3 novels set in Los Angeles

There is no better way to develop a sense of place than by reading novels set there. Los Angeles has been on my mind lately, which got me thinking about the best novels set in one of America's most-loved and most-hated cities.

 

This novel is the perfect encapsulation of a particular slice of time (the 80s), a particular place (Los Angeles), and a particular clique (privileged trust fund kids in their 20s with more money than sense). Fueled by cocaine and an overriding sense of hopelessness, Less Than Zero is a scathing trip through Los Angeles's glittering, upscale party culture.

 

Set in a poverty-stricken Los Angeles neighborhood during the Depression, Ask the Dust is a masterful tale of a struggling novelist. Charles Bukowski cited the novel as a key influence, and was himself influential in rescuing it from obscurity. 

 

It is impossible to discuss Los Angeles in fiction without talking about Raymond Chandler's seminal noir detective novel. Cynical, sharp, and witty, The Big Sleep sets Chandler's hard -oiled detective Phillip Marlowe against a blackmail threat that twists and turns through pornography, murder, and more.