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Imitation of Death

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

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?

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 2, 2012
      In Crane’s seductive second contemporary mystery featuring Hollywood realtor Nikki Harper (after 2011’s The Bad Always Die Twice), Nikki, child of iconic silver screen star Victoria Bordeaux, finds herself unwittingly drawn back into the world of amateur sleuthing when spoiled man-child Eddie Bernard turns up dead in the alley behind her mother’s Beverly Hills mansion. Plunged in Eddie’s chest are pruning shears belonging to the Harper family’s gardener and trusted friend, Jorge Delgado. Convinced of Jorge’s innocence, despite having witnessed a recent argument between the hot-headed Jorge and a gun-wielding Eddie in her mother’s driveway, Nikki sets out to find the real killer. She soon learns that Eddie had lots of enemies, a surprising number of whom attended a party at his home the night he was murdered. 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. Agent: Evan Marshall, the Evan Marshall Agency.

    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2012

      No one is particularly shocked when rich slacker Eddie Bernard ends up stabbed to death with pruning shears. But his neighbor Nikki Harper, a high-end realtor and the daughter of movie star Victoria Bordeaux, refuses to believe that the gardener did it. To prove Jorge's innocence, Nikki and Victoria call on numerous friends and acquaintances. A blabby personal assistant for the Bernard family leaks the fact that plenty of people within the household had motives. Add a drug problem and a suspicious New Age church, and you have one wicked read. VERDICT Nothing like the zip code 90210 to increase the sensationalist appeal of Crane's latest (after The Bad Always Die Twice). But don't sell Crane short just because she's Lana Turner's daughter--and the one who killed Johnny Stompanato, her mom's abusive boyfriend. Short chapters, abundantly peppered with real celebrity names and pop culture references, make for an addictive read. Plus, Crane does a great job of incorporating a multicultural/GLBT cast. Perfect for movie star fans.

      Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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