ok, so this wasn't bad. a bit dated (late 80's; the narrator, a private eye, is proudly using an apple II and gets all excited about his first dot-matrix printer), but i don't generally mind. a wee bit heavy on the hard-boiled smartass commentary, but i liked the oddball characters and the banter between them. and -- the paramour should take note -- there's no killing in this mystery, though there's a wee bit of IMO gratuitous shooting, but hey, this is LA. the central case isn't a murder, but the narrator's childhood friend being imprisoned in a mexican jail for running contraband, and the inspired attempt to rescue him. also, that case, while central and providing for much of the plot, isn't consuming every worthwhile minute of the detecting; there's other stuff going on. the ending to the central case is almost ant-climactic which disconcerted me a bit at the time -- but that, and the assorted bits and pieces of the narrator's life also make the book feel real to me despite mucho oddball aspects. i think i might try and find other books by mr pierce.