by : Laura Lippman

When private eye Tess Monaghan finds herself literally on a collision course with the makers of a TV series being shot in her native Baltimore, it's not only her introduction to the surreal world of televison drama, but also the beginning of a case that only a crazed scriptwriter could have dreamed up for her. Selene Waites, the glamorous but brittle young star of the show, has been the victim of a twisted stalker, and executive producer Flip Tumulty thinks Tess would be just the person to bodyguard her during filming. At first, Selene seems like a spoiled kook out of central casting and the babysitting job a PR sham, but as Tess gets sucked deeper into the show's labyrinthine web of deceptions and betrayals, she soon finds she's unwittingly become the main feature in a storyline featuring murder, kidnapping and sickening obsession.