THE SHELLING OF BEVERLY HILLS
A novella, 125pages
In this short 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. (Having worked in Hollywood, this story was a catharsis of sorts for Martyn Burke).
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."