Fleur De Leigh's Life of Crime

Spry preteen Fleur de Leigh narrates a sparkling, cunningly observant account of growing up rich and neglected in 1950s Hollywood. The nine chapters in Fleur de Leigh's Life of Crime by Diane Leslie trace the hasty employment stints of Fleur's diverse, disgruntled nannies — from scary starlet to violent mental hospital escapee — but the real stars of this slapstick-funny debut are Fleur's fame-obsessed parents. Glamour-puss actress Charmian pops amphetamines for her popular radio detective show and favors pretentious French phrases (hence Fleur's name), and anal producer Maurice goes for the prettier nannies. Ultimately, Fleur's resourcefulness in dealing with them proves tres charmant indeed. B+