Cirrus@Austlit

'‘The big black car came up out of nowhere… I heard a siren and slowed down and pulled over like an honest citizen. The next thing I knew two men with hats pulled down over their eyes and sunglasses on above their tough expressions were pulling open the front doors of my car. I heard May Lin scream and saw a gun…’

'Hollywood. Studio screenwriter Hart Sallust, well-known patron of sleazy bars and nightclubs, has disappeared. Peter McVey, private eye, has been hired to find him. In unfamiliar territory, McVey enlists Browning – part-time actor, part-time private eye – at home in any Hollywood bar.

'From Hollywood bars to the Chinese underworld, their search uncovers the beautiful May Lin. With Sallust when he disappeared, and seemingly inconsolable. Or is she? Her story has ‘more holes in it than a flyscreen’.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'I'm in love with Vivien Leigh, and I'm the most miserable bastard on earth.

'When Browning's old drinking mate Peter Finch utters these words, Browning realises that trouble looms. Within the space of a few short hours he finds himself caught up in a London bar room brawl, held in isolation in a lockup, and employed as chauffeur to Vivien Leigh.

'But his problems really begin when he is sent on location to Ceylon together with Leigh and Finch to film Elephant Walk. As the heat rises so do the stakes as Browning becomes embroiled in passionate liaisons and the desperate search for a missing - all set against the political hotbed of Colombo.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

''I felt lucky. I was heading for the U.S.A., Hollywood and a million dollars. "Deal the cards, Jesse," I said.'

'But not all the cards dealt to Browning turn up trumps. And Richard Browning has a marvellous talent for mucking up even lucky breaks. In fact, he's only really good at one thing: that is, getting away.

'Sure, the would-be Aussie movie star makes it to the U.S of A., but San Francisco proves to be a long way from the starlets, palm trees and swimming pools of Hollywood, at least by the route only he could choose, through Mexico. And then, when he gets to Beverly Hills, he finds bootleggers in the swimming pools, anarchists on the movie sets and starlets just too hot to handle. Not to mention making an enemy of the 'king' of Hollywood, Douglas Fairbanks - the 'city of dreams' becomes nightmare land.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'‘One of the bayonets came to rest just below my Adam’s apple. I looked down at the shiny steel and then slowly looked along the length of the rifle barrel up into the face of my executioner. He wore thick glasses with metal rims and he had gold fillings in his teeth. I could see the teeth because he was smiling.’

'All Richard Browning expects is to go through the motions of making a propaganda film, wear an officer’s uniform, stay in a few fancy hotels and enjoy the fleshpots of war-time Sydney. Instead, he is forced to slog through the Queensland jungle, dodge bullets and bombs and endure the discomforts of a military prison.

'As Browning ducks and weaves in and out of trouble, his companions in strife are ‘Harry’ Kaminaga, Hawaiian-born Japanese soldier, and Ushi Tanvier, Darlinghurst prostitute. His friendship with the hell-raising actor, Peter Finch, offers him some prospect of escape from his problems, but his enemies in Military Intelligence and among the blackmarket racketeers of the big smoke don’t see why he should survive World War II.

'Coming home wasn’t meant to be like this…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'‘Howard Hughes nodded approvingly. “Mistu Kelly,” he said. “You and yore buddy sure can fly. It’s been a privilege, suh, to go up with you.”’

'After being coerced into doing time in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Richard Kelly Browning decides the Mountie life is not for him and escapes via the Yukon and Chicago.

'Joining forces with compatriot Bluey Tait, he learns to fly and the two of them are contracted to work for Howard Hughes on his multi-million dollar blockbuster, Hell’s Angels. The Hollywood life is more Dick’s scene and life seems sweet for a while. But his past is just behind a palm tree and threatening to engulf him.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'‘Well, what do you know,’ he said. ‘I’m very pleased to meet up with you at last, sport.’ I leaned back against the door and started into the mocking grey eyes of Errol Flynn.

'Down on his luck in southern California in the middle of the Depression, Richard Browning falls back on his charm and good looks to find a soft landing. Coral Smit who runs a motor court in Three Cedars looks like the answer, but Browning discovers that a sleepy little town can harbor more ruthless criminals than LA.

'Cast adrift, he goes first to Montana, where he works as a cowboy and then back to Hollywood to appear before the cameras with Gary Cooper and Anthony Quinn in The Plainsman.

'As always, Browning runs into trouble in Hollywood. This time he is caught between the FBI and the Ku Klux Klan and to add to his woes he makes a deadly enemy of an Australian actor named Errol Flynn…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'‘She gazed at me with what I took to be adoration. I gave her a light kiss on the lips. “Is it better the second time?” she said’

'Richard Browning is a crack-shot, six-foot, all-Australian ex-private-school horseman. He is determined to con his way into the new world of film-making, but his way to Hollywood is thwarted by World War One, a series of unfortunate affairs and a disastrous marriage. In his developing career as box office poison, Browning makes more enemies than movies.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'"I wanted to give him an uppercut for his arrogance and to get him to lift his head. He was still looking at his boots. He'd lit the cigarette and smoke was drifting past his face. It's hard to tell from the top of someone's head, but I was sure that I know him from somewhere..."

'And that's how Browning meets James Dean.

'Browning's almost past it, teaching punk would-be actors to fall off horses. When the "toxic little son of a bitch", Jimmy Dean, roars in on his "sickle", it's the beginning of an odd-couple alliance: they're both in trouble and needing help. In Marfa, Mexico, where Dean, Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor - and Browning - are on location, the movie's not the only thing being shot.

'Is this the end for Browning?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.