Added by 4 members
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by The Nerd Daily, Queerty, She Reads, and more!
A cinematic, razor-sharp novel following a backlot fixer’s daring investigation into the suspicious death of a closeted Black actor within the glamorous world of Hollywood
‘Deliciously witty… There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is a quintessential Hollywood novel and an LA classic for our times." —Laura Warrell, author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty, Rhythm
Xavier C. Barlow, one of Hollywood’s young Black stars taking the industry by storm in the late 1950s, is Skyline Studios’s ambitious attempt to rival Sidney Poitier. His arrival into the industry is calculated, his charm is magnetic, and his seductive screen presence appeals to both audiences and celebrities across generations.
But years later, after Xavier dies at the height of his fame, Aaron Touissant—Skyline’s designated backlot fixer who helps the studio’s stars stay as deep in the closet as humanly possible—is finally ready to expose the powerful culprits responsible for his untimely death.
Written from Aaron's panoramic lens, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is a searing portrait of the movie industry as a manicured minefield and a compelling journey into the queer history of Los Angeles.
Genre: Historical
A cinematic, razor-sharp novel following a backlot fixer’s daring investigation into the suspicious death of a closeted Black actor within the glamorous world of Hollywood
‘Deliciously witty… There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is a quintessential Hollywood novel and an LA classic for our times." —Laura Warrell, author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty, Rhythm
Xavier C. Barlow, one of Hollywood’s young Black stars taking the industry by storm in the late 1950s, is Skyline Studios’s ambitious attempt to rival Sidney Poitier. His arrival into the industry is calculated, his charm is magnetic, and his seductive screen presence appeals to both audiences and celebrities across generations.
But years later, after Xavier dies at the height of his fame, Aaron Touissant—Skyline’s designated backlot fixer who helps the studio’s stars stay as deep in the closet as humanly possible—is finally ready to expose the powerful culprits responsible for his untimely death.
Written from Aaron's panoramic lens, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is a searing portrait of the movie industry as a manicured minefield and a compelling journey into the queer history of Los Angeles.
Genre: Historical
Praise for this book
"I was elated, fascinated, heartbroken, and deeply impressed by this well-wrought novel that takes on the entrenched American way of protecting the powerful and destroying the truth tellers. The story of Xavier C. Barlow's quest to live and play roles as an openly Black gay man in 1960s Hollywood and the studio fixer who witnesses his struggle speaks directly and eloquently to many of our current injustices and concerns. I will be recommending There's Only One Sin in Hollywood for a long time to come." - Alice Elliott Dark
"In Rasheed Newson's There's Only One Sin in Hollywood, inhumane history snares all lovelorn seekers, transforming fixers and actors into potent dreamers who frequent and abandon their fates with disastrous and extraordinary resolve. Propelled by a haunted jaunty narration that makes a lively case for the necessity of memory, There's Only One Sin in Hollywood illustrates and innervates the queer midcentury. This novel is an erotically-charged, violent masterpiece of love." - Kyle Dillon Hertz
"A sharp, glamorous reimagining of Old Hollywood that is as much an examination of race and politics as it is sex and debauchery. There's Only One Sin in Hollywood is equal parts memorial and reclamation--a hard-earned spotlight on an oft forgotten corner of Black queer entertainment history--proving once again that Rasheed Newson writes a historical novel like none other." - Leah Johnson
"Rasheed Newson delivers another triumph and staple of queer literature with this noir-style, page turning novel that captures both the regretful and hopeful timelessness of the gay struggle. If Hollywood has only one sin, I hope this book is part of its salvation." - Byron Lane
"Unabashedly erotic, irresistible, and heartbreaking, There's Only One Sin in Hollywood exposes the hidden gay world of the movies--the connections, dealings, and dramas of its Black figures--with panache and authority. Sparkling with real-life and invented Hollywood stars, and threaded with a complicated love of the movies, Rasheed Newson's second novel is an American tale of the first order. It will grip you until the last page." - Richard Mirabella
"Deliciously witty and packing enough erotic heat to make sensitive souls clutch their pearls, Rasheed Newson's superb second novel brings us Xavier, a rising superstar determined to liberate queer Hollywood from a culture that demands silence and acquiescence. In studio boardrooms and backlots twinkling with VIPs named Poitier and Belafonte, unknowns try to become legends and heroes struggle to be heroic. Newson writes in technicolor--wow, are these pages alive!--and knows where the bodies are buried. Love, fame, war, religion, political freedom, big dreams and big money--There's Only One Sin in Hollywood is a quintessential Hollywood novel and an LA classic for our times." - Laura Warrell
"In Rasheed Newson's There's Only One Sin in Hollywood, inhumane history snares all lovelorn seekers, transforming fixers and actors into potent dreamers who frequent and abandon their fates with disastrous and extraordinary resolve. Propelled by a haunted jaunty narration that makes a lively case for the necessity of memory, There's Only One Sin in Hollywood illustrates and innervates the queer midcentury. This novel is an erotically-charged, violent masterpiece of love." - Kyle Dillon Hertz
"A sharp, glamorous reimagining of Old Hollywood that is as much an examination of race and politics as it is sex and debauchery. There's Only One Sin in Hollywood is equal parts memorial and reclamation--a hard-earned spotlight on an oft forgotten corner of Black queer entertainment history--proving once again that Rasheed Newson writes a historical novel like none other." - Leah Johnson
"Rasheed Newson delivers another triumph and staple of queer literature with this noir-style, page turning novel that captures both the regretful and hopeful timelessness of the gay struggle. If Hollywood has only one sin, I hope this book is part of its salvation." - Byron Lane
"Unabashedly erotic, irresistible, and heartbreaking, There's Only One Sin in Hollywood exposes the hidden gay world of the movies--the connections, dealings, and dramas of its Black figures--with panache and authority. Sparkling with real-life and invented Hollywood stars, and threaded with a complicated love of the movies, Rasheed Newson's second novel is an American tale of the first order. It will grip you until the last page." - Richard Mirabella
"Deliciously witty and packing enough erotic heat to make sensitive souls clutch their pearls, Rasheed Newson's superb second novel brings us Xavier, a rising superstar determined to liberate queer Hollywood from a culture that demands silence and acquiescence. In studio boardrooms and backlots twinkling with VIPs named Poitier and Belafonte, unknowns try to become legends and heroes struggle to be heroic. Newson writes in technicolor--wow, are these pages alive!--and knows where the bodies are buried. Love, fame, war, religion, political freedom, big dreams and big money--There's Only One Sin in Hollywood is a quintessential Hollywood novel and an LA classic for our times." - Laura Warrell
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Rasheed Newson's There's Only One Sin in Hollywood