I Am Not a Psychic!: A Novel

RICHARD BELZER plays the acerbic Detective John Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He has made television history by portraying Detective Munch in ten different television series, including Homicide, The Wire, and Arrested Development. A veteran stand-up comic, actor, and talk-show host, he is the author of I Am Not a Cop!, UFOs, JFK, and Elvis, and coauthor of How to Be a Stand-Up Comic. He divides his time between France and New York City.

Comedy legend Johnny Leland has called in his chips. He’s organizing a charity telethon and needs TV cop Richard Belzer to cohost. Not one to let down an old friend—much less the guy who gave him his start in stand-up comedy—The Belz gets ready to head out to Las Vegas when he receives a mysterious phone call from Paul Venchus, a newspaper colleague from way back. Twenty-six years ago, beautiful starlet Bridget Burgeon was found dead in her Hollywood apartment. Sleeping pills, the coroner ruled, but many questioned whether her relationship with handsome, up-and-coming California congressman Mark Kaye played a role. Conspiracy theorists have been working overtime ever since, and Venchus claims that he has made a breakthrough in the case. A well-known conspiracy theorist himself, The Belz can’t resist hearing him out and agrees to meet. Then Venchus turns up dead, and a wacky, self-proclaimed female psychic shows up at Belzer’s hotel in Vegas insisting that he continue their investigation. Relying on his TV cop know-how and celebrity status, they begin to piece together a series of mysterious deaths that, while rooted a quarter of a century in the past, present some very real dangers in the present. As the bodies start piling up, Belzer finds a legendary hit man hot on his trail and must utilize all of his talents not only to pull off a successful telethon but to solve one of our history’s most scandalous conspiracies before his Vegas stint becomes his closing act.