In this sequel to the Edgar Award–nominated Tough Luck L.A., a Hollywood screenwriter searches for his kidnapped son in the dark underbelly of Los Angeles.
Things are mostly looking up for Ben Crandel. The once down-on-his-luck screenwriter now has a steady job as a studio script doctor. But the transition from Big Brother to single father of an adopted teenager has been bumpy. So when his son, Petey, disappears with their basset hound, Stanley, after a confrontation, Ben assumes the kid's run away again. Then comes the ransom call.
Ben's frantic search for his kidnapped boy soon has him mired in a morass of body snatchers and murder that involves a corpse dredged from the La Brea Tar Pits, a drunk and deranged Hollywood legend, and a mysterious and sexually voracious femme fatale. With the help of the cop who once charged him with murder, Ben follows a twisted trail of clues all over Los Angeles-from warehouse to funeral home, tanning parlor to bomb shelter-to bring his son home in one piece.
