Masuto: The Hollywood Murders

Masao Masuto #5-6

by Howard Fast

Masao Masuto is a Nisei detective on the Beverly Hills police force- a cultured stranger in an even stranger land of traffic-clogged freeways, artery-clogging fast food... and brutal murders. In The Case of the Sliding Pool, the collapse of a swimming pool exposes the skeleton of a man, buried in the pool's foundation for thirty years. Determined to learn the identities of both the victim and his killer, Masuto finds himself in a game of wits with a brilliant murderer. In The Case of The Kidnapped Angel, Hollywood sex goddess Angel Barton has been kidnapped. Although Angel returns home unharmed a short time later, her husband, Mike- who left to pay her ransom- is not so lucky. Secking the reasons for Barton's death, Masuto is soon drawn into a complex world of secret passions, bewildering illusions... and increasingly savage murders.

416 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

Howard Fast was one of the most prolific American writers of the twentieth century. He was a bestselling author of more than eighty works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays. The son of immigrants, Fast grew up in New York City and published his first novel upon finishing high school in 1933. In 1950, his refusal to provide the United States Congress with a list of possible Communist associates earned him a three-month prison sentence. During his incarceration, Fast wrote one of his best-known novels, Spartacus (1951). Throughout his long career, Fast matched his commitment to championing social justice in his writing with a deft, lively storytelling style.

Pseudonyms: Walter Ericson, E.V. Cunningham