The Limits of Justice: A Benjamin Justice Mystery

A sensitive and powerful writer, Edgar Award-winner Wilson presents a compelling portrait of gay life in contemporary Los Angeles in his fourth book (after 1999's Justice at Risk) featuring HIV-positive journalist Benjamin Justice. Having destroyed his newspaper career with a faked story that won him a Pulitzer, Justice is sinking into a self-imposed, unwashed funk when Charlotte Preston offers him 50 grand to ghostwrite a sleazy tell-all about biographer Randall Capri, author of a sordid expos of her late, mucho macho movie star father, Rod. When Charlotte is found dead, Justice is the only person who doesn't think the woman committed suicide. His search for the truth about Rod Preston leads him to a group of famous men--a movie star, a pop singer, a business tycoon--who prey on preteen boys and do terrible things to them in the desert mansion of a creepy doctor and his mortician sister. Amazingly, within this obvious and often ludicrous premise, Wilson is able to nourish many moments of effective art. He beautifully evokes such heavily trodden Southern California literary landscapes as West Hollywood, Montecito and the road to Tijuana. Then there's a truly frightening moment as Justice--who has had his bouts with the bottle--talks about the dangerous delights of tequila, as well as a thrilling action scene where he's almost drowned by crashing waves outside a fortified Malibu beach house. Best of all is Justice himself, as his quest becomes his own wake-up call to rejoin the human race. Agent, Alice Martell. (July)