Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond has spent the day at LAX, shadowing U.S. Customs Supervisor William Maxwell. He's got his eye on an incoming flight from Beijing via Seoul and Tokyo. The flight's packed with the usual mass of humanity, ranging from the elegant Asian woman in the raspberry silk pantsuit who emerges from first class carrying a tired toddler to the scruffy students who have spent the long flight in economy.

Suddenly, shots ring out. Three people are dead, including two men who appear to be businessmen and the silk-clad woman. The man who was booked on the flight as the dead woman's husband is missing. And the sad little toddler is left behind.

Who is this child? Her passport says she's Japanese, but she doesn't seem to understand the language. Was thedead woman really her mother? Why has the child made five transpacific flights in one year? And why does the INS whisk her immediately into hiding?

Is this child a pawn in a larger scheme? Why would criminals care about this little girl? And why is Eve, too, in danger? Eve knows she must try to find the answers. Her search takes her into L.A.'s sleazy hotels, cybercafes, and into the upscale milieu of trendy restaurants and high-powered human-rights lawyers. Nothing is quite what it appears to be, and nobody seems to want Eve to find the child.

Last Lullaby is a richly nuanced crime novel from a superbly gifted author who asks important questions and never settles for the superficial answer. Her powerful prose and passion for her native city shine through on every page.

author of Every Secret Thing

Last Lullaby is a seductive tale that lures the reader into a post-millennial Los Angeles where only the toughest and savviest need apply. Luckily, Eve Diamond is more than up to the job. Sharp, smart, and powerful stuff.

author of The Onion Field and Fire Lover

Unforgettable L.A. Times reporter Eve Diamond is back in Last Lullaby, bringing twenty-first-century L.A. to life in another vivid, exotic, multicultural urban crime novel, full of suspense and mystery. The steamy sights, sounds, and aromas are not of Philip Marlowe's L.A., but the old detective would surely have approved of Eve Diamond's style in her relentless quest for justice on those ever mean streets.

One of the brightest new talents to enter crime fiction over the last few years....A gripping, action-packed work that ought to bring her books to a much wider audience....Diamond is one of the best characters in a currently ongoing series. She is sympathetic and believable, and generally acts with intelligence and reason, qualities unfortunately rare in the modern mystery. She also has the right mix of street smarts, sass and vulnerability to draw the reader's interest and concern.