California Crime

What do the Merlin Game, the Penny Skim, the Doolally Snadoodle, and the Afterparty Snuke have in common? They're all the work of world-class con artist and master bafflegabber Radar Hoverlander. Radar’s been "on the snuke" since childhood, but he's still looking for his California Roll, the one big scam that'll set him up in sushi for life. Trouble arrives in the stunning, sassy package of Allie Quinn---either the last true innocent or a con artist so slick she makes Radar look like a Quaker.

Bring Me the Head of Joaquin Murrieta tells the infamous story of Joaquin’s life, his bloody career and his gruesome fate. With careful research and never-before-told stories of the violent trail Murrieta and his gang left in their wake, award-winning author and definitive Wild West historian John Boessenecker separates fact from fiction in this gripping portrait of the California Gold Rush era, for readers of Tom Clavin and H. W. Brands.

Cryptic dying words from a murdered homeless woman in present day San Francisco unlock a decades-buried secret that changed history. Now a pair of ruthless assassins are sent to cut the few living "loose ends." And a young, resourceful woman on the run encounters a determined man with his own connected past and vengeful agenda. Forced to partner for survival and answers, a fast-paced and deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

Re-released for the first time in years, the hit action-packed thriller features the unforgettable, original P.I. Mike Haller. P.I. Mike Haller is on the case to find a newsman who suddenly went missing in Sacramento Valley. A tearful, boozy wife has paid him to find her husband, but someone else is attempting to dissuade him - using a .38 with Haller's name and address on it.

Alan Woolsham was at the top of his game. He was an acclaimed television star in England and had come to New York to film four special TV shows dealing with British antiques. The shows were to be taped at the Whitney Museum, and Alan hoped to open up a whole new viewing audience for his wildly successful show. But things didn’t go as planned. Murder does have a way of changing things. So much for stardom in the States. Marty and her husband, Jeff, were in New York City for what the hype promised to be a television and museum extravaganza about British antiques. Marty, an art and antique ...

This is the third book in the Dawson's Web Series. The first two were Dawson's Web and Countdown to Condemnation. It chronicles the diabolical, murderous acts of Mr. JD Sampson who is under the psychological control of a timeless entity, Snakey, who uses his host (JD Sampson) to commit a series of murders which are driven by his evil plan to kill scores of people. Two Joint Task Forces are created to identify the suspects in three murders which are committed in Topanga, California and two additional mass murders which occur in Redondo Beach and Sherman Oaks, California. Detective Fred ...

Rancho Santa Elena in 1987 seems like the ideal Southern California paradise—that is, until a series of strange crimes threatens to unravel the town’s social fabric: workers attacked with mysterious weapons; a wealthy real estate developer found dead in the pool of his beach house. The only clues are poison and red threads found at both crime scenes. As Detective Benjamin Wade and forensic expert Natasha Betencourt struggle to connect the incidents, they begin to wonder: Why Santa Elena? And why now?

I, Carlos is thriller in which a revolutionary computer chip, containing the personality of Carlos the Jackal, the world's most notorious assassin, is implanted into the protagonist's brain. He then sets out to kill the President of the United States—not to mention anyone standing in the way of his ultimate quarry. It's a page-turner that raises disturbing questions about the nature of consciousness, free will and the marriage of man and computer. This is the 15th anniversary issue of I, Carlos, slightly updated and containing an author's preface to the new edition.

A bizarre accident or murder? In 1959, a young socialite and her companion were brutally murdered. Forty-four years later, when the murder is reenacted in a film about the still-unsolved killings, the two young actors playing the parts of the dead teenagers are themselves killed. Was it an accident or was it murder? That is what independently wealthy Professor Phineas Routledge, III must answer when his student, the sister of one of the actors, asks him to help her discover the cause of her brother’s death. One death leads to another as Phineas and his beautiful Vietnamese wife, Kim, ...

The 1989 quake in Santa Cruz, California destroyed the picturesque downtown of the small coastal city. Lives were lost and lives were forever changed. For private investigator, Jeff Burke life would never be the same. Among the never-ending aftershocks, two murders would cause Burke to go on the run as the prime suspect. Amid the complex web of drug dealing, money laundering, and real estate fraud help would come from the most unexpected sources. But how high was the price to get out of this mess? And who was the killer who now had his sights set on Burke? Drawn from the rich and unique ...

“This is the novel of my dreams. A hell of a ride.” –Les Bohem, Emmy-award winning screenwriter and producer High in California's Santa Ynez mountains, a horrific murder has marred the idyllic calm of the peaceful village of Shambhala. Manuel Torres, an escaped resident of the experimental treatment center for delinquents run by geneticist, Dr. Francine Stein, has been savagely beaten. Brian McGowan, retired lawyer and cynical former cop, is asked to help with the murder investigation. Three more killings follow the first as McGowan discovers the dark side of Dr. Stein's experimental ...

"I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~ Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "ALICE CROWLEY IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST LIVING WRITERS!" ~ G. Taylor Roxy is a scorned housewife on a rebound road trip with her best friend Lena when the women pick up a ragged hitchhiker on the side of the highway. Only this man named Ricardo is no typical hobo or tramp. Soon the pair of lusty ladies learn that their new passenger is in fact an apex predator and a true alpha male -- a man who is not entirely human. Now Ricardo is on a collision course with the two women, only before he can ...

Listen as five criminals tell their stories. Jay Jay found trouble young, very young. Serving time at age 12 is not the beginning of Jay Jay’s descent into criminality. Cjay has been in nearly as many prisons as she has fingers, yet nothing in her upbringing predestined her for crime. Lawrence, a child raised in American ghetto circumstances, became the epitome of extreme violence while at the same time holding tight an inner secret of female identity. Brian was a young man with a twinkle in his eye and a propensity for getting caught.

A murder mystery book set in Berkeley, California, during the mid-20th century. In "Berkeley Blood," the narrative unfolds in Berkeley, California, against the backdrop of academic life and shadowy secrets from the past. The story centers on Professor Robert Gunnar, a historian and assistant professor, and his friend, Trygve "Trig" Suzuki, a detective running his own small agency. During the university’s summer break, Gunnar's student and close friend, Bruce Lombardi, goes missing and is later found murdered in a gruesome manner. This mystery compels Gunnar and Suzuki to investigate ...

Twelve-year-old Marion Parker was kidnapped from her Los Angeles school by an unknown assailant on December 15, 1927. Her body was found days later, delivered to her father by the killer, who fled with the ransom money. When William Hickman was hunted down and charged with the killing, he admitted to all of it, in terrifying detail, but that was only the start. His insanity plea was the first of its kind in the history of California, and the nature of the crime led to a media frenzy unlike any the country had seen up to that point.

A spellbinding and gripping novel of betrayal, the unbreakable bonds of family, the power of love, and the price a family pays for its secrets by Susan Cochran, author of The Key. Grace Channing is a journalist, adopted as a baby by a world famous mother, a secret she's kept well hidden. While doing a news report on adoptees finding siblings through DNA testing, her own DNA test reveals a brother she never knew. Her discovery leads her to forge a strong bond with him and they uncover a web of secrets and betrayal. Two families lives intertwined and changed in an instant. Boone Varon is the ...

"Golden State Killers" delves deep into the haunting chronicles of seven notorious serial killers who emerged from the sun-kissed expanses of California. While the Golden State is often celebrated for its shimmering beaches and Hollywood glamour, lurking in its underbelly is a darker tale that needs telling.

An elite university. An abduction. An FBI investigation. In the not-so-distant future of 2033, a gripping medical mystery unfolds in the heart of Silicon Valley. Dr. Frida Ending, a young medical insurance agent, is forcibly abducted and disappears without a trace. FBI special agent Angus Weber and CIA operative Dr. Annya Segond launch an investigation that leads them to the hospital of Silicon Valley University of Evolutionary Computation (SUEC), where every pending insurance claim for children with cancer has been suddenly approved. Who is behind this? Is Frida a victim or a villain? The ...

"I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~ Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "ALICE CROWLEY IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST LIVING WRITERS!" ~ Author G. Taylor Moira is an LA housewife with a cheating husband and a yearning to explore her carnal proclivities. One day, Moira's best friend suggests the ladies attend a salacious sexual carnival circus sideshow, and Moira agrees -- without knowing what she's getting herself into. The two soon hook up with Jasper, a performer at the sideshow, and after a hot and heavy threesome in the desert, they attend the event, where they learn ...

Glowing, tingling, orgiastic praise for Alice Crowley's writing: "I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~ Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "ALICE CROWLEY IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST LIVING WRITERS!" ~ Author G. Taylor The night is young and the Los Angeles streets are about to heat up with feverish sweat and the musk of leaking bodily fluids. Blood included. Donna McBride escapes her abusive husband's clutches, only to learn the man has some secrets even darker than his wife had ever been aware of. Now Donna, her best friend Lorraine, and the girl's yoga coach Jasper are ...