L.A. SLEEPERS Excerpt: Cab or UBER?
L.A. SLEEPERS Excerpts: Cab or Uber? by Dakota Donovan In my novel L.A. SLEEPERS: A Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery, I love to take cabs— because I hate driving in L.A. traffic, especially in my old Toyota, where I risk heatstroke thanks to the vehicle’s broken A/C. I wrote L.A. SLEEPERS in 2014, before UBER gained […]
Ghostwriter Tales: Catch-92
GHOSTWRITER TALES: Catch-92 (or capture those memories while you still remember what you want to write about) by Dakota Donovan I was one of those kids who preferred eavesdropping on adults over playing outside. While listening to my elders talking about their lives, I heard many say, “I could write a book,” meaning they had […]
L.A. SLEEPERS Locations: Mulholland Drive
L.A. SLEEPERS Locations: Mulholland Drive by Dakota Donovan The above photo gives a feeling of what it’s like to drive on L.A.’s Mulholland Drive, but no photo can really do it justice. For a driving tour of the infamous road, check out this video. Built in 1924, Mulholland Drive is a two-lane road along the […]
L.A. SLEEPERS Locations: The Margaret Herrick Library (Beverly Hills, CA)
L.A. SLEEPERS Locations: The Margaret Herrick Library (Beverly Hills, CA) by Dakota Donovan A substantial portion of Chapters 6 and 7 of my novel L.A. SLEEPERS: A Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery takes place at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills — a beautiful facility and heaven on earth for most researchers. The rules are strict […]
L.A. SLEEPERS Locations: Griffith Observatory
L.A. SLEEPERS Locations: Griffith Observatory by Dakota Donovan In my novel, L.A. SLEEPERS: A Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery, a pivotal scene takes place at night outside the Griffith Observatory. Many people remember the Los Angeles location from REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, the 1955 film starring James Dean. A bronze head of James Dean is now a […]
Ghostwriter Tales: What is a ghostwriter?
GHOSTWRITER TALES: What is a ghostwriter? by Dakota Donovan In my novel L.A. SLEEPERS: A Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery, I differentiate between the “author” (the client who hires me) and the writer (me, as ghostwriter). A passage from Chapter 1 of the novel describes this complex author/writer relationship: My initial encounter with an author is a […]
It’s here! Just in time for summer reading: L.A. SLEEPERS: A Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery
I”m excited to announce the release of my novel L.A. SLEEPERS, the first book in my Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery Series. L.A. SLEEPERS takes readers into some of Southern California’s most exclusive areas — Brentwood, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Malibu, and points in between — as this writing gig brings me close up and personal with dark […]
L.A. SLEEPERS: A Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery (Chapter One)
L.A. SLEEPERS Chapter One When my cell phone rings, I’m soaking in the bathtub, puffing on an electronic cigarette, and rereading The Big Sleep. The last thing I want to do is answer an unexpected call. I’m behind on my rent, overdue on my credit card payments, still owe my dentist for a root canal, and […]
L.A. SLEEPERS: A Hollywood Ghostwriter Mystery
When elderly Hollywood producer Milton Kingman says he’s dying and needs someone to write his memoir, Dakota Donovan takes the job. The pay is lousy and the hours are worse, but the ghostwriter has no other options at the moment. What starts out as a standard “as told to” assignment soon becomes a long, strange […]
DAKOTA DONOVAN 