The Face on the Cutting Room Floor — Stan Cutler

FACES OF DEATH

Rayford Goodman (still-tough-at-fiftysomething macho detective) and Mark Bradley (thirtysomething, gay, hip writer) are as opposite as cat and mouse. But when it comes to solving murder, no other pair can match wits with this Hollywood odd couple. It all begins when Goodman gets invited by the business end of a .38 revolver "to return a favor" for a mob boss--to guard the three4ime Oscar-winning director Claudio Fortunata, who is recuperating from cosmetic surgery in an elegant Beverly Hills hotel. Ironically, Bradley's next assignment is-to write the great Fortunata's steamy biography. Instead of finding a "nip and tuck" superstar, Goodman and Bradley discover a bullet-ridden corpse whose face was used for target practice. But is the dead man Fortunata? From the back lots of Hollywood to the back rooms of dirty, deals, Goodman and Bradley are on the trail of a twisted killer who is giving a whole new meaning to makeovers in this quick-witted, explosive mystery.