Fiction. In Echo Park, a neighborhood at the wrong end of Sunset Boulevard, Joe, a cool cynic, lives marginally. Ironically, he finds himself becoming more involved than he'd planned in the lives of his clients, linked to their dreams and to their despair, and in some cases to their dirty secrets. His financial reliance on a sleazy character who needs pornographic letters to send mail-order brides soon complicates his relationship with his girlfriend, the beautiful Clio. This noir-style novel vividly brings to life an embattled community of mostly have-nots who attempt to survive city corruption, police harassment, and the daily grind with humor and sheer grit.

"Good things always seem to come in the small, neat editions packaged in the City Lights Noir series. JOE'S WORD gets my nod for the wry wit of its author, Elizabeth Stromme, and for the amused affection she has for an unglamorous neighborhood at the losing end of Sunset Boulevard."—The New York Times

Author City: LOS ANGELES, CA USA

Elizabeth Stromme published two noir novels in Gallimard's Serie Noir in France. She also wrote for Le Monde and the L.A. Alternative Press.