PURGATORY GARDENS

PURGATORY GARDENS is a hilarious noir romantic comedy set in Palm Springs by veteran comedic novelist Peter Lefcourt. It’s “Prizzi’s Honor” written by Elmore Leonard & Carl Hiaasen, directed by the Coen Brothers.

Sammy Dee is a mid-level Long Island mafioso in witness protection. Didier Onyekachukwu was the corrupt Minister of Finance of the former Upper Volta, who fled the country before he would have faced a tribunal, if not a firing squad. Both men find themselves in middle age, living in the Southern California version of genteel poverty in a down-market condo complex called Paradise Gardens. Enter Marcy Gray, a “mature” actress barely getting by on a meager pension and the occasional commercial. She is looking for a guy to help her through the duration and, frankly, at this point her standards are not as high as they should be: someone who doesn’t pick his teeth at the table and able to drive at night. Occasional sex and some travel wouldn’t hurt. Her search has narrowed to two fellow residents: Sammy Dee and Didier Onyekachukwu, who, being male, are mostly interested in getting into Marcy Gray’s pants. Though a little of the money they mistakenly think she has wouldn’t hurt either. Both men soon realize that the other is the primary obstacle to Marcy's affections. Accordingly, each decides to put a hit on the other, and wind up unknowingly hiring the same outfit: a father and son demolition squad with a website and a Facebook page. As the contract killers play each of their clients against the other, there’s poisoned pizza, blown-up cars, sex in the sauna, and media madness. Eventually, Sammy and Didier take matters into their own hands, turn the tables on the hit men, and Marcy organizes an intervention aided by her trained attack-dachshund, Klaus. Lefcourt is back at the top of his game as one of America's leading comedic writers. Heis a refugee from the trenches of Hollywood, where he distinguished himself as a writer and producer of film and television. Among his credits are “Cagney and Lacey,” for which he won an Emmy. In 1991 Lefcourt published The Deal, a cult favorite in Hollywood (one of the ten books that John Gotti ordered from jail) and adapted for film starring William H. Macy, Meg Ryan and LL Cool J — it premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Lefcourt was co-executive producer on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” PURGATORY GARDENS is his eighth novel; publishing & licensing history below.