- Porn legend John Holmes and untouchable Hollywood crime and drug impresario Eddie Nash -the unvarnished story of the sex-and-coke-laced Wonderland murders 

-"King of Western Swing" and early LA TV's singing cowboy phenomenon, Spade Cooley walking the line of nightmare, depravity and murder

- Hollywood's fallen angel Barbara Payton- seemingly hell-bent to descend from Movie Star Sexpot to the gutters and dumpsters of real-life Tinsel Town

- From gorgeous Hollywood hooker to San Quentin's gas chamber-the infamous Ice Blonde murderous Barbara Graham

- Highway Hitchhike-Killer Billy Cook unleashing his cold-blooded hate for the human race

ISBN 1-878923-16-1 trade paper 344 pp., illustrated, $19.95
Publishing Date: August 2005

Reviews:
 
"John Gilmore is one of America's natural-born gifts to literature. His books aren't just wicked and inspiring by-products of genius: they're miracles. I don't know how he keeps telling the truth of things when so much of our mental landscape is shrouded in darkness and stupidity. I adore him. He's the best ever." -- Gary Indiana 
 
"L.A. DESPAIR goes beyond hard-boiled, beyond the mundane horror of true-crime reportage, to recreate the vile, gutter reality glossed over by so many. Here is murder in all its stench and filth, with human animals gleefully rutting in the gore. If you're seeking a patina of respectability or entertainment, or redemption of any sort, Gilmore is not your man." -- Stephen Lemons, New Times