Meltzer talks on Marx, 'Romeos'

Tarantino bring Kinski front and center

By LIZ SMITH

Meltzer

BESTSELLING author Brad Meltzer, whose hot new novel "The Book of Lies" is out now, whispers to me that he has teamed with Grammy winner and "Avenue Q" co-creator, Jeff Marx. They also added "Ugly Betty" and "Samantha Who" expert Marco Pennette to help sell a series to ABC. The show is called "The Romeos." So, why would a thriller writer team with a Grammy winner and a TV expert? "We needed good songs and good stories," says Meltzer of the '60s-era drama about four kids who go on to become America's biggest band. In the beginning they are just 19-year-old unknowns. Hmmm, sounds like "Jersey Boys" meets "The Wonder Years."

SPEAKING OF writers, I just interviewed the wonderful Kathy Reichs on whose works they created the TV hit "Bones." Her latest, "Devil Bones" novel, coming out this very day, is about the forensic scientist Temperance Brennan and will shoot up the charts. But the inside skinny from Kathy is that her next novel will take place , not in North Carolina and Montreal as so many of her books have. No, the mise en scene will be Montreal and Chicago! This will somehow involve the mysterious deaths of elderly ladies and readers will get to meet members of Tempe's extended in-law family, the Petersons. They are a colorful lot.

WHEN 17-year-old tennis sensation Asia Mohammed steps on the court of the U.S. Open this week, she'll not only hope to dazzle with her skill, but perhaps blind her opponent, France's Aravane Rezai, with her bling. Asia's pink racquet will be adorned with two .50. carat diamond "A" initials. This bit of sports flash is courtesy of Las Vegas jeweler Michael E. Minden.

NEW YORK minute! There is the gifted Michael Feinstein ambling across West 58th street between 5th and 6th and he comes upon a lot of tapes and books piled high at the curb for sanitation pickup. He looks through them -- there are incredible musicians on the tapes and stars singing incredible songs. There are rare books on Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Rodgers & Hammerstein. So Michael can't help himself; he begins looking through the lot and setting aside items to take. (He is himself the Gershwins' foremost historian.) A passerby stops cold on the sidewalk to exclaim: "Even famous people do this -- paw through garbage?" Michael doesn't stop his labors. He says, "You bet and this isn't garbage!" He goes off with a heap of treasures.

On a more somber note, I am sorry to report that when Michael was asked if the singer Tony Martin will return to perform at Feinstein at the Regency, he was rueful. Evidently, Tony is desperately depressed by the recent death of his beautiful wife of many years, Cyd Charisse. And they say he is also broke. (The Martins had a son whose serious illness depleted their savings.)

THE CONTROVERSIAL director Quentin Tarantino is determined to bring back to cinema, none other than Nastassja Kinski, now age 47. You might recall she won a Golden Globe in Roman Polanski's movie "Tess." Tarantino, the "Pulp Fiction" maestro, loves to see stars make a comeback. (Shades of John Travolta, who got a whole new career after "Pulp Fiction.") The director wants to put Nastassja into his World War II movie, to be called "Inglorious Bastards." She will play a Germany film star in the movie with Brad Pitt. Brad will play a Tennessee hillbilly who puts together a team of eight Jewish American soldiers to fight the Nazis.