#BlogTour ‘City Of Angels’ by Kenneth Bromberg

About the book….

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.

‘City Of Angels’ is published by Flame Tree Press on 10th November, huge thanks to the ever awesome Anne Cater of Random Things Through My Letterbox for my blogtour invite!

There is an awful lot of story packed into these 229 pages, you finish it feeling you have read a much longer novel-I mean this as a compliment. I think this is because it covers so many social issues that were not only prevalent in the 1920’s Hollywood, but which also permeate the 21st Century.

Corruption, abuse of power, racism, sexism and inequality stalk the pages as does the overarching killer of angels. Investigating the death of Dorothy Holcomb, found naked, blood soaked and abandoned in a hotel which can be hired by the hour, is Sam Lacy, a detective whose sense of right and wrong leads him to bend the rules to suit his form of justice. Ably supported by counterfeiter/budding scientist Edward who comes in to provide the forensic detail missed by the alcohol soaked department ‘expert’, always undercover and by the back door, and partner Lonnie, these three investigate crimes committed agaisnt immigrant women, domestic disputes and money laundering against the backdrop of Prohibition era L.A.

As you read, you realise that the times are not so different from our own-the ‘casting couch’ history of the Golden Age (Fatty Arbuckle reframed as Chubs Pennington) can be seen reflected in the Me Too movement where women were not listened to for decades. They were,and to an extent still are, seen as a perk of the job for those in power and this thread is carried through to the immigrant women who were trafficked in the U.S as wives for unseen husbands, or fodder for the pleasure palaces of Chinatown.

The growing use of opium,a drug associated with the Chinese immigrants and see as a British import, can be seen in the use of opioids as a coping mechanism for people who struggle with the impact of daily life.

Sam’s sister, Susan, struggles against oppression in a job she is far too talented to be doing, working in the records department of the same police bureau as Sam-she quickly sees the truth of her position and is constantly told to turn a blind eye, do as she is told or else. However, being a fierce and determined woman bringing up a son as a widow, a woman who as girl demanded to be taught boxing the same as Sam was, she refuses to be put inside a box. Susan stands as a neat contrast to characters like Melanie Markowitz and Corinne Coughlin who are trying to make their way in Hollywood , only to find they have bitten off more than they can chew.

The casual attitude towards black women-their perceived sexual availability still a trope which causes outrage today-is explored in the near rape of Edward’s wife, Velma, who was freely targeted at her job, told that what she refused to give up would be taken from her and whose only recourse was to call Lonnie and Sam(both white). The sense of frustration you feel as a reader is incredible-she cannot call her own husband as he would have defended her and gone to his own death, either handed down by a court or lynched.

By the time you finish ‘City Of Angels’, you are aware that the angels have dirty, blood stained wings and have to compromise their integrity to get the job done-and, as imperfect as characters like Lonnie, Sam and Edward are, you are there with them cheering them on even as they break laws to ensure justice is done.

About the author…

Kenneth Bromberg grew up in the beach cities of Southern California with a passion for tennis, American history, and literature. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, after which he worked for several years as a bartender. He eventually returned to UCLA to pursue an MBA and become a certified public accountant.
After retiring from accounting, Kenneth fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. His first work, American Dreams, is based upon stories told by his grandmother who immigrated to New York from a small Jewish village near Kiev in the first years of the 20th century.  If you like Mario Puzo’s The Godfather andKen Follett’s Century Trilogy, you will love this debut novel.
He lives in Santa Monica, California, with his wife of forty years.