City of Fallen Angels — Howard Engel

It's 1940. Canadian journalist Mike Ward, fresh off assignments in Paris, London, Moscow, and Berlin, thinks he's seen it all: the rise of charismatic dictators, the fall of governments, political intrigues too bizarre to believe.

Yet despite his tenure in fascist Europe, nothing could have prepared him for his latest posting: Hollywood, where the glitz and glamour of the silver screen mingles with the grit and grime of the criminal underworld. Ward's latest assignment, to cover the “suicide” of a studio executive, is bound to drag him deeper into the shadows of America's bright lights.

Set during a time of upheaval in the capital of cinema, and populated by a who's who of colourful historical personalities from both the film and criminal worlds, City of Fallen Angels -- the latest from Arthur Ellis Award-winner Howard Engel -- is a classic period whodunit with a Canadian twist.