Former Associated Press columnist Jerry Buck has seen it all. In New York, he covered the birth of cable television, the videocassette, the growth of political reporting, the end of cigarette advertising and the constant death and phoenix rebirth of drama, comedy and reality TV.

In Los Angeles, he covered virtually every star, show, writer, director and producer -- as well as their feuds, achievements and scandals.

A Blood Red Rose - A Pete Castle Mystery, is Buck's most recent novel about what he saw and heard and reported, as well as that which couldn't appear in print. At its heart is the romantic, atmospheric mystique that shrouds the lives of screenwriter "Pete Castle" and some of Hollywood's biggest players.

Though screenwriting is not part of Buck's extensive scribes, he's hardly new to the profession's mechanics; his son, Scott Buck, is an Emmy-nominated writer, served as writer/co-executive producer of HBO's hit series Six Feet Under and currently is co-executive- producer on HBO's new series, Rome.

Jerry's upcoming novel, Pearl on Fire, is the first in his new "Vista Chronicles" series about a female obituary writer, Sean, who gets entangled in one of her own stories when her friend, a renowned local artist, is murdered and some of his paintings go missing. While fighting her own past that threatens to catch up with her, Sean discovers those she thought she knew best are not at all whom they appear to be. It's a provocative story crammed with unexpected twists, turns and treachery, and more than one surprise ending.