Death in Eden (2014) by Paul Heald.
GoodReads meta-data is 344 pages, rated 3.91 by 66 litizens.
Genre: Hybrid – academic krimi.
Verdict: Different.
In which the untenured professor of industrial sociology Stanley interviews female workers about job satisfaction and is almost murdered, almost loses his wife, and does not get tenure. But learns a lot about the specialised porn film industry in Los Angeles, far away from home in small-town, down-state Illinois.
When the opportunity arises to go to LA and interview a cohort of workers the hapless professor is quickly in way over his head, but perseveres. After all he knows how to interview people, so he starts interviewing people and when one of them is murdered he keeps on interviewing, and adding things up.
The investigating police officer starts out as a stereotype but there is more to him than meets the cliché, and that is nicely done. The character are differentiated, and the setting is, well, distinctive. Likewise his wife proves more than a match for the odd circumstances. These good qualities are diluted by a denouement that is too much deus ex machina for this reader.
The author has many other titles.