Richard III, the subject of his first book (the second was Players: The Mysterious Identity of William Shakespeare), but Macbeth because it best told the story of Hollywood. It is, after all, a witches' brew of ruthless women, spilled blood and unbridled ambition.

But did Fields (above) miss Act

Four when hubris brings our hero down?

Dark spots and bloodstained hands are billed to appear at the trial starting this week of Anthony Pellicano, the notorious private eye. His career as Hollywood's enforcer hit the skids when the cops charged him with leaving a dead fish on the smashed windscreen of a dame who knew too much, a showbiz reporter.

Fields is at the top of the prosecution witness list because, according to the prosecutor,