Ben Crandel

Edgar Award Finalist: Ben Crandel came to Hollywood to strike it big as a writer-not become the prime suspect in a prostitute's murder. L.A. seemed like a good idea at the time. Having published two novels, Ben Crandel left a sweet teaching job back east and moved to Hollywood to write a screenplay. Now languishing in development limbo, he pays the rent on his seedy bungalow by cranking out porn novels. And his girlfriend, Ellen, has decided she needs some time apart. The only bright spots in his life are being a Big Brother to an eleven-year-old orphan named Petey and walking his drooling but lovable basset hound, Stanley. But Ben's crappy California life is about to get a whole lot worse. Ben's friend Vicky, a former prostitute, is beaten and murdered in her apartment-shot execution-style in the back of the head. The Beverly Hills police grab Ben at the crime scene and charge him with first-degree murder. Freed on bail, Ben is determined to track down Vicky's real killer. At first it seems like her death may be connected to the adult film industry. But as Ben digs deeper, he becomes entangled in a multimillion-dollar game of survivor-take-all . . .

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.

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 . . .