Shakespeare in LA

It was only natural that former Los Angeles Times writer and current Deadline|Hollywood contributor Diane Haithman would one day turn the tables on the town she has covered with such precision for the last 25+ years. A writer after my own heart, she also knows her Shakespeare Ps and Qs.

In Dark Lady of Hollywood, Haithman uses her insider’s insight and razor-sharp wit to create a feisty new contemporary novel that blends the two worlds into a hilariously gratifying page-turner of epic sitcom proportions.

With meticulous delight, she appropriates elements from Shakespeare’s plays – a twist of a phrase here; a nod to a character there – to create an unending stream of plot developments that will keep you laughing at every turn. It’s smart, sassy writing and wholly entertaining from beginning to end. Romance, intrigue, mystery and mayhem; yes, there’s even a dog.

When you’re a 36-year-old straight white male TV executive in LA, life pretty much submits to your will. At least it did for Ken Harrison, a sitcom exec who loves Shakespeare’s tragedies…until he becomes fortune’s fool. No longer a big Hollywood hotshot, he has just been demoted to the studio graveyard of Movies and Minis, where all formerly favored suits go to die. The irony of that edict will become immediately clear to the reader in chapter one but, for the purpose of not cheating you of any of the delicious details, I’ll let you discover that on your own.  More