I'm both a Groucho fan and a mystery reader, so this book just had to be good--right? Wrong. It is filled with a great many Groucho-like wisecracks, but the ambience of Hollywood and the story fell too far short to make this worthwhile reading. The plot and characters were just a wee bit hard to follow, and I ended up not caring much one way or another who dunnit. Readers who like the Marx Brothers and mysteries would be better served by Stuart Kaminsky's "You Bet Your Life."