Thomas Tryon seems to have been born with a silver story in his mouth. He spins best-selling novels: "The Other," "Harvest Home," "Lady." He probably has written another best seller in "Crowned Heads"—a tale with the impact of "The National Enquirer" crossed with "The Day of the Locust."

The places are right: Los Angeles, New York City, the undiscovered paradises of Mexico and Crete. And Tryon's characters, four of Hollywood's ex-crowned heads bear so much resemblance to real people in remembered situations that his fiction seems to merge with fact. I assume that "Crowned Heads" draws from dozens of actual lives—Greta Garbo, Mickey Rooney, Freddie Bartholomew, Stan Laurel, Gloria Swanson, Marilyn Monroe—in order to create its splendid illusions. But in the manner of his fellow semi-nonfiction novelists, Tryon dodges identification. (p. 6)

There's something for everyone in "Crowned Heads." Tryon plays to the senses. He presses...