Historical fiction novelist Karin Tanabe (A Woman of Intelligence; The Diplomat's Daughter) creates a mesmerizing background for The Sunset Crowd in the glamourous world of 1970s Hollywood. Beatrice Dupont escapes to Hollywood to pursue her photography career; there, she meets Evra Scott, owner of the coolest clothing store in L.A.: "Sunset was like the sixties and seventies had met the twenties and thirties at a cocktail party, shook hands, clinked glasses, and declared that they were getting along famously and dear god, why hadn't they met before?" Mysteriously refusing to follow in her parents' footsteps in the film industry, Evra instead relishes in the world of Sunset. Bea meets Evra and her boyfriend, Kai de la Faire, at one of her famous Sunset parties. According to Rolling Stone, their new posse quickly becomes "The Only People You Need to Know in LA." But when Theodora Leigh, in cowboy boots and star-shaped glasses, walks into Sunset, her mysterious background and relentless ambition add a layer of mystery to the world of the "Sun Set."
Amid the entertainment of lavish parties, dazzling movie premieres, and trips to Cannes, Tanabe creates characters who resist the limitations Hollywood assigns to gender and ethnic stereotypes. However, while discovering how far their dreams can take them, they also discover how far is too far to reach them. The Sunset Crowd, with its questionable motives, obscured pasts, and struggles for survival, is a brilliant portrait of 1970s glitz, glamour, and deceit. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer