BELOW THE LINE (2023)
Former Detroit homicide detective Edwin Blake broke into show business as a script consultant on cop movies. Now living in Los Angeles five years later, Blake is suffering from clinical depression, is no longer in demand in film and TV—and money is short.
But things look up when Blake gets a call from wealthy, oddball producer Jason “JP” Perry, telling him he wants to hire him for a future cable TV series. But there’s a catch. First he wants Blake to locate the missing ex-wife of a “friend of a friend” from Chicago. Blake will be working for free on a promise—a typical Hollywood hustle.
But Blake’s not the only one on the case. Hired gun Warren Poole has also been contracted to find the woman. When a corrupt Hollywood producer, an ex-cop with a conscience, and a career criminal without one all have the same quarry, trouble is bound to ensue. And it does, with shocking results, partly thanks to Blake’s girlfriend Carla, a former roller derby queen who has turned her life around but not forgotten her moves when push comes to shove.
Filled with rich characters both easy to love and hate, Below the Line serves up both fun and deadly hidden agendas as it skewers Hollywood from an insider’s point of view in a deliciously fresh way.

“Cauffiel takes clever digs at the false promises of Hollywood and its denizens while evocatively walking readers through the city’s seedier corners…This is a fizzy good time.”
– Publisher’s Weekly.