Ben Collier, on leave from the Army, is back stateside to see his brother, Daniel, who has attempted suicide. On the down-low, Ben is also tasked with finding a Hollywood studio to partner with in producing a film using footage of the concentration camps. He comes from a film family and he knows the industry, the people, but in California nobody is interested in Nazis, they're too preoccupied with the Red Threat. As Ben learns more than he wants to of studio politics, communism and rag journalism, it becomes most important to solve the mystery of his brother's trouble and to stay out of trouble himself.

I have such a book hangover from this one. Kanon is never going to work for you if you need to know the color of the starlet's gown, the name of her lippie color or the brand of her heels. You're going to have to fill all that in using your imagination. But Kanon is excellent at telling you what she whispered in the leading man's ear as she exited the car and that's so juicy it's worth the effort. He does so much with dialogue, particularly in a one-on-one scene. I noticed a page or two that was completely dialogue with no tags, no description, no scenery - just rapid fire back-and-forth - because the pace of the scene needed that.
The dynamic between Ben and Liesl, Daniel's wife, just broke my heart. Family stuff is so hard. The studio politics were interesting to me but to be honest, I zoned on the Communist bits. If you're interested in Hollywood studios during the 40s, or in Kanon's work, I recommend it to you. ( )

Like many other commenters, I really enjoyed the postwar Hollywood setting and the zippy dialogue. But also like many other commenters, I found it hard to navigate the huge cast of similarly named characters, and the subplots were out of control. It did occur to me that both of those things could have been done in homage to The Maltese Falcon, which I've always thought had similar problems (an unwieldy, labyrinthine plot and a lot of characters who seem largely unnecessary to the story). I kept reading, but mainly for the setting; I actually figured out the Big Reveal as soon as it happened.

OTOH, I think this would make a GREAT movie with some of the excess plotting trimmed away (again, like The Maltese Falcon... I think; I last saw the movie in 1982, and don't remember it very well). ( )

Hollywood in the late 40s, start of the red scare, German emigres, spies and counter-spies. I liked it but it was really plotty and I occasionally lost track of what was happening. ( )

Stardust was a pick for my mystery book club. I had never read Kanon before so I was unfamiliar with his previous books. The book started off well capturing my interest. I liked the introduction of Ben and his meetings of Sol, Paulette, Fay, and Liesl. It was also interesting seeing Ben's brief reunion with Danny and meeting Liesl's family. Then the book lost me for a bit and I struggled to keep at it. I did keep at it, and overall the story was good. I wasn't able to figure out what really happened to Danny before the end because the book had many twists and turns. The character development of Ben was good, and as a reader I cared about Ben and what happened to him. Although the character that did grab my attention was Sol even though he wasn't a major part of the story and plot. I liked the relationship being built between Ben and Sol,and I liked reading about Sol bringing Ben into his world. Sol hadn't had any kids, and since Ben's father wasn't part of his life it was this relationship that stood out in the story for me. Overall the book had a good mystery, but I'm not sure if I will seek out another book by this author. ( )

The book reads very well. It is a relatively simple 'who done it' wrapped in an excellent period piece on immediate post-WW2 Hollywood. Kanon as always nails the setting near perfectly. The problems as always are his main characters [he seems to use some version of the same male and female main character in every novel] and the moderately unsatisfactory ending [it works but its a let down]. At least this time the ambiguity of parts of the ending work better than most of his endings. Overall its a fun read if you like the period [the scenes, places, secondary characters are exquisite]. The setting is complex enough that it is probably even fun as a reread. Definitely worth buying. ( )