CALIFORNIA NOIR is a literary mystery with a Casablanca-mix of cynical danger, droll comedy, and rekindled desire. A tragic hero takes an unwilling and dangerous, yet fiercely romantic, journey into an unexpected heart of darkness.

Rick Lang is one of a "secret society" of commitment-challenged friends (divorced, grieving, clueless) who are cleverly lured from an annual carefree and preposterous birthday party game into playing that very game for real and for money, eventually realizing they must win in order to save their own lives.

Set in edgy corners of Oakland, San Francisco, and...