Description
Description
From the master of Western noir comes a provocatively entertaining crime saga set in the early days of the film industry. This dark historical adventure captures the beginnings of the Hollywood studio system and the "blue movie" industry that grows up alongside it. Los Angeles, 1916: Photographer Bill Ogden has opened a portrait studio in the seedy noir world of early Hollywood, where he is joined by his granddaughter, Flavia--a woman in need of a fresh start after bludgeoning her drunken, abusive husband to death in Wichita. Though his business is legit, Bill finds himself brushing up against the "blue movie" porn industry growing in the shadows of the motion picture mainstream. When a series of grisly murders take place across the city, Bill and his capable granddaughter are pulled into events as tricky and tangled as anything this side of The Big Sleep. We meet dreamers, opportunists, washed-up former stars and starry-eyed newcomers, a cast of unforgettable characters living on the margins looking to make a quick buck, launch a career, or just keep their family together. The Devil Raises His Own is at once a stripped-down noir thriller, and a panoramic look at Los Angeles at the beginning of motion pictures--a Boogie Nights set in the film industry's nascence from one of the best crime novelists working today.
About the Author
About the Author
Scott Phillips is a screenwriter, photographer and the author of seven novels and numerous short stories. His bestselling debut novel, The Ice Harvest, was a New York Times Notable Book and was adapted as a major motion picture starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton. He is the winner of the California Book Award, as well as being a finalist for the Edgar Award, the Hammett Prize and the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Scott was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas and lived for many years in France. He now lives with his wife and daughter in St. Louis, Missouri.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
Praise for The Devil Raises His Own CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Books of the Summer "The Devil Raises His Own weaves a tapestry that is ribald, affectionate, brutal, and relentlessly smutty. Scott Phillips, master of the historical American noir, offers a fictional but not implausible account of how the blue movie business developed in the shadowy margins of early Hollywood. Prudes be warned--Phillips relishes debunking the innocence of the 'good old days'; the tin-type and silver nitrate imagery he evokes is splattered with all types of bodily fluids."
--Eddie Muller, author of Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir "This novel is so damn charming, in spite of (or perhaps because of) its salacious historical setting--early Hollywood's burgeoning scene of blue movies. In The Devil Raises His Own, the denizens of Los Angeles just before WWI intersect and part ways in a thousand different combinations for a kaleidoscopic portrait of an entire city at the precipice of extraordinary cultural significance. Phillips has crafted a picaresque tale of winners and losers, lovers and cheaters, suckers and con artists, rising starlets and drunken has-beens, dirty old men and even dirtier married women: in short, a truly American novel of epic proportions."
--CrimeReads "In rich, vividly realized vignettes, Phillips follows each cast member as a series of brutal murders sets the City of Angels on edge, leading Bill and Flavia to question their involvement in the sex industry. Phillips brilliantly marries cheeky comedy and noirish grit, taking the series in a wholly unexpected direction. James Ellroy fans will be thrilled."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Phillips's noir novel offers a bawdy, violent, funny, and affectionate fictional take on how the 'blue movie' industry developed in the shadow of a budding Hollywood."
--First Clue Reviews "A richly teeming historical canvas."
--Kirkus Reviews Praise for Scott Phillips "Phillips's juicy vernacular is perfect for Bill's louche narrative voice, and his easy, flowing style suits the loose morality and freewheeling spirit of a hotheaded young nation."
--New York Times Book Review "Taut and vicious . . . The essence of noir."
--Los Angeles Times "Phillips is dark, dangerous, and important . . . Crime fiction at its best."
--Michael Connelly "The unparalleled master of the noir anti-hero."
--Megan Abbott "Phillips's skillful use of real historical events will resonate with fans of George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman series."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Phillips mixes real events, period turns of phrase, a noirish sensibility, and a cast of murderous women, madmen, drunks, grifters, and fools into a wildly entertaining, perhaps sui generis, slumgullion that might well be closer to reality than readers would imagine."
--Booklist
--Eddie Muller, author of Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir "This novel is so damn charming, in spite of (or perhaps because of) its salacious historical setting--early Hollywood's burgeoning scene of blue movies. In The Devil Raises His Own, the denizens of Los Angeles just before WWI intersect and part ways in a thousand different combinations for a kaleidoscopic portrait of an entire city at the precipice of extraordinary cultural significance. Phillips has crafted a picaresque tale of winners and losers, lovers and cheaters, suckers and con artists, rising starlets and drunken has-beens, dirty old men and even dirtier married women: in short, a truly American novel of epic proportions."
--CrimeReads "In rich, vividly realized vignettes, Phillips follows each cast member as a series of brutal murders sets the City of Angels on edge, leading Bill and Flavia to question their involvement in the sex industry. Phillips brilliantly marries cheeky comedy and noirish grit, taking the series in a wholly unexpected direction. James Ellroy fans will be thrilled."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Phillips's noir novel offers a bawdy, violent, funny, and affectionate fictional take on how the 'blue movie' industry developed in the shadow of a budding Hollywood."
--First Clue Reviews "A richly teeming historical canvas."
--Kirkus Reviews Praise for Scott Phillips "Phillips's juicy vernacular is perfect for Bill's louche narrative voice, and his easy, flowing style suits the loose morality and freewheeling spirit of a hotheaded young nation."
--New York Times Book Review "Taut and vicious . . . The essence of noir."
--Los Angeles Times "Phillips is dark, dangerous, and important . . . Crime fiction at its best."
--Michael Connelly "The unparalleled master of the noir anti-hero."
--Megan Abbott "Phillips's skillful use of real historical events will resonate with fans of George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman series."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Phillips mixes real events, period turns of phrase, a noirish sensibility, and a cast of murderous women, madmen, drunks, grifters, and fools into a wildly entertaining, perhaps sui generis, slumgullion that might well be closer to reality than readers would imagine."
--Booklist
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Soho Crime
Pub date:
2024-07-16
Length:
pages
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