If Dying Was All

By Ron Goulart

John Easy searches California for a screenwriter's daughter who's back from the dead.

In 1972, Los Angeles is the wacko capital of the world. Gurus, junkies, and wannabe actresses all wind up here, and when one goes missing, John Easy is there to investigate. A hip private eye with a battered VW and a major turtleneck collection, he's pondering an encroaching wildfire when his secretary tells him that Frederic McCleary's daughter has risen from the dead.

Five years ago, Jackie McCleary took a dive into the Pacific Ocean, leaving her old man nothing but a suicide note and his Academy Awards to keep him company. Her body was never found, and her father has long nursed a secret hope that she is still alive. Out of the blue, he receives a letter in Jackie's handwriting asking for a meeting. When she doesn't show, he hires John Easy to find his daughter in a city whose citizens all too often resemble the living dead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784085070

Ron Goulart

Ron Goulart (1933-2022) was the author of several series and standalone novels across several genres, as well as nonfiction books on a variety of pop culture subjects, including pulp magazines and comic books. An Edgar Award nominee, a Nebula Award finalist, and an Inkpot Award-winner, his books include the TekWar series (with William Shatner), the Fragmented America books, the Marvel Novels Incredible Hulk: Stalker from the Stars and Captain America: Holocaust for Hire (as Joseph Silva, with Len Wein and Marv Wolfman), and the Mysteries Featuring Groucho Marx, including Groucho Marx, Master Detective, Groucho Marx and the Broadway Murders, and Elementary My Dear Groucho.