City of Angels

Act One

Meet Stone, a hard-nosed private eye from Los Angeles. When we first see him, he's on a hospital gurney with a bullet in his shoulder and a lot to think about. Flashback to a week earlier: his ever-reliable secretary, Oolie, introduces him to Alaura, a stunning, wealthy woman with a peculiar request—she wants Stone to find her missing stepdaughter, Mallory Kingsley. Mallory’s trouble with a capital “T,” but Stone takes the case anyway.

Then, things take a twist: a man at a typewriter appears. That’s Stine, author of City of Angels, the detective novel Stone inhabits. Stine is adapting the book into a screenplay for hotshot producer Buddy Fidler. While Stine enjoys the glitz of Hollywood, his wife, Gabby, wishes he’d stick to writing novels. As the line blurs between reality and fiction, Gabby and Oolie (who mirrors her) lament their men’s deaf ears in "What You Don't Know About Women."

Back in Stone's world, he’s nursing a drink in his dreary bungalow when two thugs