[John Easy 01] • If Dying Was All

**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.