A year-and-a-half ago, I was at Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, aka my favorite place in the world. I was in a mood to read some LA fiction. The problem is, I have an extensive knowledge of writers who set their books in Los Angeles so I needed help.
And this is why we need bookstores. Of the recommendations I got, these lost classics were one. A human recommended them to me. Not a computer. Not a publisher-backed listicle. A human being.
Two excellent dives in the underbelly of Los Angeles that touched on contemporary social issues. I shouldn’t have waited so long to read them.
Dogtown is the stronger of the two. It introduces Whitney Logan and Lupe, her eventual sidekick. The mystery is compelling, the romp through LA even more so. Watching Whitney fall into the amateur sleuth role was a lot of fun and, while it’s not Agatha Christie, I enjoyed discovering stuff with her. Lupe is an interesting character who I liked but I’m not sure the writer had a full grasp of.
Soultown is fine but isn’t as strong. The writer moves the action to Koreatown and takes a broader look at the Korean diaspora. The mystery and characters aren’t as interesting, the reasons for keeping Lupe involved were contrived. Some of the beats really hit, others don’t.
And this leads to my one big complaint about the book. I’m currently watching Hacks, a highly entertaining show in which Hannah Einbinder plays a white woman who is very proud of what she thinks are her sophisticated views on race, culture, politics, etc. And the show leans into her earnestness as a critique of how well-intentioned attitudes can still condescend and be doused in privilege.
That’s how I felt about Whitney. The books are at their best when they’re looking at LA through a weary, cynical lens. They suffer when they try to make Whitney a hero or have Lupe chastise her for doing something stupid. It’s good that she is conscious about racism, colonialization, etc. It’s annoying that the writer uses these characters more as teaching tools for her than as actual human beings.
But overall, these two are good and I’ll have to hunt down the third. They’re excellent LA noir parables that belong in the City of Angels crime canon. RIP Douglas Anne Munson, aka “Mercedes Lambert.” I wish your work had been more appreciated whilst you were alive.