The Devil Raises His Own

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.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.”
—BooklistScott 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.US

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