The Pigtailed Heart — Ruth Francisco

In the gritty mean streets of 1940s Los Angeles, ex-detective Jack Clayton has few illusions -- he knows all about L.A. corruption. Yet when the great defense lawyer Jerry Giesler asks him to track down witnesses for L.A.'s latest sensational murder trial, the murder of Doris Dazey by her husband, a prominent Hollywood doctor, he can't resist.

As soon as he starts to investigate, people begin to die. Jack tumbles into a tangled web of deceit that takes him from the jazz dives of Central Avenue, to Venice Beach, to San Pedro, to Hollywood clubs catering to “twilight men,” and into the arms of a siren so dangerous she could set off the whole powder keg.

He uncovers a haunting parallel between the death of actress Thelma Todd and Doris Dazey, and finds connections to the L.A. crime syndicate, eugenics clinics, and international sabotage, all which threaten the pre-war efforts of the Roosevelt administration.

Based on a true criminal trial and years of research, this sweeping, rip-roaring saga lives and breathes the hardscrabble times of pre-war Los Angeles: glamour, gambling, political corruption, and the explosive appetites of a thriving young megalopolis.