Imitation of Death

Cheryl Crane, daughter of movie icon Lana Turner, brings her Hollywood-insider expertise to the second book in a star-studded mystery series featuring celebrity realtor-turned-sleuth Nikki Harper and her screen goddess mother, Victoria Bordeaux. Nikki Harper is a superstar among Hollywood realtors. Among private investigators however, she's strictly amateur, and her first case was a Waterworld-sized disaster. But when a body turns up in a dumpster behind Victoria Bordeaux's mansion, Nikki feels duty-bound to get involved. Before his demise, Eddie Bernard was the über-privileged son of one of the biggest television producers of all time-and a spoiled, violent, party-boy loser. The list of people glad to see him gone could stretch from one end of Bel Air to the other. In fact, about the only person Nikki's sure is innocent is the prime suspect: Jorge Delgado, her childhood friend and the son of Victoria's housekeeper. With the DA and the media throwing the words "death penalty" around, Nikki has to help. Victoria, of course, can't wait to delve into another Tinseltown scandal, and soon Nikki is submerged in a secret world of celebrity drug dealing, dangerous cults, conniving stars, illegal aliens, and, of all things, the Food Network. With the aid of a voyeuristic neighbor and some good old-fashioned bribery, Nikki starts to close in on the truth. But can she keep Jorge from facing the final curtain-while keeping herself out of a killer's spotlight? "Seductive...Crane, herself a realtor and daughter of actress Lana Turner, clearly has fun playing with established mystery tropes and upsetting expectations. Fans of entertaining light fiction are in for a treat."-Publishers Weekly