Works by
Jack Bludis
(aka Jack Burns)
(Writer)

The Big Switch (2001)
Hollywood, 1951. P.I. Brian Kane is about to deliver a report when he realizes that the wronged wife of Hollywood star Lester Randolph is not the person who hired him. One of her husband's lovers shows up dead. Kane feels responsible and manages to explore the murder, then murders, while working on a case at hand.

In his quest for justice, Kane explores the underbelly of Hollywood back lots and Beverly Hills mansions, running against important and unimportant actors, directors, producers and the LAPD. Along the way, he fears that his "friend", Kitty Chaney, has succumbed to the killer. In the end, his own life is at stake as well.

The Deal Killer (2002)
A routine studio security job turns deadly when a star is ambushed, a mysterious kidnapping occurs, and suddenly Kane's swept up in a maze of Hollywood bigwigs' adulterous affairs, underground movies, and some vicious killers from the postwar Hungarian mob! A studio's fate hangs in the balance, an innocent's life is at stake, and Kane's only solution may be to rely on his high-priced call girl's ruse to bring the deal killer to justice.

Shadow of the Dahlia (2005) -- Nominated Shamus Award for Best Paperback Original by the Private Eye Writers of America
In 1947 the body of Elizabeth Short was found mutilated on a Los Angeles lot. In a seemingly unrelated case, L.A. private eye Rick Page is hired by a multi-millionaire to find his missing wife. He finds her body trussed and hanging from the ceiling in a house overlooking the Hollywood Bowl. A few days later he finds another character trussed and murdered in a similar fashion.

Officially, the killer or killers of Elizabeth Short were never brought to justice. Officially, neither are the perpetrators of the other crimes depicted in Shadow of the Dahlia--but there is more to justice than things official.