Goodbye L.A. (A Ben Crandel Mystery Book 3)

“Sinclair has the unique ability to dish out hard-edged realism with—believe it or not—a touch of humor. GOODBYE L.A. is a fine piece.”—Gerald Petievich, auhor of TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.

Ben Crandel is a rather smug fellow who chooses not to remember that he used to write porno novels to support himself. Ben's been busy making a living in that "fur-lined pit" called Hollywood, and playing a very casual bachelor-father to Pete, the fifteen year old hard case he adopted four years ago.

Petey has become a New Wave punk, the lead singer in a band called Claustrophobic, who insists on blaring his demo tapes in the house at all hours of the day and night. Ben tells him that the music has to go, so Petey decides to go with it. Then Ben's pal George, a police captain, manages to involve Ben in his search for a missing Los Angeles Times reporter with whom George has been romantically involved. Elise Reilly, the reporter, had been researching a story on the L.A. punk scene when she disappeared.

Ben and George's investigation takes them down the toughest streets of L.A. From Hollywood to downntown L.A. to New Right headquarters in squeeky-clean Orange County, what Ben encounters is a disquieting revelation about his own eroding values and the complacent deterioration of the world around him. By the time Crandel decides to do something about it, the lids blow off one unseemly can of worms after another until both Ben and George are crawling with a horrifying series of previously unimaginable circumstances.