Lily Torrence is a Hollywood murder mystery set among people who helped create the jaded, doomed characters of the postwar movies we call film noir. Was it the tension, the suspicion, and the exploitation of war that led to these dark and devious movies? Noir -and the pulp fiction it sprang from-gloried in the cynical exploitation of sex and ambition, the enshrinement of greed and corruption, and ruefully pondered the demise of brutal thugs, sniggering deviants and hypocritical socialites.
This particular story is set in a richly-detailed wartime Los Angeles. The narrative and dialogue play off of classic hard-boiled style, but plumb the fears and aspirations of today's reader.
Aspiring screenwriter Lyman Wilbur becomes a reluctant alibi in what seems to be a banal and tawdry love triangle among Hollywood aristocrats. Max Beckerman is a young director on the rise until he is accused of killing powerful agent Marty Nuco, who was having an affair with Max's wife. Because Nuco is the key figure in a prostitution and blackmail ring, his death creates both problems and opportunities for his criminal associates.
But there is another triangle involving Max and Nuco with Deborah Boynton, one of Hollywood's most glamorous and coldly calculating stars. These three share a despicable secret from their early, hungry days.
The lacquered nail that stirs this cocktail is Lily Torrence, a beautiful young dancer who is Deborah's protégée and lover, but also a former call girl for Nuco. Having escaped from sexual slavery, she is intent on creating a new life, and rubbing out all traces of her past.
Lyman has to try, for both selfish and noble reasons, to untangle the sordid threads that bind these people. This becomes dangerous for Lyman when all the parties-Max, Deborah, Lily, the police, and Nuco's henchmen-try to control what the truth will be. The story ends in a brutal and tragic climax.
And then life goes on.
