Stoney Winston Hollywood Mysteries

Available at lulu.com  (Search for Jim Stinson)

Launching my film career, I began as a prop man, set decorator, editor, and cinematographer (at work, on the left, on the ground); But even in those early days, it was clear to Hollywood that I was destined for lesser things.

Pursuing a lifelong interest in solvency, I lapsed into respectability; but I fondly remembered those days out on the remote fringes of the Industry and tried to capture them in four mysteries featuring Spencer Churchill (Stoney) Winston, who is smart enough to survive in Hollywood, but too decent to thrive there.

Double Exposure (Stoney I) finds Stoney toiling for cheapo commercial producer Harry Hummel, when a missing girl, a porno production ring, and a randy TV evangelist, lure him into arson, murder, and and other inconveniences.

More about Double Exposure here

Sample chapters of Double Exposure here. (PDF)

Low Angles (Stoney II) is about mayhem and murder on location, as Stoney helps produce a Hell's Angels-type biker epic whose entire budget wouldn't buy a single day's food catering on a respectable studio feature.

More about Low Angles here

Sample chapters of Low Angles here. (PDF)

Truck Shot (Stoney III)starts with a bang (which explodes the first victim) and gets even messier from there. Stoney's teaching film production at a seedy commercial design school full of eccentrics that make a Hollywood studio look like a CPA firm.

More about Truck Shot here

Sample chapters of Truck Shot here. (PDF)

TV Safe (Stoney IV) finds our hero writing TV game show questions, until he's dispatched to cope with a cheating contestant, a psycho fan, two murders, and a beautiful star who's as flaky as a croissant and even more delicious.

More about TV Safe here

Sample chapters of TV Safe here. (PDF)