Hollywood, 1913: In the dusty desert community of Los Angeles, a ragtag film company cranks out silent movies in defiance of the law. Young Dmitri Pulski works for his father's ice company in the snowy Sierra Nevadas, and is sent on a journey south to investigate an astonishing order for ten tons of ice by something called the Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association. Almost immediately, Dmitri, an aspiring writer, finds himself writing movie scenarios. But things get rocky when the company is threatened with foreclosure by the local sheriff--they're grinding out their movies just outside the reach of the monopolistic Eastern Trust, which claims the exclusive right to make moving pictures under Thomas Edison's patent. Loren D. Estleman's The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association is the story of the frontier's last boomtown, whose cast of big guns includes D.W. Griffith, Tom Mix, Lillian Gish, and unseen villain Thomas Edison. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The history of American Indians on screen can be compared to a light shining through a prism. We may have seen bits and pieces of the genuine culture portrayed, but rarely did we see a satisfying and informative whole picture. Savages and Saints deals with the changing image of the American Indian in the Western film genre, contrasting the fictionalized images of native Americans portrayed in classic films against the historical reality of life on the American frontier. The book tells the stories of frontier warriors, Indian and white, revealing how their stories were often drastically altered on screen according to the times the films were made, the stars involved in the film's production, and the social/political beliefs of the filmmakers. Studio correspondence, letters from government files, and passages from western novels adapted for the screen are used to illustrate the various points. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

DIVDIVA collection of stories featuring a UCLA film archivist who searches for lost footage—and finds trouble instead/divDIV Though he shares his name with the most famous heartthrob of the silent era, Valentino is not part of film history. Rather, he is a scholar of it, working at UCLA to help find and preserve rare films. But not all movies are lost because of careless storage. Some were hidden deliberately, and there are those who will kill to ensure they stay that way. In these short stories, Valentino’s searches for missing motion pictures become dangerous investigations, and he is forced to decide what’s more important—preserving film history, or preserving his own neck./divDIV Comprised of timeless short stories that have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Loren D. Estleman’s Valentino: Film Detective shows why Estleman is considered a master not just of film history, but of the enduring art of murder, which golden-age Hollywood did so much to perfect. /divDIV/div/div

A collection of mystery criticism and essays from the reviewer of books for Ellery Queen Magazine. Jon Breen is the worthy successor of Anthony Boucher and his hundreds of reviews of books and authors is a must-have for all serious mystery fans. A Ramble House book

Bela Lugosi's Frankenstein screen test puts Valentino in the picture for murder Everyone knows the Frankenstein monster was played by Boris Karloff. His portrayal is so famous that the play Arsenic and Old Lace was filled with Karloff/monster jokes—even when the part of the monstrously deformed villain was played by another actor. But before Karloff's memorable portrayal, another famous 1930s Hollywood icon, Bela Lugosi, tested for the part of the monster. The screen test footage was lost for decades, until Valentino, that never-say-die film archivist, gets a hot tip about the whereabouts of the incriminating (for really bad, heavily accented acting) footage. But it comes with a price far greater than the money he'll have to pay. Someone would kill to get that reel of film, and that makes Valentino a mortal obstacle who would rather not die for art. People have already been murdered for the film, and Val doesn't want to push his luck...but boy, that reel is too good to let go.... Enter a crew of steampunk fans. Loving the arcane strangeness that is Valentino's life—not to mention the completely glam prospect of seeing the original filmic Count Dracula as the Frankenstein monster—they will find a way to save Valentino and Lugosi's infamous screen test. Or if they can't do that, have a great party anyway. Val just hopes it's not a wake.... In Alive!, Loren D. Estleman delivers a mystery that only he can. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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. 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 Frames Estleman's most engaging and accessible novel to date. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Private investigator Amos Walker finds himself caught between the mafia and the porn industry when he is hired by a businessman, whose wife has disappeared leaving only a note saying "don't look for me".