BEHAVING BADLY

In Staab’s hardboiled mystery, a West Coast journalist in 1932 investigates the disappearance of a teenager who bears a striking resemblance to silent-film star Clara Bow.

As the Great Depression rages in Los Angeles, people flock to cinemas, desperate for an escape from mass unemployment and long breadlines. Tess Hammond, a reporter for the Los Angeles Examiner, knows that she’s fortunate to have a job, as does her police-detective spouse, Johnny. Soon after this story opens, though, Johnny dies in a gunfight between cops and mobsters while bravely protecting his longtime partner, Clay Riley. In spite of—or perhaps because of—her grief, Tess decides to get back to work quickly, and her editor assigns her a story about Merilee Lockwood, the missing teenage daughter of a local bank president. As she attempts to determine whether the girl ran away or was kidnapped, Staab offers engaging details about local districts like Westlake Park, and she writes famous figures into the story, such as gossip columnist Louella Parsons—who, it turns out, owes Tess a favor. (Staab effectively shows how adept Tess is when it comes to networking.) Again and again, powerful men—in the police force, the local government, and the local crime syndicates—underestimate the youthful journo and her ability to ask the right questions and put together clues. Unfortunately for Tess, her quest for information often leads her to dangerous places, including a holding cell aboard a floating casino, trapped with another major character. As Tess copes with various types of treachery and corruption, she must also deal with her ongoing grief and her unflagging determination to find out what really happened to her beloved husband, who carefully hid clues about his investigations. Overall, it’s a well-paced mystery that feels fresh, authentic, and uncannily modern.

A rewarding series-starter with a promising, brainy sleuth.