“Landmines and Grizzlies? Hell Yes.”
—David Wahlman, Crimespree
Praise for Bad Citizen Corporation
“Bad Citizen Corporation pumps fresh blood into the corpse of American mystery. Lauden debuts with the storytelling ease of a veteran author. It’s as fun, sun-scorched, and salty as the beaches it hails from.”
—Tom Pitts, author of Hustle and Knuckleball
“Like a punk-rock Lew Archer novel, Bad Citizen Corporation challenges you to keep up with the twists and turns. A murder mystery that goes from sun-kissed LA beaches to dirty rock clubs in a story filled with damaged souls and the lasting bonds of friendship.”
—Eric Beetner, author of Rumrunners and
The Devil Doesn’t Want Me
“Beach noir with some serious punk-rock bonafides. Bad Citizen Corporation is a rush of a debut novel that poses timely, thoughtful questions set to a breakneck tempo.”
—Rob Hart, author of New Yorked
“Carrying on in the tradition of musicians turned mystery writers like Jo Nesbo and Bill Moody, S. W. Lauden’s Bad Citizen Corporation pounds out an impressive rock-and-roll thriller. The story comes on strong and never lags behind its neck-breaking beat. Greg Salem, part-time punk rocker, now disgraced cop, plays like the bastard love child of Poly Styrene and James M. Cain. Add to the mix murder and mayhem—the girl who got away, seedy bars, real estate scams, vengeful heiresses, and an oddball assortment of thugs from the old neighborhood—drop it all under the warm California sun, and you’ve got the hit song—and must-read—of the season.”
—Joe Clifford, author of Junkie Love and Lamentation
This is a Genuine Rare Bird Book
A Rare Bird Book | Rare Bird Books
453 South Spring Street, Suite 302
Los Angeles, CA 90013
rarebirdbooks.com
Copyright © 2016 by S. W. Lauden
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever, including but not limited to print, audio, and electronic. For more information, address: A Rare Bird Book | Rare Bird Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 453 South Spring Street, Suite 302,
Los Angeles, CA 90013.
This is a work of fiction, all of the characters and events in this story are imagined.
Set in Minion Pro
epub isbn: 9781945572197
Book Design by Robert Schlofferman
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Lauden, S. W., author.
Title: Grizzly season / S. W. Lauden.
Series: Greg Salem Mystery.
Description: First Trade Paperback Original Edition | A Barnacle Book | New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA: Rare Bird Books, 2016.
Identifiers: ISBN 978-1-945572-02-9
Subjects: LCSH Drug traffic—Fiction. | Kidnapping—Fiction. | Organized crime—Fiction. | Marijuana—Fiction. | Angeles National Forest (Calif.)—Fiction. | Mystery and detective stories. | BISAC FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General.
Classification: LCC PS3612.A9323 G75 2016 | DDC 813.6—dc23
Contents
September 2011—The white van crawled down Hollywood Boulevard. Streetlights and gated storefronts reflected off the tinted windows, like a never-ending silent film. The countless dents and scratches read like battle scars around the vehicle’s battered body. All four hubcaps were missing, but somebody had spray-painted the rims a splotchy silver. Faded stickers covered both back doors where the brake lights blinked like the eyes of Satan himself. It looked like any other indie-rock tour van at three in the morning, but the only gear inside was some rope and a couple of cameras.
The driver scanned the street for cops. The passenger searched for junkies and runaways. It wasn’t easy to pick them out