Gascoyne — Stanley Crawford

A delightfully absurd blend of crime, comedy, and social commentary: “A wild novel of black humor . . . Wonderful” (The New York Times).
 
Meet Gascoyne, a man who spends whole weeks in his car, eating, sleeping, and conducting his business via mobile phone. Gascoyne has found a new preoccupation―hunting down the killer of his business associate (last seen slithering away from the crime scene in a tree-sloth costume), and finding out how the southern California megalopolis has suddenly, despite all his power and prestige, slipped out of his grasp.
 
“A mix of Sam Spade played by Inspector Clouseau plus Howard Hughes played by Dr. Strangelove -- or all of them played by Bill Murray. In 1966 Gascoyne does what everybody does now: spends most of his time in his car talking on the phone . . . Our least-known great comic novel, a novel as prophetic as it is hilarious.” -- The Austin Chronicle