A message from special FishbowlLA correspondent Raymond Chandler

I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. Also I had an email inviting me to tonight’s Los Angeles Press Club panel, ‘Digging Deep: What Reporters Can Learn From And About Private Investigators,’ at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Feliz. It was the kind of panel discussion that you knew was trouble just from looking at it, the kind that begins with a cocktail hour at 6:30 featuring free drinks from Silver Lake Wine, which is then followed with a Q&A and a debate featuring various journalists and investigators.