Plonk Goes the Weasel

A film company rips off a small redwoods town after offering residents big checks and the sweet possibility of parts in a TV pilot. When the checks bounce, the town is told there's nothing it can do. But then, in the coastal redwoods and in southern California's affluhip Venice and Beverly Hills, the residents go on a dogged hunt for unthinkable and truly wicked revenge.

Del Monte's descriptions of this small town riven by petty jealousies have a stunning intuitive quality. And she has perfect pitch for the resentments and backbiting of the residents as they plan revenge.