John C. Zak has narrated 6 audiobooks on Listento.it by 3 authors, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is The Garden on Sunset.
The Garden on Sunset
Summary
Right before talking pictures slug Tinsel Town in the jaw, a luminous silent screen star converts her private estate into the Garden of Allah Hotel. The lush grounds soon become a haven for Hollywood hopefuls to meet, drink, and revel through the night. George Cukor is in the pool, Tallulah Bankhead is at the bar, and Scott Fitzgerald is sneaking off to a bungalow with Sheilah Graham while Madame Alla Nazimova keeps watch behind her lace curtains. But the real story of the Garden of Allah begins with its first few residents, three kids on the brink of something big. Marcus Adler has a lot to prove after his father catches him and the police chief's son with their pants down. He flees Pennsylvania for Hollywood with his mouth shut and his eyes open, and begins to write the lines all those starlets will say out loud. Can a smart, sensitive guy find his own voice in a town that's just learning to talk? Kathryn Massey's childhood was a grinding routine of auditions, but she couldn't care less about being a movie star. When she takes off with her typewriter, determined to become a newspaper reporter, she finds that breaking into the boys' club is tougher than breaking free of her bossy mother. To make it in this town, she'll need some serious moxie. Gwendolyn Brick is a sweet Southern beauty who's come a long way to try her luck on the big screen. She's hoping the same succulent lips the guys want to kiss will land her more than a bit part on a casting couch. She's going to need some help keeping everyone in line. Nobody gets a free pass in Hollywood, but a room at the Garden on Sunset can get your foot in the door. The Garden on Sunset is the first in Martin Turnbull's series of historical novels set during Hollywood's golden age.
©2011 Martin Turnbull (P)2013 Martin Turnbull
Mickey Cohen
Summary
This is the true story of Mickey Cohen, when he was pursued on a daily basis by the Gangster Squad, LAPD, and the FBI. The whirlwind years 1937-1950 provide a detailed personal and mob history of the famous Los Angeles gangster. Mickey Cohen, who died in 1976, was a colorful, feared West Coast gangster-gambler who knew the biggest names in Hollywood including the Rat Pack, was a confidant of Bugsy Siegel, a friend of Las Vegas' late Liz Renay and on first names with the biggest guys in the Mafia, plus Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon, and Billy Graham. Brad Lewis' book about Cohen draws from thousands of resources - a virtual treasure trove of Mafia-related books, articles, and interviews. Written by a tough and knowledgeable insider, Lewis tells the whole Mickey Cohen story with this biography. All the whispered anecdotes, the news items and the underside of the crime rackets where Mickey operated are in this book, open to scrutiny. From Bugsy Siegel to Lucky Luciano and Albert Anastasia to Meyer Lansky and Carlos Marcello, Mickey knew them well and worked closely with them for many years. This is Mickey Cohen! Inside and Out! This is an abridged version of Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster, the only modern biography of Mickey Cohen.
©2007, 2012 Bradley B. Lewis (P)2013 Bradley B. Lewis
Mickey Cohen The Rat Pack Years
Summary
Mickey Cohen, who died in 1976, was a colorful, feared West Coast gangster-gambler who knew the biggest names in Hollywood including the Rat Pack, was a confidant of Bugsy Siegel, a friend of Las Vegas' late Liz Renay and on first names with the biggest guys in the Mafia, plus Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon and Billy Graham. Brad Lewis' book about Cohen draws from thousands of resources - a virtual treasure trove of Mafia-related books, articles and interviews. Written by a tough and knowledgeable insider, Lewis tells the whole Mickey Cohen story during the period when he was involved with the Rat Pack, Marilyn Monroe, Patty Hearst, Menachem Begin, Jack Ruby, Sam Giancana, and the Kennedys. All the whispered anecdotes, the news items and the underside of the crime rackets where Mickey operated are in this book, open to scrutiny. From Bugsy Siegel to Lucky Luciano and Albert Anastasia to Meyer Lansky and Carlos Marcello, Mickey knew them well and worked closely with them for many years. This is Mickey Cohen! Inside and Out! This book is an abridged version of Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster
©2007,2014 Bradley Lewis (P)2014 Bradley Lewis
Dissolution
Summary
In three different loosely-related vignettes, Bradley Lewis uses a fictional narrative to present a glaring view of lives gone sour. Dissolution takes you to the darkest place in the lives of three different couples; two are married, and one young couple struggling with the idea of permanency. This tour de force will grab you from the first page and lead you down a path of circumstances that have gone horribly wrong. These addicting stories will send chills down the spine of anyone who has ever been married or in a relationship. What happens when your spouse becomes controlling and dangerous? Is abduction a reasonable out? What do you do when you suspect that your friend is sleeping with your wife? Does violence solve anything? What if your girlfriend has lied to you, not just about her motivations, but about everything? But hasn't deception always been part of the game? Wealthy Lauren and Louie live in Beverly Hills, where life on the rocks is a familiar, sad story, but never quite like this. Karen and Nicky end up prospering in SoHo with their popular coffee shop, only to find that the Rockwellian existence they dreamed of could be destroyed by an interloper from Hollywood. Young Sherry and Ben struggle in the world of modern love, where logic and lessons from history are easily misplaced and replaced. Dissolution is an insider's fictional presentation, based on years of real oral history; the stark realism will leave you breathless. Despite its dark view of relationships, the crisp dialogue and offbeat characters guarantee that you will enjoy the ride.
©2013 Bradley B. Lewis (P)2013 Bradley B. Lewis
Citizen Hollywood
Summary
Hollywood, 1939: When Tinseltown begins to woo wunderkind Orson Welles, he stashes himself at the Chateau Marmont until he's ready to make his splashy entrance. But gossip columnist Kathryn Massey knows he's there. Kathryn has been on the outs with Hollywood since her ill-fated move to Life magazine, but now that she's back at the Hollywood Reporter, she's desperate to find the Next Big Thing. Scooping Welles' secret retreat would put her back on the map, but by the time she hears rumors about his dangerous new movie, she's fallen prey to his charms. She needs to repair her reputation, find out if Welles will take on the tycoon, and extricate herself from an affair with a man whose kisses make her melt like milk chocolate. Hollywood writers are only as good as their last screen credit, but Marcus Adler is still scrambling for his first. His Strange Cargo will star Clark Gable after Gone with the Wind wraps, but Machiavellian studio politics mean Marcus' name might not make it to the screen. It's time to play No More Mr. Nice Guy. Opportunity knocks when his boss challenges the writing department to outdo The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Marcus is confident - until the love of his life bursts back onto the scene. How can he write another word until he knows for once and for all whether he and Ramon Navarro will be together? And to make matters worse, it seems like someone in town is trying to sabotage him. Everyone knows if you haven't made it in Hollywood by the time you're 30, it's curtains... and Gwendolyn Brick is starting to panic. She's considering moving to a naval base in the Philippines with her baby brother, but she wants to give Hollywood one last go before she gives up. When she saves Twentieth Century Fox honcho Daryl F. Zanuck from an appalling fate at a poker game that goes awry, he rewards her with a chance at a role in a major movie. Gwendolyn needs to win before her ship sets sail. When William Randolph Hearst realizes Citizen Kane is based on him, he won't be happy - and when Hearst isn't happy, nobody's safe. Marcus, Kathryn, and Gwendolyn need to go for broke, and the clock is ticking. Citizen Hollywood is the third in Martin Turnbull's series of historical novels set during Hollywood's golden age.
©2014 Martin Turnbull (P)2014 Martin Turnbull
The Trouble with Scarlett
Summary
Summer, 1936: Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell's first novel, takes the world by storm. Everyone in Hollywood knows Civil War pictures don't make a dime, but renegade producer David O. Selznick snaps up the movie rights and suddenly America has just one question: Who will play Scarlett O'Hara? When Gwendolyn Brick gets her hands on the book, the clouds part and the angels sing the Hallelujah Chorus. Only a real Southern belle can play Scarlett - and didn't her mama raise her on stories of Sherman's march and those damned Yankees? She's going to have to stand out bigger than a hoop skirt at a Twelve Oaks barbeque to win that role. Marcus Adler is the golden boy of Cosmopolitan Pictures, the studio William Randolph Hearst started for his mistress, Marion Davies. When Marcus' screenplay becomes Davies' first hit, he's invited to Hearst Castle for the weekend. The kid who was kicked out of Pennsylvania gets to rub shoulders with Myrna Loy, Winston Churchill, and Katharine Hepburn - but when the trip turns fiasco, he starts sinking fast. He needs a new story, real big and real soon. When Selznick asks George Cukor to direct Gone with the Wind, it's the scoop of the year for Kathryn Massey, the Hollywood Reporter's newest columnist. But dare she publish it? The Trouble with Scarlett is the second in Martin Turnbull's series of historical novels set during Hollywood's golden age.
©2012 Martin Philip Turnbull (P)2013 Martin Philip Turnbull