The year is 1924. Sam Lacy, a tough-as-nails homicide detective, follows his own code of conduct within the racist and corrupt Los Angeles Police Department. Sam's beautiful ex-girlfriend has been murdered and a sadistic predator is assaulting young Chinese women. Are the crimes connected and can Sam stop the killers before powerful forces stop him? Sometimes, a good detective can't let the law get in his way.

Sam navigates L.A.'s seedy underbelly with help from an unlikely trio: Sam's partner, Lonnie, a handsome detective whose cavalier attitude conceals a troubled past outside of the law; Sam's friend, Edward Bixby, a brilliant man whose crucial forensic work is performed off the books since the LAPD would never hire a Black man for a murder investigation; and Susan, Sam's sister and moral compass, a war widow and mother who pursues leads of her own. The story takes place in the movie capital of the world, a city that attracts wide-eyed innocents and cold-hearted killers; a City of Angels.

FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.