History Literature / TheBigNowhere

Three detectives with three different angles will be drawn together into a circle of lies and murder. Danny Upshaw is an LA sheriffs detective with a group of bodies that will lead him to find out more about himself than he bargained for. LAPD lieutenant Malcolm "Mal" Considine is locked in a bitter custody battle for his son, whilst being drawn into the corrupt district attorney's plan to smoke out communists in Hollywood. Turner "Buzz" Meeks, a disgraced former cop, is now working for millionaire Howard Hughes and gangster Mickey Cohen. Buzz may try to right a few his wrongs along the way.

** A StupidCrooks example, Tommy Sifakis, attempted to do this to Sol Gelfman by sharing pictures of his upcoming starlet with a dog, This is incredibly dumb because he is friends with Mickey Cohen, who is incredibly protective towards women he likes.
** Felix Gordean, a Hollywood talent agent, also runs a male escort service, which he uses to identify and blackmail gay men in positions of power. [[spoiler: This includes Reynolds Loftis, who Gordean blackmails with knowledge of his affair with his own son. It's also suggested that Gordean identified Upshaw as a closeted gay man after their one encounter, and may have had plans for him]].

* {{Antihero}}: All of the protagonists are morally compromised in some respect, though Danny Upshaw is the TokenGoodTeammate [[spoiler: until his suicide.]]d.]]

* BrokenPedestal: Claire Katherine De Haven is a figure on the Hollywood social circuit and is a communist sympathizer in order to help people in need. [[spoiler: she also enabled a known rapist and murderer get away with his crimes.]]

** [[spoiler: Loftis, himself, was severely mentally ill from numerous traumas but only snapped when Claire decided to marry his father despite knowing about his abuse. Coleman had been in love with her and it was finally too much.]]

* HoneyPot: Is sent to seduce Claire de haven as part of his investigation into communist activity.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: Considine's massive efforts to keep custody of his son end up meaning nothing as he dies taking down the Wolverine killer.]]

* BandagedFace: Upshaw hears a lot about a kid with bandages covering a supposedly burned face who used to hang around Marty Goines and help him commit burglaries. [[spoiler: In reality, the bandages were the aftermath of plastic surgery. The bandaged kid was Coleman Masskie, Reynolds Loftis' illegitimate son. Reynolds commissioned a facelift from Terry Lux to make Coleman resemble him perfectly, as part of his own twisted incestuous fantasies. At the time he was seen with the bandages, Coleman was recovering from his second visit to Lux, to undo this job by breaking every bone in his face.]]

* CowboyCop: Danny Upshaw and Mal both bend the law when they try to do the right thing.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Buzz kills a DirtyCop in self defense and Danny Upshaw is blamed for it due to the fact they'd been in a confrontation the previous day. [[spoiler: This leads to Danny's suicide.]]

* ArmoredClosetGay: Danny Upshaw thinks he's this, flirting with mulitple women and cultivating a reputation as a ladies man. In fact, it's more EveryoneCanSeeIt and the realization of this contributes to [[spoiler: Danny's suicide.]]

* TurnInYourBadge: [[spoiler: Danny Upshaw]]

* ArmoredClosetGay: Danny Upshaw thinks he's this, flirting with mulitple women and cultivating a reputation as a ladies man. In fact, it's more EverybodyCanSeeIt and the realization of this contributes to [[spoiler: Danny's suicide.]]

* AnyoneCanDie:[[spoiler: By the end of the book both Mal and Danny are dead.]]
* AmbitionIsEvil: The District Attorney is starting another hunt into communists hidden in Hollywood. He doesn't care if the rumors are true and he is only using the investigation as a means to further his career.

* TheFixer: Buzz Meeks has taken a job as this for Howard Hughes and his friends, covering up their scandalous liasions with underage girls, getting their relatives out of criminal litigation, and otherwise protecting their reputations.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Buzz Meeks bumps elbows with both Howard Hughes and Mickey Cohen, even [[spoiler: starting an affair with the latter's mistress]].

* WouldHitAGirl: Considine certainly doesn't seem to hesitate when he finds out [[spoiler: his mistress lied to him. The same over a custody dispute]].

* BewareTheNiceOne: Meeks, Smith and other ostensibly far more badass characters give Mal Considine a wider berth than his otherwise unassuming demeanor would seem to require because, during his stint as an Army officer in Europan theater of World War II, when he witnessed the inside of a concentration camp first-hand, he walked into a room where the camp's commander was held and unloaded his sidearm into the latter's face. {{Subverted}} when we discover that Considine is guilty of DomesticAbuse.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Danny Upshaw fully believes he's not going to receive any help from the LAPD due to the presumption Marty Goines was a dopefiend and then that he was a homosexual.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Averted massively.

* TurnInYourBadge: [[spoiler: Danny Upshaw]]

** A StupidCrook, Tommy Sifakis, attempted to do this to Sol Gelfman by sharing pictures of his upcoming starlet with a dog, This is incredibly dumb because he is friends with Mickey Cohen, who is incredibly protective towards women he likes.