Hamilton's novels draw on the city's history, politics, diversity, and culture,[1] and she calls her hometown of Los Angeles “The Ultimate Femme Fatale".
[2] Her first novel, The Jasmine Trade, was a national bestseller that grew out of a Los Angeles Times story she wrote about parachute kids – wealthy Asian immigrant children who live alone in big homes while their parents remain in Asia taking care of family business.
[3] Hamilton's sixth novel, The Last Embrace, was a 1940s Hollywood noir inspired by the disappearance of Jean Spangler, a starlet linked to L.A. gangster Mickey Cohen.
During this time, Hamilton also spent six months in former Yugoslavia on a Fulbright Fellowship and traveled widely in Eastern and Central Europe, and the former Soviet Union during the waning days of Communism, reporting on political, cultural, and economic trends.
The first volume features 17 stories set in different L.A. neighborhoods by authors Michael Connelly, Janet Fitch, Patt Morrison, Susan Straight, Hector Tobar, and others.