Like the classic noir film Chinatown
, Eidson's thriller, set in late 19th-century Los Angeles, involves political corruption and an unscrupulous scheme to buy up land, but admirers of the author's earlier work, notably The Missing
, are likely to be disappointed. When Don Maximiato Lugo, “the patrón of La Cienega,” is arrested for a prostitute's murder, his daughter, Sister Ria Lugo, returns home from India, where she has spent 10 years in self-imposed exile in a convent, to try to clear his name. She suspects he was framed because he refused to sell land to a powerful syndicate planning to install lamplights throughout the city. Don Lugo's refusal to deny his guilt, his increasingly eccentric behavior and his bizarre past make it difficult for Ria to be sure of his innocence, even as his execution day draws near. Some readers will appreciate the rare view of Mexican Los Angeles, but others may find the solution to the crime contrived and the killer's motive underdeveloped. (Dec.)
