A RALPH ORLOFF MYSTERY

In this novel, set in Beverly Hills in the 90s, sixty-year-old Det. Ralph Orloff investigates a murder assisted by Dr. Claudine Ingersoll, his partner Ben Hollinger, and one of the many homeless who roam the streets of the prestigious Golden Triangle. Orloff uses the synthesizing powers of his mind to retain and weave together seemingly extraneous bits and pieces of his daily experience into a meaningful pattern that becomes embedded in his dream life. Informed by these sleeping expressions of his unconscious, Orloff intuitively deduces his way through a maze of likely suspects. The story reveals the unique and moving nature of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic discipline, the inner sanctum of the analytic institute, the often-surprising lives of this ordinary-if-thought-to-be-elite group of clinicians, and the political intrigues and conflicts that permeate the analytic community. The stark contrast between many aspects of this highly idealized and often poorly understood profession may be as stunning as the motives and inner workings of the mind of the murderer.