Edward Wright Bücher

Set in post-World War II Los Angeles, Clea's Moon introduces a complex and fascinating character, John Ray Horn. Horn is a former actor in B westerns who is now, after serving prison time for assault, collecting debts for his erstwhile American Indian sidekick. A call from an old friend leads Horn to old secrets that involve his former stepdaughter, Clea, who has recently disappeared. When his friend dies under mysterious circumstances, Horn is desperate to uncover the truth and to find Clea and bring her home. Reminiscent of early James Ellroy, Clea's Moon explores Hollywood's dark margins at a time when Los Angeles was growing by the day and the studio system was losing its grip on the film industry. Edward Wright brilliantly captures the period in this suspenseful and richly atmospheric novel.

John Ray Horn knows all about loss - and regret. He was once Sierra Lane, hero to countless youngsters in a series of cheap westerns. Now he makes ends meet by collecting debts for his old Indian co-star, Joseph Mad Crow. One rain-soaked LA evening, a chance encounter brings Horn into contact with an old flame, movie actress Rose Galen. Young, beautiful and improbably talented for her B-movie surroundings, she had a shining quality to her. Now, years later, Rose is a shattered creature, drink-sodden and heavy with sadness. Something happened to her years ago, before Horn knew her, something so terrible that it would leave her broken. Hoping to uncover her long-held secret, Horn goes to visit Rose at her shabby rooming house. He finds her strangled. Aware of a debt to her that he never fully acknowledged, he sets out with the aid of Mad Crow to find her killer. His search takes him back into the Hollywood of the 1920s, the Jazz Age, the era of the silent film, and a wild party attended by both movie celebrities and racketeers. On that night, a terrible act left a young woman dead and several people guarding a secret that would only begin to unravel after Rose Galen took her last tor