John Lansing: "Dead is Dead": 

Life imitates art in Dead is Dead, the newest thriller by best-selling author John Lansing. Retired Inspector Jack Bertolino gets his first taste of the capricious nature of Hollywood when George Litton, an A list producer, options one of Jack’s recent cases that achieved international notoriety. The studio agrees to green light the film if Litton can sign New York actress Susan Blake, the new “It Girl,” to play the lead.

Jack is engaged as the technical advisor on Litton’s noir police thriller currently filming on location in Venice, California and starring Susan Blake. But more importantly, to keep a protective eye on Susan, who’s being harassed by a cyber stalker and is reticent to commit to a second Litton production and spend another year in LA.

When a six-year-old girl is shot dead in the living room of her parents’ home, just blocks from where Litton’s cop movie is filming, Jack Bertolino gets pulled into a case with threads connecting the movie, the murder, a brutal gang of brothers, and a terrifying body count.