- A Psychological Thriller
Neon Secrets
Murder, Money, and Mystery in Las Vegas
A trusted friend is dead. The official story doesn’t add up. And the closer one man gets to the truth, the more dangerous every answer becomes.
A slow-burn Vegas noir that trusts its reader. The restraint is what makes it frightening.
Advance reader
Lanfear writes the Strip like a man who has watched it swallow people he knew.
Book club, Henderson NV
The legal eye shows. Every explanation in this book gets cross-examined.
Early review
Prologue — The Woman on the Marble Floor
“I had learned the art of looking away. In Las Vegas, that was not always indifference. Sometimes survival requires distance.”
A city built on risk teaches people a certain rhythm. Observe. Understand. Move on. My law degree had once represented certainty. Rules. Evidence. Answers. But Las Vegas taught me something different — sometimes knowing when to ask questions mattered as much as knowing how to answer them.
The Author
Ray Lanfear
An 83-year-old veteran and longtime Las Vegas resident, Ray Lanfear completed his first novel after approximately 18 months of writing, more than four major revisions, and extensive editing. Ray Lanfear spent more than sixty years in retail management and earned a Juris Doctor degree. After working with a law firm for four years, he brings a unique legal and business perspective to his fiction. A longtime Las Vegas resident, he draws on real experiences and the hidden world behind the neon.
From the notebook
Las Vegas
The city behind the sign
Everyone photographs the Welcome sign. Almost nobody photographs the street two blocks behind it — which is where most of this novel actually happens.
- Aug 14, 2026
- 6 min
True Crime
When the official story arrives too fast
A short lesson from four years in a law firm: the speed of an explanation is often the most useful evidence in the file.
- Jul 30, 2026
- 5 min
Writing Life
Writing a first novel, later in life
On starting a first novel after sixty years in retail management, and why the late start turned out to be the whole advantage.
- Jul 12, 2026
- 4 min