The Shelling of Beverly Hills
by
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Honestly this is the limit! You can hear Ruthie's voice all over the grounds, from that big mansion all the way down here to the guest house where JFK is supposed to have gone to bed with Marilyn Monroe even while he was President. Amazing. The limit! Ruthie's storming all over the place in a holy snit and even the gardeners stop what they're doing and look around for a moment like there's some storm cloud about to break over their heads. Which in a way there is. But I'm used to it. Ruthie's been like this for as long as I can remember. We're sisters. Only back in New York when we were kids, she didn't have a mansion in Beverly Hills that made people pay attention to her like they do now. Obviously. But even back then she still got a lot of attention. It's just Ruthie being Ruthie. That's just the way she is. Ruthie's on her telephone, pacing all over the balcony off the master bedroom, talking to someone about what happened. They've shelled Sunset Boulevard and now she can't get to lunch because it's a mess. The corner of Beverly and Sunset is up in smoke. Which probably means that place she likes, the Polo Lounge, is gone too. 'But don't they know it's a charity lunch for godsakes?' she's yelling. Lunch is going to be a disaster. You can tell. The women are rescheduling like crazy all over the area. From the next door mansion, I can hear their neighbour Connie with that megaphone voice of hers. She's on the phone arguing with the maitre d' at Spago, trying to make him understand that he's got to take her party of twelve. But Ruthie does it better. Secretly, she loves a crisis. Anything to break up the shopping and the lunches. She's already gone through the regulars and they're all booked solid. Le Dome. Bistro Gardens. Jimmy's. Right now she's on the phone to one of those new places over on Melrose Avenue. Probably one of those white on white places with lots of skylights where you sit next to a cactus and admire your lunch which looks like modern art on a plate. I always feel guilty about eating it. Like I've just slashed a canvas or something. Ruthie's getting huffier. Ever since we were kids I've envied Ruthie for her huffiness. She can turn it on at the wave of a nail file. Getting huffy is really a skill. 'What do you mean I should try 72 Market Street?' she's yelling. 'That's at the beach! Now exactly how am I going to get to the beach when there's limos burning on Sunset?'
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About the Book
In this sequel to the critically acclaimed IVORY JOE, Christy is flung into a world as strange as the Amazon where she has studied the savage tribes bent on annihilating one another. Christy has arrived in Beverly Hills, a world where annihilation is usually accomplished by legal documents. From the depths of the mansion territory north of Sunset Boulevard, her sister Ruthie lives a life hilariously untouched by reality as it is understood in the rest of the world. Especially the world that begins to intrude when the old Clark Gable mansion goes up in smoke. But then as Ruthie says, 'It was a teardown anyway.' PRAISE FOR MARTYN BURKE S IVORY JOE 'A funny wonderfully affecting novel,' Publisher s Weekly 'IVORY JOE is a real pleasure' New York Times ' a vast unruly, quintessentially American landscape. Prepare to get carried away. Burke is a storyteller of lavish generosity.' Washington Post
About the Author
Martyn Burke is a novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker. His books are often drawn from places and situations in which he has been involved. They include Laughing War, The Commissar's Report, Ivory Joe, and his latest novel, the sequel to Ivory Joe, The Shelling of Beverly Hills. His credits as a documentary filmmaker include Connections, powerful expose of the North American and Italian mafia; and Witnesses the award winning behind-the-lines film on the last day of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Other documentaries have ranged in subject matter from street gangs in Los Angeles to the feuds among the Mohawk Indians. He has written screenplays for such comedies as Paramount's Top Secret and The Second Civil War for HBO. He wrote and directed the hit TNT movie Pirates of Silicon Valley which was nominated for five Emmies including Best Screenplay, the Producers Guild award for best film, and the Directors Guild award for best directing. Martyn Burke divides his time between Toronto, Canada and Santa Monica, California.