Charles Willeford's High Priest of California takes place in San Francisco, 1953. Used car salesman Russel Haxby is in search of a new model with lots of styles and curves - and he's not talking about cars. In this case, it's Alyce Victor, the child-bride of ex-middleweight boxer Blackie Victor. What unfolds is a sardonic tale of hypocrisy, intrigue, and lust, where every sentence masks innuendo, every detail hides a clue, and every used car sale is as outrageous as every seduction.