All three books in Robert Muccigrosso's 'Dick Dewitt Mysteries', now available in one volume. If you prefer your detective to be intelligent and classy, this book is not for you. But if you like crime noir fiction that features a bumbling, politically incorrect gumshoe, you'll like this collection! The Black Llama Caper: It's the Great Depression, and private eye Dick "Dimwit" DeWitt badly needs a new case. He gets more than he bargained for after encountering the notorious Black Llama and his gang. Murder and mayhem follow, as DeWitt tries to solve the case - and keep himself alive. The Hollywood Starlet Caper: A Tinseltown starlet needs help: she has become involved with a fast-talking, lecherous movie agent and a corrupt cop. She needs an intelligent, tough-as-nails guy to protect her, but settles for DeWitt, who's loyalties walk both sides of the proverbial street. Dick is determined to get the job done, and with the help of some friends and a LOT of luck, he just might succeed. The Spycatcher Caper: Known for his bumbling ways as a private eye, Dick DeWitt finds himself inducted into the U.S Army during WW2. The military sends him to the West Coast to uncover spies, fifth columnists, and saboteurs. What poor DeWitt doesn't know is that while he is looking for the enemy, the enemy is looking for him.

If you're looking for a hardboiled detective in the mold of Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade, Dick DeWitt is not your hero. He's not very bright, oozes insensitivity, lacks class, and epitomizes what we now recognize as political incorrectness. A Tinseltown starlet wannabe needs help: she has become involved with two sleazes, a fast-talking lecherous movie agent and a mean, corrupt cop. She's kept two little black books that could ruin the men, and that's why she needs an intelligent, tough-as-nails guy to protect her. She doesn't find one, but settles for DeWitt. His loyalties walk both sides of the proverbial street, But Dick is dogged in his determination to get the job done. With the help of some friends and some luck - make that a lot of luck - he just might succeed.

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive and systematic account of the phenomenon of cinematic remaking. Drawing upon recent theories of genre and intertextuality, Film Remakes describes remaking as both an elastic concept and a complex situation, one enabled and limited by the interrelated roles and practices of industry, critics, and audiences. This approach to remaking is developed across three broad sections: the first deals with issues of production, including commerce and authors; the second considers genre, plots, and structures; and the third investigates issues of reception, including audiences and institutions.

If you prefer your detective to be intelligent, classy, and a lady's man, this book is not for you. But if you'd like a spoof on crime noir fiction that features a bumbling, politically incorrect gumshoe, you'll like The Black Llama Caper. Private eye Dic

It was the most astonishing fair ever. "The grandest exposition this planet has ever witnessed", wrote one observer of the Columbian Exposition. A spectacular neoclassical "White City" designed by the nation's leading architects under the direction of Daniel Burnham; innumerable exhibits of science, technology, and the arts from throughout the world; a meeting place for a remarkable variety of social, intellectual, and religious groups; and a Midway of sometimes up-lifting, sometimes exotic attractions - all staged in that boisterous and fascinating city of wealth, culture, and corruption, Chicago. No fair since has so captured the imagination of the American people - indeed, people throughout the world. More than 27 million visitors (an extraordinary figure for 1893) came to see the great Chicago World's Fair, and it entertained them enormously. Its legacies - to literature, music, architecture, and city planning, among many fields - were notable. But the Columbian Exposition was also a telling portrait of American society at the turn of the nineteenth century. No event better illustrated the American rise to world power, better reflected American tastes and values, or better presaged the American Century to come. Robert Muccigrosso explores the history, substance, and larger meaning of the fair in this lively survey.

An account of the acclaimed actor's Hollywood career and struggles with methamphetamine addiction covers his Detroit background, his relationships with various co-stars, and his experiences as a father of twin boys.