The first Christa Faust book I read was Money Shot. I enjoyed her writing so much wanted to read her earlier novels and found they are still available on Amazon. Control Freak (not read yet) was her first and Hoodtown the second.

Hoodtown is a marvelous noir, female investigator story that has one of the most interesting hooks of any crime story I've read. It is set in Hoodtown where the culture is based on lucha libre (Mexican masked wrestling) and the inhabitants of the area wear masks all the time, literally from birth. Wearing a hood (or mascara) is so a part of their lives and identity that being hoodless is the worst possible thing that could happen to someone.

The hero is X, a former luchadora (female wrestler) with a dark past that removed her from the ring. She gets involved when she is called by an old friend after a Hood prostitute is found murdered in one of her motel rooms. The prostitute was left hoodless, an unthinkable event. Since the "Skin" police are not particularly committed to solving the murder of a Hood prostitute, X takes it upon herself to avenge the victim. As other hoodless victims turn up, the need to find the murderer becomes more urgent.Faust's skill in describing a culture where everyone wears a hood, where identity and social status are defined by the hood they wear, is remarkable and includes details that explain how a person could be hooded 24 hours a day. I finished the book wishing that there was a real Hoodtown and that I could buy X an icy Tinieblas. Note: Tinieblas is also the name of a famous wrestler who also had a comic book series as well as a film career.Faust writes Micky Spillane tough. Here is the first paragraph of Hoodtown:

Name's X. I'm a wrestler, at least I used to be. They used to call me the Ice Queen, on account of my ice-colored eyes and emotionless persona in the ring. I'm a ruda, a stone cold bitch and no kinda hero, but I still have a story that needs telling. Oh, right, and in case you couldn't tell by this mask on my head, I'm a hood.

 Great stuff.

Faust also includes a glossary that includes descriptions of wrestling moves and translations of "interesting" Spanish words.

Highly recommended if you like a noir investigator willing to apply Mkie Hammer justice and are up for a culture most of us could never have imagined before this book. Well written, paced, and plotted.