Donald Westlake writing as Samuel Holt: The Fourth Dimension is Death (USA 2006)

From the Publisher:
He's got buckets of money and two gorgeous girlfriends, but actor Sam Holt nevertheless deserves a little sympathy. He's no longer playing Packard, the TV-detective who made him famous, but he can't drum up another gig. And now some joker who looks like Holt is playing Packard in commercials for a chain of cut-rate grocery stores. No wonder Holt's a little peeved.

Peevishness slides into paranoia when the joker gets his head bashed in just steps from Holt's front door. At first the cops like Holt as the murderer -- was he peeved enough to do in his doppleganger? But when they start to see Holt as the intended victim, he takes matters into his own hands. Holt may never have been a real private-eye, but with bad guys gunning for him, he's got to channel Packard and ride to his own rescue.

When the "Holt" books first came out, in the mid-80s, critics raved about this "new" author's wit and style, not realizing that "Holt" was a pseudonym for one of the wittiest -- and savviest -- pros in the business, Donald Westlake.

Donald Westlake writing as Samuel Holt: The Fourth Dimension is Death. The 4th Sam Holt Mystery. Felony & Mayhem, ISBN: 193339756X (December, 2006), 268 p., $14.95.