SOLVED. 70s-80s Mystery with Actor Character [s]

[Bargle]

OK, not much to go on about this one. As the title says, I read it in the 70s-80s. I thought it was by Brian Garfield, but nothing of his seems familiar.

The actor character is male and has some some sort of problem with criminals. Hires P.I. to help him. P.I. observes him at work on the set and compliments him on not being aloof, but rather learning about other people's tasks on the set and talking to the crew.
At some point the actor is learning how to shoot a gun from an ex-military type. He has trouble being accurate. The P.I. observes him trying and tells him to open both eyes when shooting. Actor does so and immediately starts hitting the target.
That's all I remember about the plot. I may be conflating 2 books.
It was a hardcover, but I don't remember anything about the cover.

ETA: The book was set in the U. S.

[Tab]

Was this part of a series?
Do you remember if the main character was the actor or the PI? Did the actor do the main "sleuthing" or was it the PI?

Time period/location story takes place?

[Bargle]

Wasn't part of a series. At least I didn't read any others with either character.
Not sure which was the main character, though I lean towards the P.I.
Contemporary setting at the time of publication, so 70s or 80s.

[Sara]

The only mystery novel I can recall that has actor character(s) as a major plot point is Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George. Though, there are no P.I. in it, the main character is from Scotland Yard and I'm fairly sure that they are called to the house because of a murder. But the novel was published in 1989, so it's worth a shot :)

[C. John]

I know Simon Brett has written a number of novels featuring Charles Paris, an alcoholic actor who also acts as a P.I. on occasion. From your description I suspect this isn't what you are looking for but it wouldn't hurt to check.

[Bargle]

No, I've read many of the Charles Paris books and it isn't one of those. I see I forgot to mention the book was set in the U. S. I'll add that to the first post.

[C. John]

Hmm. Ellery Queen wrote a series of books featuring Drury Lane as the detective. They were set in the theatrical world I beleive. Here is the information as found on the website Stop, You're Killing Me

Written as Barnaby Ross
Drury Lane, a Shakespearian actor retired due to progressive deafness, on the Hudson River, New York:
The Tragedy of X (1932)

The Tragedy of Y (1932)

The Tragedy of Z (1933)

Drury Lane’s Last Case (1933)

I seem to recall seeing them in paperback in either the 70s or 80s (the latter I think)

[Bargle]

No, not the Drury lane stories. This was contemporary to the time I read it.
Thanks for trying.

[Bargle]

I've eliminated Stuart M. Kaminsky & Robert B. Parker.

[C. John]

Do you think you might recognize the author if you saw the name

[Bargle]

I doubt it. I was so sure it was a Brian Garfield book for so long.

[Raul]

What about Robert Crais "Elvis Cole" series?.

[Kris]

Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais for Raul's suggestion - https://www.goodreads.com/series/4191...

[Bargle]

Wasn't the "Elvis Cole" series. Thanks for trying.

[Kris]

A guess - "The Mourning After" (1961) by Frank Kane? "
"A hurry-up call from L.A. brought Johnny Liddell 3,000 miles to the sprawling Beverly Hills estate of T.V. star Dirk Messner. New York's shrewdest private eye found the handsome playboy in the middle of a press conference. The reporters were asking a lot of questions. Messner didn't feel like talking--and from the looks of the gaping hole in his chest, he wouldn't feel like anything... ever again."
http://www.worldcat.org/title/mournin...

Movie or TV actor? Hollywood or New York?

What's a Brian Garfield novel like?

[Bargle]

He wasn't a star, but a character actor, I think. He wasn't killed during the story, so not "The Mourning After". I think the character was working in the western U.S. at the time of the story.

Brian Garfield stories I've read are Death Wish, Death Sentence and Hopscotch, all made into movies.

Apologies for being slow to reply.

[Bargle]

Suggested and eliminated, the Stanley Hastings series by Parnell Hall

[Bargle]

Actor and P. I. book bump.

[Kym]

A guess - Die Again, Macready by Jack Livingston?

Kirkus review -

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

[Bargle]

Kym wrote: "A guess - Die Again, Macready by Jack Livingston?"

No, not that one. There was no missing manager in mine, as best I recall, nor was the P. I. deaf. Thanks for trying.

[Bargle]

While looking through the Brian Garfield listings on Amazon, I found a listing for a novel of his called Boomerang. There's no listing for it on Goodreads. There's no synopsis I've found on the internet. Amazon's listing is for an Italian language edition, so I'm not sure if maybe it's one of Garfield's other books under an alternate title or if it's a different story.
Is anyone familiar with it? Amazon page below.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...

[Anna]

Bargle wrote: "While looking through the Brian Garfield listings on Amazon, I found a listing for a novel of his called Boomerang. There's no listing for it on Goodreads. There's no synopsis I've found on the int..."

My English is not the best and my Italian is even worse but I think the blurb (http://picclick.it/Boomerang-1981-N17...) basically says that the hero is a man who testified against some crime boss and was supposed to be protected by a witness protection program but sth. went wrong and he was attacked while under government protection. Fortunately the attack failed but the man leaves his supposed protectors anyway and hires some "tough" PI to teach him how to stand up against the mafia.

(If there is anybody here who speaks Italian, please re-check and correct me if I'm wrong in any part)

[Bargle]

Oops. forgot to say thanks to Anna. It sounds promising. I'm going to try and get the book through the interlibrary loan when I'm done with my current loan book.

[Bargle]

Well, the Interlibrary Loan folks struck out. No copies available. So, back to needing suggestions.

[Bargle]

Going from Anna's translation, I think Boomerang may be Recoil with a different title. The Interlibrary loan folks couldn't find a copy of Boomerang. Both books involve a man who was a witness against the Mob. I'll have to get Recoil through the Interlibrary loan as my local system doesn't have it. A title change for Italy would explain why they couldn't find it under Boomerang.

[Kris]

Google's preview of Recoil by Brian Garfield is somewhat longer than Amazon's -- https://books.google.com/books?id=D3X...

[Bargle]

Thanks, Kris. The main character working in the entertainment industry makes it sound even more promising. I may have mis-remembered him as being an actor.

[Bargle]

This is solved. It is Recoil by Brian Garfield

I was a bit off on the details, but it's definitely Recoil. I found both scenes I remembered in the book.

Thanks, Anna and Kris.

ETA: Thanks to whichever Mod finished the shelving for me. My connection was being crabby.