Book tip: "Fun & Games"

Duane Swierczynski

Mulholland Books/Little, Brown

The most difficult thing about Duane Swierczynski - other than spelling his name, which is not "Dwayne" but "Duane" - is whether his astonishingly fresh noir plots are more amazing than his can't-stop-chortling one-liners. Fortunately, it's not a contest. Both work beautifully together - and more than ever in his latest crime novel, billed as the first in a trilogy starring ex-Philly cop Charlie Hardie. After a catstrophic screw-up back home, Hardie's taken up a career as a liquor-enthusiast/housesitter. But when he arrives at his latest residency, in a movie honcho's mansion in the Hollywood Hills, he's attacked by a paranoid B-list movie actress. Her outlandish story: she's the target of an industry-backed crew of killers who stage fatal "accidents" and she thinks Hardie is "one of them." It's an insane tale - but Hardie quickly finds out she's not lying. Now HE'S a target, too. Just wonderful, hilarious, inventive stuff.

- RICK KOSTER