take the reels as evidence, jeopardizing the precious old film. If Valentino wants to save his find, he has only one choice: solve the murder within 72 hours with the help of his mentor, the noted film scholar Broadhead, and Fanta, a feisty if slightly flaky young law student.

Between a budding romance with a beautiful forensics investigator and visions of Von Stroheim's ghost, Valentino's madcap race to save the flick is as fast and frenetic as a classic screwball comedy. A quirky cast of characters, smart dialogue and a touch of romance make this Estleman's most engaging and accessible novel to date.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 272 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Frames? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Frames. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Hummingbird Wizard Shares mystery, cozy mystery, fiction
  2. The Case of Moomah's Moolah Shares mystery, cozy mystery, crime
  3. The Herring Seller's Apprentice Shares mystery, cozy mystery, crime
  4. Headaches Can Be Murder Shares mystery, cozy mystery, crime

“People who read Frames tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Craigslist Murders
  2. The Wild Swans
  3. Skating Under the Wire
  4. The Random House Book of Ghost Stories

“If you want more of the same (mystery about movies), start with these.”

  1. Cursed
  2. A Job to Kill For
  3. The Midnight Show Murders
  4. The Bad Always Die Twice

“If it was the cozy mystery that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Slippery Slopes and Other Deadly Things (Carrie Carlin - Book 5)
  2. Lord James Harrington and the Spring Mystery
  3. Smoke Screen
  4. Vanishing Point

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Shoot to Kill
  2. Forever Liesl
  3. Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue
  4. Come Hell or Highball