Dazzle Me Dead

Book excerpt: A “Dead is the New Fabulous” Mystery (#2) “Lindsay Maracotta has created in Lucy an exhilarating smart and sassy character. Her insider’s take crackles with fresh insight and laugh-out-loud one-liners.” —Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author “Killingly amusing. Lindsay Maracotta wields the sharpest tongue since Nora Ephron banged out Heartburn. The book’s social observations are right on the money.” —The Chicago Tribune Lucy Frampton just wants to make animated movies and to raise as functional a family as possible in the midst of Hollywood’s special brand of madness. Unfortunately, when her producer-husband Kit scores his first blockbuster movie, he is stricken with dreaded "Mogus Virus"—(a common ailment!), which compels seemingly down-to-earth people to hire personal chefs and trainers and share enough air-kisses to inflate the Hindenburg. And adding to the crazy is the suspicious on-location death of his director, the much-despised whiz-kid Jeremy Lord. What’s a rational wife to do? Suddenly Lucy's only hope of maintaining some semblance of domestic bliss is to dive alone into the Pacific Palisades shark pool of actors, agents, industry honchos, lavish spenders, spoiled brats, ex-wives and voluptuous nannies, and surface with the killer. Her only weapon in this ocean of sex, lies, and camera phones is her irreverence and smarts —and they may not be formidable enough to protect Lucy from the dangerous predator who's circling....