Goodbye L.A.

Four years ago, when Capt. George Steifer charged screenwriter Ben Crandel with murder, it didn't look like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But Hollywood makes strange bedfellows, and now the cop has come to his writer pal for help.

A Los Angeles Times reporter named Elise Reilly disappeared two weeks ago while investigating a story on the punk rock scene. Steifer has been trying to find her with the help of a spiky-haired informant who just ended up shot point-blank in the bathroom of a punk club-and now the cop is losing it. It turns out he buried the lead: He's in love with Elise.

Ben has lost his own loved one to the punk scene, in a way. His now fifteen-year-old adopted son, Petey, is the lead singer in a group called Claustrophobic-and apparently that's how he felt about living at home. But at least Petey left a note: He's off to pursue his punk pipe dream and Ben's left with his basset hound, Stanley, for company.

In pursuit of Elise, Ben and Steifer rush headlong into a veritable mosh pit of neo-Nazis and religious fanatics, where one wrong move could get them trampled. As they uncover a stockpile of weapons and an assassination plot, they frantically search for a connection to the reporter's whereabouts . . .