Los Angeles late 1940s As brush fires begin to eat at the dry grass in the hills rimming the San Fernando Valley a more ominous threat is taking shape. All over... » 

Los Angeles late 1940s As brush fires begin to eat at the dry grass in the hills rimming the San Fernando Valley a more ominous threat is taking shape. All over Hollywood the U.S. government is ordering people to appear before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee as part of the crusade to uncover Communist influence in the movies. John Ray Horn has little use for politics but as a former Bmovie cowboy star who fell into prison and disgrace he knows a few things about outsiders. And when his exlover Maggie ODare asks him to come to the aid on an old friend of hers who has been targeted by the committee he cant refuse. Owen Bruder a brilliantly talented but notoriously difficult screenwriter is accused of having belonged to the Communist Party a charge he strongly denies. If Horn can discover Bruders secret accuser they might have a chance to clear his name. But no one is willing to talk. People are scared perhaps more frightened than they were in the Depression or even the war. Hollywood has become a place run by fear and suspicion where a whisper is all it takes to smear an innocent man. As Horns search leads him to powerful figures in Hollywood his investigation takes a sudden and deadly turn. «