Jacob Singer

Created by George Baxt

JACOB SINGER is a LAPD detective (later a Hollywood private eye) who wanders in and out of George Baxt’s “Murder Case” series, working the same celebrity-clogged streets of 1930s and 40s Hollywood as Stuart Kaminsky’s Toby Peters.

Dorothy Parker?

Alfred Hitchcock?

Greta Garbo?

Humphrey Bogart?

William Powell AND Myrna Loy Murder?

They all get their own books.

Given both authors’ penchant for name-dropping and sly winks, and a shared taste for irreverence, I wonder if Jacob and Toby ever ran into each other?

Singer only appears in some of the books, though—most noticeably, perhaps, in The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case (1987)—but when he does it’s usually in more of a supporting role, backing up whatever celebrity sleuth is named in the title.

If you’re in the mood for Hollywood gossip and high camp, you might get a kick out of this series. If not, try Toby.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Playwright and scriptwriter George Baxt is perhaps best known for his outrageous, tongue-in-cheek mystery series featuring Pharoah Love, a gay black NYPD detective who first showed his pretty face way back in 1966. He comes back as a transsexual zombie in the second book in the series. As David Vineyard says, “There’s something to shock, offend, or inspire a laugh from almost everyone in them.”

UNDER OATH

• “Baxt once again on his resurrection mission—attempting to bring to fictional life a celebrity from an earlier era—complete with silly plot; imagined dialogue; friends and relations. This time it’s Noel Coward in 1935… Fans of show-biz lore may love it—others, be warned.”
  — Kirkus Reviews on The Noel Coward Murder Case

NOVELS

• The Dorothy Parker Murder Case (1984) | Buy the book
• The Alfred Hitchcock Murder Case (1986) | Buy the book
• The Tallulah Bankhead Murder Case (1987) | Buy the book
• The Talking Pictures Murder Case (1990) | Buy the book
• The Greta Garbo Murder Case (1992) | Buy the book
• The Noel Coward Murder Case (1992) | Buy the book
• The Marlene Dietrich Murder Case (1993) | Buy the book
• The Mae West Murder Case (1993) | Buy the book
• The Bette Davis Murder Case (1994) | Buy the book
• The Humphrey Bogart Murder Case (1995) | Buy the book
• The William Powell & Myrna Loy Murder Case (1996) | Buy the book
• The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Murder (1997) | Buy the book
• The Clark Gable & Carole Lombard Murder (1997) | Buy the book

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.