Being popular isn't the same as being loved. At the exclusive Violet Crab, the club headliner is Carla Rose, a torch singer with a voice as delicious as the rest of her. There is nothing delectable about the strange, bloated mermaid who washes up under the Santa Teresa pier wearing seaweed and a red dress--and nobody wants to know about Carla's last swim. She's all alone.

The Violet Crab is the third Kahlo and Crowe mystery, following Girls in Pink and Hau Tree Green. This is southern California in the dying days of 1947--ocean breezes and palm trees, the taste of a gin fizz mixed with lavender neon. It's L.A. noir, as bright and colourful as today.