Clea's Moon

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excellent 40s LA-set crime novel - Rated
A great crime novel with a well-evoked setting - LA in the late 40s - and an appealing protagonist : ex B-movie western star John Ray Horn, or 'Sierra Lane' as was, now reduced to collecting debts for his casino-owning former movie sidekick Joseph Mad Crow, after a spell in prison made Horn unemplyable in Hollywood.
The sense of period and place is superbly done, capturing the sprawling expansion of LA after the war, as concrete and tarmac cover what used to be orange groves and canyons where coyotes roamed. Horn is suitably down-at-heel, but possesses the steely and understated stoicism of the best Chandler-esque heroes of 40s fiction and film, like a Bogart character taken out of a film noir and put on the page.
There's even a pleasing nod to 'The Big Sleep', as Horn goes to 'Geiger's bookstore' on the trail of the men who took some obscene photos - including one of Clea, Horns' stepdaughter - after Horn's friend Scotty finds the photos in his dead father's safe. Soon after, Scotty is discovered dead in an apparent suicide, and Clea goes missing...
The writing is confident and assured, and all the more impressive for being a debut novel, and I've already ordered the author's next two.

Atmospheric, tough and touching - Rated
This is a great bit of writing - the author really immerses you in the period, and tells a gripping story. The main characters - ex B-movie stars, a cowboy and an Indian fallen on hard times - leap off the page. The tale is told with dry wit and a lot of heart, but doesn't pull its punches. Easy to see why it's won prizes.

Chinatown revisited in style - Rated
Very enjoyable, well-researched thriller set in the underbelly of 1940s boom-town Los Angeles. The story's other great asset is its interesting protagonist, a one-time entertainer who has fallen on hard times, and who carries the story with style. An excellent crime debut.