more on zoot-suit murders
"Matches the best of the war novels in its execution, may be the best of the home-front novels of World War II. Alternates between intimacy and sweep, a cinematic quality similar to that of CHINATOWN, an excellent, near-Hitchcockian technique."
-Los Angeles Times, Robert Kirsch
"Powerful fiction, a vivid tale of political intrigue and romance by a master of pictorial detail."
-Chicago Tribune
ZOOT-SUIT MURDERS is a passionate story of love
and political intrigue that explores the theme of America's loss of
innocence. The novel is set in an atmosphere choked with tension- from
the streets of the Los Angeles barrio to the mansions of the Hollywood
Hills- during the tumultuous days of World War II. Nathan Younger, an
undercover agent, is investigating the brutal murder of two FBI agents
and the infiltration of zoot-suit gangs by fascists when he crosses paths
with Kathleen La Rue, a beautiful apostle of a bizarre religious cult.
Hanging in the balance of their strange love affair are the lives of
zoot-suiters falsely accused of murder. The search for the real killers
propels the two improbable lovers down a dangerous trail of heroin pushers,
decadent movie stars, fanatical cult leaders, double agents, and corrupt
politicians.
ZOOT-SUIT MURDERS climaxes during the infamous "Zoot-Suit Riots" of 1943
in downtown Los Angeles. Younger finally unravels the truth, but only at
the expense of placing his and Kathleen's world in jeopardy. In the
shocking conclusion, the lovers are forced to make a life or death
decision between conflicting political ideologies, or belief in their
love for each other.
