by William Hjortsberg (1978)
A spellbinding novel of murder, mystery, and the occult, Falling Angel pits a tough New York private eye against the most fearsome adversary a detective ever faced. For Harry Angel, a routing missing persons case soon turns into a fiendish nightmare of voodoo and black magic, of dizzying peril and violent death--a world in which the shadow he chases seems to be the shadow he casts.--Cover
John Shannon
In this novel, Jack Liffey once again searches the volatile and dangerous ethnic communities buried in the urban sprawl of Los Angeles. Jack is seeking another of the city's mysteriously lost souls. Originally published: New York: Carroll & Graf, 2002.
Sara Gran
When Paul Casablancas, Claire DeWitt's musician ex-boyfriend, is found dead in his Mission District home, the police are convinced it's a simple robbery. But Claire knows nothing is ever simple. With the help of her new assistant, Claude, Claire follows the clues, finding hints to Paul's fate in her other cases -- especially that of a missing girl in the gritty 1980s East Village and a modern-day miniature horse theft in Marin.
Kinky Friedman
"Alone in his New York loft, the private detective Kinky Friedman, reflects on friendship and why all his friends are out of town. With time on his hands and feeling a little melancholy his mind turns to Stephanie DuPont - very hot but pretty much resistant to all his advances. The phone rings and Kinky's old contact Hoover from Honolulu is on the blower to report that Kinky's great friend Mike McGovern has disappeared while in the process of researching and writing his cookbook Eat, Drink and Be Kinky. He was last seen heading for the beach. Our hero flies to Hawaii, and in a series of farcical wild goose chases, that includes identifying a faceless corpse in the morgue and trying to ensnare what turn out to be hoax kidnappers, Kinky ends up visiting the local museum on the island and in a room full of ancient relics he stumbles upon a full size, sculpted wooden head that is a dead ringer for McGovern." -- Back cover.
Frances & Richard Lockridge
Mrs. North must protect her aunt from being poisoned--whether she likes it or not Pamela North has never worried about making sense. When she has a thought, she expresses it, and if no one in the room knows what she's talking about, it's no trouble to her. While Mrs. North's unique style of thought can make her a challenging conversational partner, it also makes her one of the finest amateur sleuths in New York City. But no matter how sharp her wit, she can't pin down Aunt Flora. An indomitable old woman, shaped like a snowman and just as icy, Flora is convinced that someone is trying to slip her arsenic, and she'll be very cross if her niece can't stop the culprit before he succeeds. Aunt Flora stubbornly refuses to let Pamela call in the police, until a suspicious dead body forces them to ask the opinion of Lt. William Weigand. It's a screwy mystery, and that means it's perfect for Mrs. North.