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My debut novel is a murder mystery set in Hollywood.
Updated: Kirkus Reviews has just called City of Angles "as chilling as it is morbidly funny...delightfully humorous, and the murder mystery is engrossing. The book is filled with hilarious insights...This is lighthearted literary entertainment at its best—easily companionable, intelligent, and brimming with artful humor. A genuinely funny sendup..." And The New York Post has just named it a Best New Book! "Brilliant...a delightful mix of comic novel and mystery...a deeper imaginative level than almost any mystery writer—much less comic mystery writer—I’ve ever encountered. City of Angles delivers a wallop with its ending...ought to be made immediately into a movie. Nothing like this has come along to my knowledge since Robert Altman’s The Player." – Harold Fickett, ScenesMedia |
"Akin to Tom Wolfe...Like Wolfe, he manages to do it with a light, humorous touch...What an entertaining book!" – Todd Seavey, SpliceToday
"Hard to put down" – Daniel Kennelly, City Journal
"A fascinating cast of characters...The author has accomplished something that the literature and mystery world has been missing for a long time. Our society, so overwhelmed with ideology and wokeness, has forgotten how to have fun, experience joy and humor. Leaf has not only brought out the varied aspects of what it means to be human—the contradictions and delusions, as well as the joys—but has also written a subtle social commentary on the absurdity, and sadness, of the present times.” Emina Melonic, Religion & Liberty
“Like Tom Wolfe......a fast-paced comic thriller...The novel's cast of characters is large but deftly drawn...A rollicking takedown of City of Angels and a study of culture: the tending – or neglect – of the soil of humanity.” Jane Scharl, Modern Age Journal
“Devilishly funny…City of Angles most closely resembles the two funniest, and most bitter, Hollywood novels, Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays and Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One. That's high praise. Leaf even does them one better by giving names and personalities to usually anonymous Average Joes and Janes… It's a wild ride that ultimately leads to a satisfying conclusion.” – Steve Weinstein, Edge Publications
"Has you at hello...he captures the place of Hollywood...And he knows the movie industry’s rhythms, detailing with precision the elaborate dance of pitch meetings and audition callbacks...mastery of plot...Keep writing books. We will be richer for them." Robert Dean Lurie, National Review
"Leaf bites off a lot in telling the story...yet he pulls it off...spot on...perfectly captures the spirit and madness of Hollywood, and should be required reading for anyone who wants to try to begin to understand how it operates..." – Neil Turitz, Below The Line
"A pleasing, plausible modern noir yarn… entertaining, often humorous, unusual crime novel…City of Angles is far from the usual crime fiction story. There is comedic relief aplenty...reminds me of Joseph Wambaugh’s novels...this novel truly shines." –Crimefiction.net
Advance Praise For City of Angles
“From the hip clubs of Koreatown to the privileged compounds of Malibu, nobody captures ’this town’ like Jon Leaf. A modern-day Hollywood noir that starts with a body in a trunk and never lets its foot off the gas. Addictive, fast and funny.”
– Dan Staley, Executive Producer of "Cheers" and "Good Luck, Charlie"
“Arriving for an audition, an aspiring young actress finds a dead body in the trunk of her car. Should she cancel the audition and call the police? Not a chance; when your career’s on the line, the L.A.P.D. can wait. Anyway, that stiff’s not going anywhere. An incisive satirical whodunit, City of Angles hooks you fast and never lets you go. Dreaming of fame and fortune in Tinseltown? You might want to read this first.”
– Joe Queenan, Wall Street Journal humor columnist and author of If You're Talking To Me, Your Career Must Be In Trouble
"Leaf deftly chauffeurs us through the streets and personalities of Los Angeles with clever authenticity and noir glamour. A wild, only in LA page-turner!”
– Laura Bickford, Academy Award-nominated Producer of "Traffic" and "Beasts of No Nation"
"In applying his gimlet eye to all the mischief in Hollywood, acclaimed playwright Jonathan Leaf has created in his novel City of Angles an absolutely brilliant mixture of noir and social satire reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh’s The Loved One."
– Edward Jay Epstein, New York Times bestselling author of The Hollywood Economist and The Big Picture
"I had given up on Hollywood as well as books about it until I read Jonathan Leaf’s riveting and amusing City of Angles. Get it!"
– Roger Simon, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of "Enemies, A Love Story"
“Jonathan Leaf’s entertaining murder mystery-insider's guide-roman à clef gives you a marvelous tour of the so-called City of Angles—because everyone’s got one—as his protagonists strive to scale the slippery and treacherous walls of Fortress Hollywood. If Carl Hiaasen is Florida Man, then Jonathan Leaf certainly has Los Angeles covered.”
– Alexander Rose, Author of Washington’s Spies and producer, "Turn: Washington’s Spies"
"Jonathan Leaf’s scintillating debut, City of Angles, is even sharper than its whip-smart title. Part noir, part exposé of Hollywood’s dirty little secrets, and all fun and games, the tale teases and satisfies in equal parts. Flashing a shrewd sense of humor that feels like a knowing wink at a Tinseltown bar, Leaf’s prose treads nimbly between the crisp and the lyrical."
– Christopher Yates, author of Black Chalk and Grist Mill Road
"Hard to put down" – Daniel Kennelly, City Journal
"A fascinating cast of characters...The author has accomplished something that the literature and mystery world has been missing for a long time. Our society, so overwhelmed with ideology and wokeness, has forgotten how to have fun, experience joy and humor. Leaf has not only brought out the varied aspects of what it means to be human—the contradictions and delusions, as well as the joys—but has also written a subtle social commentary on the absurdity, and sadness, of the present times.” Emina Melonic, Religion & Liberty
“Like Tom Wolfe......a fast-paced comic thriller...The novel's cast of characters is large but deftly drawn...A rollicking takedown of City of Angels and a study of culture: the tending – or neglect – of the soil of humanity.” Jane Scharl, Modern Age Journal
“Devilishly funny…City of Angles most closely resembles the two funniest, and most bitter, Hollywood novels, Joan Didion's Play It As It Lays and Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One. That's high praise. Leaf even does them one better by giving names and personalities to usually anonymous Average Joes and Janes… It's a wild ride that ultimately leads to a satisfying conclusion.” – Steve Weinstein, Edge Publications
"Has you at hello...he captures the place of Hollywood...And he knows the movie industry’s rhythms, detailing with precision the elaborate dance of pitch meetings and audition callbacks...mastery of plot...Keep writing books. We will be richer for them." Robert Dean Lurie, National Review
"Leaf bites off a lot in telling the story...yet he pulls it off...spot on...perfectly captures the spirit and madness of Hollywood, and should be required reading for anyone who wants to try to begin to understand how it operates..." – Neil Turitz, Below The Line
"A pleasing, plausible modern noir yarn… entertaining, often humorous, unusual crime novel…City of Angles is far from the usual crime fiction story. There is comedic relief aplenty...reminds me of Joseph Wambaugh’s novels...this novel truly shines." –Crimefiction.net
Advance Praise For City of Angles
“From the hip clubs of Koreatown to the privileged compounds of Malibu, nobody captures ’this town’ like Jon Leaf. A modern-day Hollywood noir that starts with a body in a trunk and never lets its foot off the gas. Addictive, fast and funny.”
– Dan Staley, Executive Producer of "Cheers" and "Good Luck, Charlie"
“Arriving for an audition, an aspiring young actress finds a dead body in the trunk of her car. Should she cancel the audition and call the police? Not a chance; when your career’s on the line, the L.A.P.D. can wait. Anyway, that stiff’s not going anywhere. An incisive satirical whodunit, City of Angles hooks you fast and never lets you go. Dreaming of fame and fortune in Tinseltown? You might want to read this first.”
– Joe Queenan, Wall Street Journal humor columnist and author of If You're Talking To Me, Your Career Must Be In Trouble
"Leaf deftly chauffeurs us through the streets and personalities of Los Angeles with clever authenticity and noir glamour. A wild, only in LA page-turner!”
– Laura Bickford, Academy Award-nominated Producer of "Traffic" and "Beasts of No Nation"
"In applying his gimlet eye to all the mischief in Hollywood, acclaimed playwright Jonathan Leaf has created in his novel City of Angles an absolutely brilliant mixture of noir and social satire reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh’s The Loved One."
– Edward Jay Epstein, New York Times bestselling author of The Hollywood Economist and The Big Picture
"I had given up on Hollywood as well as books about it until I read Jonathan Leaf’s riveting and amusing City of Angles. Get it!"
– Roger Simon, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of "Enemies, A Love Story"
“Jonathan Leaf’s entertaining murder mystery-insider's guide-roman à clef gives you a marvelous tour of the so-called City of Angles—because everyone’s got one—as his protagonists strive to scale the slippery and treacherous walls of Fortress Hollywood. If Carl Hiaasen is Florida Man, then Jonathan Leaf certainly has Los Angeles covered.”
– Alexander Rose, Author of Washington’s Spies and producer, "Turn: Washington’s Spies"
"Jonathan Leaf’s scintillating debut, City of Angles, is even sharper than its whip-smart title. Part noir, part exposé of Hollywood’s dirty little secrets, and all fun and games, the tale teases and satisfies in equal parts. Flashing a shrewd sense of humor that feels like a knowing wink at a Tinseltown bar, Leaf’s prose treads nimbly between the crisp and the lyrical."
– Christopher Yates, author of Black Chalk and Grist Mill Road