In this debut mystery featuring ex-cop turned PI Matt Murdock "the story never stops and the lushly decadent southern California life was never more so" (Publishers Weekly).

Ex-cop turned private investigator Matt Murdock is picky about the cases he takes. Being a bodyguard isn't his favorite gig, especially when the client is a high-handed number-cruncher like Ellis Dean. But Murdock is short on funds, and he has to admit the case intrigues him. It involves the death of Gayla Jean Kirkwood, a good-time girl, waitress and wannabe starlet who was killed in a car wreck on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Dean fires Murdock only to turn up dead shortly thereafter. So, Murdock signs on with the victim's sister, Meg Kirkwood, a gorgeous dead-ringer for Gayla Jean. Who would want Gayla Jean dead? A scorned lover? One of the men who paid to photograph her naked? Or was the real target the Mexican actor driving the doomed car? As his investigation continues, Murdock and his client will discover just how dirty deals in Hollywood can get. If they live long enough.