This is the first book written after Bonnie and I completed Tailing Philip Marlowe.  I'm going to rename it Tailing Raymond Chandler when I bring it out on e-books, perhaps in 2010, since so much of the action involves Chandler. My first attempt at noir-type fiction and an attempt to write it in his style. Read it yourself and find out if I succeeded. Order our tour guide and it's FREE to you, typos and all!

Synopsis
The year is 1939.  John Lash, private investigator, is sitting in his office when a woman giving her name as Violet Merill enters.  She requests his assistance in recovering a screenplay written by Raymond Chandler,  the well-known author, that has been stolen from Ultramount studios. Taking the case, Lash visits a secretary who works for Ultramount and questions her about the screenplay.  The next day the woman is found dead in a field near City Hall. 

Suspicious, Lash finds out that Violet Merill's real name is Joey Wareng, that she is a singer at a popular nightclub called the Albatross and the girlfriend of a mobster, Delvin Beasley. A bit actress now too old for prime roles, Joey is planning to use the script and Beasley's muscle to take over an existing studio. She is assisted by Grado, a thug whom she has brought under her control.     

Lash finds himself dealing with the usual corrupt officials, detectives, etc., as he attempts to unravel the reasons behind the murder of Violet Nash. Along the way, he runs into Raymond Chandler and Chandler's wife, Cissy. Another murder, this time of a private detective investigating corruption at City Hall, places the spotlight on Lash and he becomes the prime suspect of the police for both killings. 

Running from the law and trying to
prevent a third murder, Lash scurries
from one end of the city to the other,
meeting Joey and her henchman in a
final confrontation at a hillside house
overlooking the Pacific Ocean. 

TO FETCH A PAIL

NOW RENAMED TAILING RAYMOND CHANDLER