Death on the D-List

TV legal analyst Grace's second Hailey Dean thriller (after The Eleventh Victim) works as a zany yet dark satire of pop icon worship. Hailey, a past victim of violent crime, is working as a Manhattan psychologist when a serial killer begins shooting D-List celebrities who are on the verge of making a comeback in their careers, including a TV actress, a reality TV star, a fading film queen, and a singer. After a hit appearance on The Harry Todd Show as a crime expert, Hailey bumps the ratings so high that producer Sookie Downs and her booker, Tony Russo, want her to return as a regular. Hailey is drawn deeper into the shooting investigations by NYPD Lt. Ethan Kolker, who's also wooing her romantically. Grace adds some entertaining wackiness to standard thriller theatrics with some eccentric characters, most notably Francis Merle McGinnis, a goofy star stalker with a connection to the slain D-Listers. (Aug.)