The Devil Raises His Own, Phillips - B

              This novel is a sprawling, big story set in Hollywood in 1916-18. It is more or less about the beginnings of the movie business, and in particular, 'blue movies.' Everyone is hustling and trying to make a few bucks. The central character is an aged photographer who beds the middle aged women whose pictures he takes, and who shoots his granddaughter's fiance in the leg to stop him from joining the army. Other folks include two women who become fond of a lesbian lifestyle after satiating each other on film, a delusional drunk comedian, a claw hammer wielding escapee from prison, a crooked postal inspector, various drunks, floozies, con-men, and generally people of low character. The books setting forth the vast canvas of the city a long time ago has been broadly acclaimed.