The Death of Friends — Michael Nava

L.A. criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios has become a champion of outcasts in a city offering them little justice and less compassion. But Zack Bowen is more than just a client. Claiming to be the lover of Rios's longtime friend Chris Chandler, Zack has found Chandler brutally murdered. And now Zack needs a lawyer.

Rios's instinct is to believe his protestations of innocence, even though Zack quickly disappears. Now Rios must track him down through the earthquake-torn Valley, traversing the sleazy landscapes of Zack's past. He must discover why Chris--a staunch family man, resolutely in the closet--abandoned his wife and son and risked his career for an affair. What other secrets was he hiding? As Rios uses every legal twist to unravel the mystery of his friend's life and the riddle of his death, he glimpses the answer in the dark mirror of his own soul....