Part of Lew Archer, book 3
First published 2007
In a crumbling Santa Monica house, Mrs. Samuel Lawrence stuffs fifty wrinkled bills into private detective Lew Archer's palm. She wants him to locate her missing daughter Galatea, a young woman with poor judgment about men who disappeared with Joe Tarantine, a violent small-time criminal addicted to drugs. Archer follows their trail from the grimy back streets of San Francisco to the opulent resorts of Palm Springs. The investigation pulls him deeper into a world where narcotics and brutality intersect. Bodies start accumulating as Archer discovers that beautiful appearances often conceal the darkest intentions. The case becomes a journey through an urban landscape poisoned by addiction and crime, where trust proves dangerous and survival depends on seeing past deceptive surfaces.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: detective, investigation, mystery
Setting: Palm Springs, San Francisco, Santa Monica
Period: 20th-century
245 pages · Paperback · Vintage Crime
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use, violence