Tami Hoag, a mystery writer who is as balsy and engaging as anyone in the genre, creates a richly detailed universe of characters that runs us through the high and low trails of Los Angeles.

Poor 19-year old Jace Damon steps into a case of criminal intrigue unknowingly, simply doing his job as a messenger on a bike picking up a package after normal hours. His "one last run" of the night brings him to the office of the sender, Lenny Lowell, a scuzzy lawyer defending low-end criminals. It's no coincidence that his TV is turned to L.A.'s latest "crime of the century" in which famous actor Rob Cole is accused of killing his wife.

But when Jace's the delivery address turns out to be a vacant lot and when a waiting car spotlights him in its high beams, his better instinct tells him to make tracks. The ensuing run for his life takes him through one obstacle course after another, losing his bike and nearly taking a bullet. "His head was spinning. His brain felt like it was swirlng around in a toilet bowl, ready to be sucked down the drain... Someone's trying to kill me..." He gets away with his life this time... only to find out later that Lowell's been murdered and his office ransacked. The killer is after something and it might well be the package Jace has strapped around his waist.

Detective Kev Parker has his problems as lead investigator on the case and, just one of them is a trainee sidekick with a very severe attitude that seems very undetective-like. She's beautiful Renee Ruiz, and Parker ultimately detects that she's got an agenda. But his bigger problem is working his way back up the force's ladder of respect after the disgrace and oblivion his last case brought him. His current standing makes it difficult to go against the grain by not so quickly accepting everyone else's conclusion that the messenger is the killer.

This is also a story about an older brother's devotion to the well being of his younger brother; a Chinese woman's cultural flexibility in becoming their protector; a blackmail scam that backfires; a sociopathic killer; L.A.'s famous, powerful and criminally unscrupulous greed; various non cooperative relatives; street scum; and an unexpected perp.

Hoag takes us into the skin of each character like few other writers can. Each of her people acts and reacts according to their individual understanding of the stark and fearful danger in which they're involved or their needs in the outcome. This is a thriller with great integrity in the observance of real human behavior while it spins out an intriguing case of mystery.