Alice in La-La Land

Campbell's In La-La Land We Trust received rave reviews and this maze-like sequel should, too. ""La-La Land' is a Los Angeles area that private-eye Whistler knows well, turf for male and female whores, drunks and druggies. When lovely Nell Twelvetrees, a stranger in La-La, asks Whistler to be her bodyguard, he gladly accepts, and not just for the fee. He is captivated by Nell and eager to protect her from her husband Roger, a millionaire TV comic. Assaults on Whistler and the woman follow, as she tries to force Roger to settle a fortune on her during divorce negotiations. Also involved in these events are Jenny, the comic's lethal daughter, and her eerie boyfriend. A crooked cop, battered hookers and other types figure in the cunning plot. No one is what he or she seems, especially the Alice of the title. She plays a startling role in this chronicle by an author who shines as a satirist but creates feeling in the reader for even the worst of his debauched characters. (November)