What could cause Bob to give up his job at the Los Angeles pathology lab that demands so little of him, where he can play Tetris and Web surf whenever he wants? What could lead him to walk out on his beautiful girlfriend, who makes her living as a masturbation coach? What could make him risk everything and ultimately transform him into Roberto, a kingpin in the Los Angeles Mexican mafia? An erotic tattoo. But not just any naughty skin ink, the Mona Lisa of erotic tattoos, painted on a severed arm, which lands on Bob's desk one morning. Bob may have fallen for the woman in the tattoo, but he's not the only one who wants the arm. There's the telenovela-addicted mobster who lost it, the jefe who needs to keep it out of the clutches of the police, a backstabbing cannabis aficionado/Wharton MBA, and a wine snob LAPD detective who knows that the arm is the evidence he needs to bring down the entire Mexican mafia. "Dark and mordantly funny . . . a real machine-gun narrative-the man can tell a story, oh, yes, indeed." -T. C. Boyle "Smith's energetic thriller is an ode to the hard-boiled Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy spun out in brighter-than-life Starburst colors."-The Los Angeles Times "Smith proves he knows how to get the adrenaline pumping. Fans of hiply skewed jackhammer action will appreciate this debut."-Publishers Weekly "The most bracing new voice since Carl Hiaasen!" -Max Allan Collins, author of Road to Perdition "Blending fresh characters, snappy patter, sex, a mind bender of a plot, and a little more sex, Smith has mixed up a killer cocktail of a first novel and given the LA crime scene a new paint job in the process. Buy this book, get your passport stamped, and spend a little time in Mr. Smith's world." -John Ridley