Sardonic, neurotic, one-eyed , Hollywood detective Frank Ritz looks into why so many people around screen sweetheart Sally Pope are dying bizarre deaths in Umberto Tosi's latest, sixties noir mystery. Soon, Frank's a target himself. Darkly funny, Oddly Dead is layered with eccentric, roman-à-clef characters caught up in a fast-moving, unconventional whodunit set amid the glitz of mid-twentieth century Los Angeles. Umberto Tosi's Oddly Dead is "a slingshot ride through an alternative universe led by Frank Ritz, a history-quoting, one-eyed army veteran, 1960s Hollywood single dad, and Felliniesque private eye who is more al dente than hard-boiled. He leads us on an erudite Katzenjammer Kids romp through suspense, mirth and astonishment." – Lewis Perdue, author of The Da Vinci Legacy , The Tesla Bequest, and Daughter of God, whose twenty published books have sold more than four million copies "Tosi writes with tremendous style and a pitch-perfect ear for everything that makes the classic noir detective story irresistible. Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer, make room for Frank Ritz!" – Elizabeth McKenzie, best-selling author of The Portable Veblen , managing editor, Catamaran Literary Reader "Tosi’s works remind me of Chandler 's The Little Sister and The Big Sleep ." – Film and stage actor/playwright Gary Houston