Thursday, April 30, 2026

Two Crime Fiction Heavyweights Bring LA Noir to Vroman’s Tonight

The Los Angeles that Jordan Harper writes about is not the one on the postcards. It is a city of nightcrawlers and fixers, of billionaires without boundaries and crimes that never make the papers. On Thursday night, Harper brings that city to Pasadena.

Harper, the Edgar Award-winning crime novelist and television producer, will discuss and sign his new novel, “A Violent Masterpiece,” at Vroman’s Bookstore at 7 p.m. He will be joined in conversation by S.A. Cosby, the New York Times bestselling author of “King of Ashes” and “Razorblade Tears.” The ticketed event includes a copy of the book, published April 28 by Mulholland Books.

“A Violent Masterpiece” follows three characters — a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, a street lawyer, and a young woman searching for a missing friend — as their paths converge around a serial killer and a web of crimes reaching into the highest levels of Los Angeles power. The New York Times called the 384-page novel “the noir novel for our times,” according to the publisher’s listing. Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and Bookpage each gave the book starred reviews.

Harper, who was born in Missouri and now lives in Los Angeles, won the 2018 Edgar Award for Best First Novel for “She Rides Shotgun,” which has since been adapted into a major motion picture. He has also written and produced for television series including “The Mentalist,” “Gotham,” and “Hightown,” and is a co-showrunner on the Amazon series “Criminal.”

His conversant brings comparable credentials. Cosby, a New York Times bestselling author from southeastern Virginia, has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anthony Award, the ITW Thriller Award, and the Macavity Award, among others. His most recent novel, “King of Ashes,” was an instant New York Times bestseller. In a published blurb for “A Violent Masterpiece,” Cosby called Harper “not only the modern master of the unique neon noir of LA” but “one of the finest authors working today,” according to the publisher’s listing on Hachette Book Group’s website.

The event takes place at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Southern California’s oldest and largest independent bookstore. Founded in 1894, Vroman’s has hosted author events since 1939 and welcomes more than 400 community events a year.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite and include a copy of the book. A public book signing follows the conversation. For questions, contact Vroman’s at 626-449-5320 or email promo@vromansbookstore.com.

Fellow crime novelist Rob Hart perhaps put it most simply in his own published blurb for the novel: Harper, he wrote, “is a generational talent,” according to the publisher’s listing.