Best known for his poetry and literary fiction (The Artist's Wife, etc.), Phillips contributes to a new crime imprint a hard-boiled whodunit sure to thrill fans of such Golden Age masters as James M. Cain. Ex-boxer/failed screenwriter Ray Corson is as tough talking—and as vulnerable to a pretty face—as any 1940s gumshoe. And terrified blonde bombshell Rebecca LaFontaine looks like a classic damsel in distress when she hires Corson to protect her from murderous rejected suitor Lance Halliday, a Hollywood porn producer. The author deftly balances his lovestruck hero's terse yet tender introspection with hard-hitting physical action, as Corson's investigation of Tinsel Town's tarnished underside uncovers drug dealing, gangland vengeance and evidence that the heroine's history may hold even deadlier secrets. Especially graceful is the way Phillips lightens the plot's noir darkness with delightfully breezy dialogue. The convincingly understated, witty repartee between guy and gal—and their gangster pals—prevents the book from descending, for even a paragraph, into period pulp parody. Theydowrite 'em like they used to.