Turn Left at Doheny - A tough-edged crime novel set in Los Angeles
A drifter who cant catch a break, Wycliff travels to L.A. after learning that his brother, Billy, is dying of AIDS. Wycliff hopes to inherit some of Billy’s considerable estate, but he knows it will be a tough sell since the brothers hate each other. After agreeing to take Billy home to die, hoping to convince him to change his will, Wycliff meets Charlotte, the most exciting woman he’s ever seen. He knows she’s dangerous, but he can’t help but be captivated by her glamorous sexiness. A few days later, he meets an attractive nurse who’s clearly a better deal than Charlotte, but Wycliff figures he can keep two women on the go. Although Wycliff begins to morph into a nicer person, he can never quite shake his need to go for the big score. Painful as his rise and decline are to witness, it’s hard to feel much sympathy for a man who’s weak and foolish. Still, there are plenty of unexpected twists here, leading up to a car crash of an ending, to keep readers turning pages. --Emily Melton