Tinfoil Copper

October, 1933. Billy Parkin can't catch a break. Overworked and underappreciated as a Homicide Detective with the New Deco Police Department, he is roused out of bed on what is meant to be is day off and called in to investigate the death of a leading actress and socialite when her body is discovered on a deserted stretch of beach, hours after the premiere of her latest film. Reluctant to take on what he knows has the potential to be a career ending case, Billy finds himself further put upon when Lainie Tanaka, a young Japanese American Sergeant, one of the few women in the department, is assigned to help him. Made to navigate an unfamiliar world of wealth and privilege, Billy finds himself confounded at each turn of his investigation by the continuous lies and half-truths proffered by the deceased starlet's closest associates, who are more inclined to protect their individual secrets rather than to help Billy bring the killer to justice.

As his investigation spirals out of control in the city's press, Billy finds himself at odds with his superiors, the displeasure being voiced from the very bowels of City Hall in an upcoming election year. And when twin siblings with no apparent connection to the actress are arrested and charged with her murder in the name of political expediency, Billy is forced to decide between his own conscience and his loyalty to his department. On a more personal note, disillusioned by his unhappy marriage to his Chinese American wife and the lingering effects of the ongoing depression, and upon seeing up close how the "other half" live, Billy unwisely allows himself to become entangled with one of his suspects.

TINFOIL COPPER takes place against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the tail-end of Prohibition, and is set within the environs of a Southern California re-imagined. Atmospheric, and replete with historical detail that seamlessly blends fact and fiction, TINFOIL COPPER is a love letter to the golden age of American crime fiction, but taken in a whole new direction. Perfect for your next book club read.