Screen Test

In April of 1968 Steve McQueen arrives in San Francisco to film Bullitt. Rough-and-tumble SFPD Inspector Johnny ORorke aka The Fixer is the departments Executive Protection Officer. His job is to make sure that visiting celebrities are well taken care of. ORorke is instructed to take special care of McQueen; the citys movers and shakers are hoping to develop San Francisco into Hollywood North. McQueen takes a liking to ORorke and when Russ Cortig a member of his film crew is busted at a wild Haight Ashbury party he asks ORorke to try to have the charge dismissed. Fixing Cortigs arrest sheet is a minor problem but it leads ORorke into a tangled web of intrigue and corruption that includes the murder of one of his longtime informers a crossdresser who goes by the name of Vanessa the Undresser tangling with a Chinatown drug lord being shot at by a sadistic Soviet hit man going up against a wealthy former Russian Mafia leader now living in San Francisco dealing with a vicious local gangster Alec Zek aka The Swine and a chasing after a priceless blue diamond known as the Stalin Blue. If that isnt complicated enough ORorke breaks into a real sweat when McQueen asks him to make a screen test for a part in Bullitt. ***Praise for Jerry Kennealy*** Kennealy always delivers hard-boiled excitement nicely with humor and style. -Booklist Kennealys characters combined with his seasoned ability to weave several plot elements into a smooth whole make his books stand out in the crowded thriller genre. -Publishers Weekly Kennealys nicely crafted stories always hold my interest. Never a wasted word. -San Francisco Chronicle