The Actor’s Guide to Greed
Rick Copp
Kensington, 2005
by Robin Galen Kilrain~
If you can overlook the somewhat off-topic title and misleading campiness of the cover art, you’ll find a deftly plotted murder mystery within the jacket of The Actor’s Guide To Greed, the third in Rick Copp’s series of “Actor’s Guide” novels. But wait, there’s more! Generously garnished with television, theatre and film references, Copp’s story featuring actor Jarrod Jarvis mixes suspense into what can also be categorized as a romp: the tale of Jarvis pursuing a comeback is fast-paced, light and largely comedic. The action surrounding him moves smoothly from onstage to off, and from country to country, as the once child-star tries to solve the tangle of crimes he’s reluctantly become embroiled in. Toss in an LAPD officer boyfriend and a longtime agent/friend, and you have a recipe for a lively run. Hamlet it ain’t, but there’s no law against “beach reading” off-season.
An invitation to play the role of a lifetime — an offer he definitely can’t refuse after a ghastly, in more ways than one, recent film role — leads Jarvis to leave his injured-in-the-line-of-duty (at a shoot-out at the mystery bookstore in Westwood Village, of all places) lover behind and join a revered cast for a new play in London’s West End. Amid the growing chaos of a stolen Oscar, a diva’s onstage death, a possible kidnapping and multiple trysts, Jarrod tries, with the aid of makeshift-sidekick-cum-agent Laurette, to unravel the truths from the illusions. Meanwhile, he must convince Detective Inspector Sally Bowles that he himself is not the killer.
And yes, Jarvis does note the Cabaret allusion. It’s just one of a myriad of entertainment references that run rampant in Greed. Copp’s website bio gives us a clue as to why. Beginning in fifth grade, interest in old TV shows inspired him to write. Since creating plays at that young age, Copp went on to pen primarily for television and film. Numerous remarks about Jarvis’ star-making sitcom, Go to Your Room, as well as its catchphrase, “Baby, don’t even go there!” convincingly call up cringe-worthy canned laughter directly off the pages of Greed. A few of the other wide-ranging media mentions include comments about Britain’s Coronation Street and Prime Suspect; a riff on Ira Levine versus Ira Levin, and Boys in the Band versus Boys from Brazil; and the pronouncement that pet dog Snickers was “spayed per Bob Barker’s explicit instructions on The Price Is Right.”
With Jarvis having a policeman as a romantic partner, the narrative could have presented a Thin Man–type casting of the crime story, with Jarrod playing wife Nora to boyfriend Charlie’s Nick, the actual professional crime fighter. However, at least in this book of the series, Jarrod definitely takes center stage. Charlie’s profession is nearly irrelevant. As is, for the most part, the couple’s sexual orientation. Which is not to say that it’s not important, but merely that Copp weaves the effects of coming out, especially as it relates to their careers, into the storyline seamlessly. Greed even earned a nomination as the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Best Mystery of 2005, an award celebrating literature of various genres that the organization considers “brilliantly written” and offering “a meaningful examination of the LGBTQ experience.”
Greed hits its marks with plenty of suspense, humor and action, succeeding as escapist pleasure. So, sit back and let Copp’s tale transport you from LA to London and, finally, to the “chalk white beauty of one of the most vibrant Greek islands, Mykonos.” And should thespian Jarvis and his adventures prove to be your cup of (English Breakfast) tea, not only can you follow his crime-ridden career through the previous two books in the Actor’s Guide series, but also look forward to another, which Copp promises is yet to come.
