California Crime

Five book collection: first five states in the United States of True Crime series. Sixty chilling true crime cases of murders, kidnappings, and serial killers from across the United States!

Nora Harmon has a lot to be thankful for: two great kids, a stable marriage, and now, a dream career. Software consultant Jane Bell wants Nora on her team. She’s offering a fantastic salary, flexible hours, and a chance to travel the world. It sounds too good to be true, but Jane won’t take no for an answer. Jane acts more like a friend than a boss, and Nora’s personal and professional boundaries begin to blur. Jane is smitten with Nora’s perfect family—particularly her daughter—and far too attentive to Nora’s husband. Nora can’t help but feel insecure and unsettled.

Raised in the suburb of Riverside, California, 20-year-old college student Jason Bautista endured for years his emotionally disturbed mother's verbal and psychological abuse. She even locked him out of the house, tied him up with electrical cord, and on one occasion, gave him a beating that sent him to the emergency room. On the night of January 14, 2003, Jason strangled his mother. To keep authorities from identifying her body, he chopped off her head and hands, an idea he claimed he got from watching an episode of the hit TV series The Sopranos.

Written years before Jordan Harper’s breakout success, Everybody Knows, this stirring and brutal bildungsroman tells the story of young Luke Crosswhite, who after years apart from his criminal family returns to their flock deep in the California desert. Luke’s father is serving time for a brutal murder that Luke himself witnessed; now, his uncle vies for power and rival biker gangs encroach on the family’s various criminal enterprises.

When Carol Montecalvo began writing to a man in prison through a program at her church, she considered it her Christian duty. But the letters soon became her lifeline, something she actually looked forward to sending and receiving. She fell in love with the man behind the letters and just before Dan was released, they wed in the prison chapel. Their marriage lasted nine years, until the fateful night when Dan stoically called 911 to report his wife's murder.

For some people, trouble just finds them. Thirty years ago, Vincent King became a killer. Now, he's been released from prison and is back in his hometown of Cape Haven, California. Not everyone is pleased to see him. Like Star Radley, his ex-girlfriend and sister of the girl he killed. Duchess Radley, Star's 13-year-old daughter, is part-carer, part-protector to her younger brother, Robin - and to her deeply troubled mother.

When two men meet in the gym - the ex-boxer Billy Tully and the novice Ernie Munger - their brief sparring session sets into motion their hidden fates, initiating young Munger into the "company of men" and luring Tully back into training. Fat City tells of their anxieties and hopes, their loves and losses, and the stubborn determination of their manager, Ruben Luna, who knows that even the most promising kid is likely to fall prey to some weakness.

Between 1846 and 1873, California's Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and why the killings ended. This deeply researched book is a comprehensive and chilling history of an American genocide.

When someone disappears on Northern California’s lawless Murder Mountain, it isn’t news. The vast terrain for illegal marijuana harvests is also a notorious black hole for outsiders. But when that someone is the family friend of the persuasive and righteous Senator Steele, finding him becomes covert investigator Ryan Decker’s mission.

After ten long years as a private detective, Stockton native Jake Carter is finally closing his LA agency. In just a few days he’ll put the missing teens and cheating spouses behind him and join the city's corporate world full of cushy jobs and hefty paychecks. But when his former partner is found dead in a Stockton homeless camp, murdered by a ruthless serial killer who’s targeting the city’s most vulnerable population, Carter will put his dreams on hold and return to his hometown to find the madman responsible before he strikes again. But solving this case won’t be so easy. ...

On a beautiful October day in the San Fernando Valley, teenager Missy Avila was lured into the woods, beaten, tortured, and drowned. Missy's best friend, Karen Severson, publicly vowed to find the killer and even moved in with Missy's family to help. Three years later, a surprise witness exposed the murderers as Missy's two best friends—one of whom was Karen. New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury delivers a story full of twists, turns, betrayals, and confessions.

Man Found Dead On Park Bench The Butler women are thriving. Anna's Cafe is a big success and her friendship with ex police chief Gino Mancini is progressing slowly but steadily. Now she wants to focus on finding her husband John's killer. When a man is found dead in the botanical garden, Anna feels obliged to help Gino investigate. The police suspect the old man's son, a hostile young man with a clear motive. For the first time, Anna is inclined to agree with them. As details of the crime emerge, Anna realizes the dead man was hated by many. False alibis, feuding neighbors and estranged ...

Cloning is a luxury for the wealthy. For Chance Harker, it’s a way of getting on with his lives. Five years ago, when he was sixteen, he and his brother, Marley, were murdered in a kidnapping gone wrong. Chance was revived—and his grieving parents met his existence with anger, neglect, and aversion. The public, though? They can’t get enough of the death-defying stunts he has parlayed into a social media spectacle. But after Chance’s latest “refresh,” he awakens to accusations that he’s killed Lee Conway, a stranger Chance has never met.

Delve into the hidden underbelly of crime as we unveil the secrets of the Los Angeles Mafia Crime Family. From its elusive origins to its far-reaching influence, prepare to uncover the tangled web of power, intrigue, and betrayal that defined this criminal empire.

Rachel lives a quiet life in the peaceful countryside, content with her perfect man and her lovely dog. But when she stumbles upon a body in the woods one day, all that shatters. She knows what she has to do: run. Don’t get accused of murder. But when this victim is identified as her boyfriend’s estranged wife, Rachel realises she’s already the prime suspect. With mounting evidence against her, Rachel’s only hope is to keep her past well hidden.

Alex Wright, a 32-year old real estate appraiser in Laguna Beach, California, finds himself in the thick of a major bank fraud. While struggling to distance himself from the scam, he discovers the dead body of his luscious client, Colette. His surfing buddy, Detective Zackery Potrero of the Newport Beach Police Department, is watching his back and shaking his head at each turn wondering how Alex can get himself in so deep! Watch for future adventures of this duo and their assortment of family and friends.

Ben Adams is a former FBI agent who killed a DEA agent in a bad shoot. He did five years at Pelican Bay for his mistake. He now lives at the beach in a fog of surf and medium-grade alcoholism. A simple trip to Baja and a plane crash set his life on a dangerous collision course with the FBI and a drug cartel high in the Colorado Rockies. The second novel from former Special Agent Jeremy DeConcini takes readers high into the mountains and over the edge in the dead of winter. Bundle up because the full body count won't be known until springtime.

Alex Wright’s life as a surfing real estate appraiser in Laguna, California turns dark. In the months that follow the tiki torch march in Charlottesville, Virginia, first the wife of his dog grooming friend, Samantha, is brutally assaulted for no reason other than her same-sex marriage. Then two weeks later a seventeen year old high school student is murdered possibly because he is Jewish. Alex feels the need to deal with these crimes, and to attempt to end hatred in Orange County, California. Follow his path to solving these crimes and gather support for his newest crusade. This is the ...

Jaleesa, Kai, Ilya and Dani are online best friends, and superfans of the hit TV show City of Night. Fantasising about the show in their chatroom, they find an escape from their troubled small-town lives. Everything changes when Chloe, make-up artist to the show's star Alice Temple, enters the chat. When Chloe tells them Alice is in danger the four resolve to save her, and make their way to California. But fantasy is quickly overtaken by reality. Alice's troubles, they discover, will shine the spotlight on all of them. And not in a good way.

For the man who already has it all, the reasonable thing to do is to take even more! Xavier Hightower, leader of the Duffle Bag Bwoys, robs a massive Mexican shipment that puts his crew at the top of the cartels assassination list. The ruthless criminal mastermind is determined to dominate the state of California in a savage manner never before seen. He gives birth to the first West Coast crime family that he affectionately dubs; the Golden State Heavyweights. But when war is declared on Xavier's criminal empire, he must deal with his demons at the same time that treachery from within ...