Downtown L.A.'s iconic city hall is a reminder of the boom years that were the 1920s.
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Whether it's admired or scorned, Los Angeles has long fascinated the rest of the country. The city is rife with contradictions: the intersection of poverty and wealth, of smog and eternal sunshine, of artistic brilliance and vapid superficiality.

I'm no native to the city. In an attempt to better understand it without the hazards of public transportation, I picked up Richard Rayner's "A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption, and L.A.'s Scandalous Coming of Age." Published in June, this narrative nonfiction spotlights some of the city's guiltiest years: the 1920s. Through the stories of David Clark and Leslie White, a lawyer and a crime-scene investigator, readers witness some of L.A.'s most outrageous trials.

The title of the narrative hints at an all-around juicy story. Unfortunately, it's a little misleading. The first chapter starts with a bang--a tabloid accuses Clark of murder--but the book soon backtracks and becomes sluggish. For two thirds of the book, Rayner doesn't have a focused narrative; he mixes facts about the main characters with descriptions of the city and various historical events. Although the events described are often shocking, Rayner's painstakingly neutral tone tends to dull their luster. At points, I felt as though I was reading a historical text rather than a narrative. Although Rayner often hints at Clark's alleged murder, the foreshadowing quickly becomes frustrating.

Snippets of Clark and Whites' lives are thrown in from time to time, but the placement of those snippets usually seems arbitrary. For a while, Rayner depicts the men as clichés rather than real people--Clark as the suave and cool attorney, White as the naïve optimist in the big, bad city. It's hard to care for them.

The slow parts are not without gems, though. When Rayner describes L.A., his neutral tone disappears. He paints a vibrant image of the city as a living, breathing creature, a restless teenager hurtling fast toward the financial collapse of the Great Depression. His L.A. may belong to a different time, but the tabloids, celebrity scandals and gang wars are by no means unfamiliar.

Once the book finally reaches its climax, the characters take on real purpose. Clark is tried for murdering Charlie Crawford, L.A.'s dominant and crooked political boss--and White has to analyze the evidence against him. For much of the book, Clark seems like a hero, but the trial forces readers to find character irregularities as fascinating as those of the city itself. Criminals become sympathetic, heroes look suspicious and White's stubborn optimism finally falters. The trial's last scene is almost cinematic in its vividness.

Readers who expect the book to be full of dramatic twists should look elsewhere. The juicy bits arrive so late that most people will lose patience. However, history buffs will greatly appreciate Rayner's thorough research, and the style will satisfy readers who enjoy a slow build. The book should especially be of interest to people who are already familiar with L.A. But newcomers be warned: this book is no introduction.