The Boy in the Gutter. Dapper Luoo Mysteries, #1

1947: While Los Angeles is held in sway by the Black Dahlia murder, an Asian boy's mutilated body is found in a back alley of Chinatown. With the thoroughly corrupt LAPD unwilling to devote their already strained resources to cracking the case, it seems this grisly crime is destined to remain unsolved. Tommy Luoo, a Chinese American college student who goes by the name of Dapper, has dreams of becoming a private detective.
Incensed and frustrated by the police's lack of concern, he decides to help his community by finding out what truly happened. But all is not what it seems as Dapper is drawn into a web of deceit and danger at every turn. For the City of Angels hides a dark underworld, where real-life devils prey upon the damned and the desperate. Dapper is undaunted however, and he'll keep on digging for answers, even if it kills him.