Ardennes Thrush is an award winning movie star who has suddenly and mysteriously quit acting at the height of her fame. She is in Hollywood, at the Hotel Muse, visiting Andre, her husband, who is a world-renowned director and is at work on his latest movie. Ardennes, a contemplative woman, is a bit of a voyeur, and as she watches the comings and goings in the hotel, she begins to realize that something is strange; perhaps she is being stalked. When a box of dead flowers arrives she calls the police. And when the detective arrives to investigate, their attraction is immediate, powerful, and quickly carnal.
After their first encounter, desire, guilt and fear combine in Ardennes, and the tension rises in the strange, labyrinthine Hotel Muse. Then her stalker arrives at the door of her suite, pulls a gun, forces Ardennes to leave and locks her in a closet. While the detective searches for the actress, we watch rapt as Ardennes, in the darkest of narrow straits, not only tries to free herself but also ponders why this is happening to her, how she brought herself here, and what all the men in her life have had to do with it.
At once a noir novel and a psychological thriller about the complicated emotions of a beautiful, modern celebrity, Hollywood Boulevard is downright compelling. And Ardennes Thrush is a character that readers won't be able to take their eyes off of.
