{"product_id":"red-sockets-a-1950s-los-angeles-mystery-9798991176507","title":"Red Sockets: A 1950's Los Angeles Mystery","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKraus could feel the blood drain from his face. Only his police training\u003cbr\u003eand combat experience kept him from throwing up. He looked at the covered body, \u003cbr\u003ethen back at Laveroni.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Go ahead,\" Laveroni said. \"We've been here since four-thirty. Got all the preliminaries.\"\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eLos Angeles - 1956\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFormer LAPD policeman, Gordon \"Gordy\" Kraus, has been a private detective since\u003cbr\u003ecoming home to Los Angeles after a tough war. After years of patrolling the streets of Los Angeles, \u003cbr\u003ethen two years as a military policeman in the grimness of post-war Berlin, he swore never\u003cbr\u003eto involve himself in another homicide investigation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA corpse turning up in an East L.A. alleyway forces Kraus to break his oath. The LAPD\u003cbr\u003eisn't interested in investigating the murder. Kraus has a personal connection to the victim.\u003cbr\u003eHe enlists the aid of a cagey female con artist he'd been pursuing and together they begin their\u003cbr\u003ehunt for the killer. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTheir search leads them to illegal gambling dens, ruthless mobsters, seedy pool halls, desperate\u003cbr\u003eblackmail targets and a mysterious Los Feliz mansion. Every new discovery seems to point to a\u003cbr\u003enew type of company: an \"\u003ci\u003eelectronics distributor\u003c\/i\u003e\". \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTransistors. Diodes. Potentiometers. Capacitors. Resistors. Building blocks for an emerging, \u003cbr\u003etransistorized world. Quick deliveries. Quicker money. Loads of it. But money can never come quickly\u003cbr\u003eenough or in great enough amounts for some people. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eCould the birth of a new industry have led to the death of an ex-cop?\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGreed and murder are as old as prehistoric cave paintings. Kraus learns they're no less deadly\u003cbr\u003ein a world of modern technology.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Raw Noir Press LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50898463785234,"sku":"9798991176507","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3257a83c-be78-4ef6-badb-9ff0c49d9fce.jpg?v=1738345262","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/red-sockets-a-1950s-los-angeles-mystery-9798991176507","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}