Southern California

It started with a 5 a.m. phone call... The adventure leads Alex and his friends to Montana and east to Minneapolis; as well as to the rugged seashore of Big Sur, California in search of the truth. In search of a killer. The entire story covers a mere 23 days! It is a fast-paced, road trip to be experienced.

At the age of thirty-nine, Alice Chang suddenly finds herself living in the last place she expected: her mother’s house. But in the face of divorce, eviction, and the recent death of her father, she doesn’t have a choice. Watching as her mother thrives in a new job and meets younger men at the local gym, Alice struggles, reflecting on her parents’ marriage, her relationship with each of them, as she adjusts to being single again for the first time in twenty years. Then she finds her father’s old journal...and uncovers a shocking family secret.

The discovery of a fifty-year-old corpse leads Alex and his law enforcement friends on an amazing new adventure. How can you investigate a cold case that is this old? Where do you begin? What do you plan to learn? What will represent the end of the search – truth, blame, or just an unanswerable question? And so it begins, the sixth story in the Alex Wright mystery series - with Alex Wright, the Laguna Beach surfing real estate appraiser. He discovers the skeletal remains while measuring a house for an appraisal. Now he feels compelled to dig deep into the past to find out what happened on...

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 ...

“You float through life like a piece of driftwood. Aimless. You have nothing to strive for.” Wellington Estates heiress Danielle Riley has everything her heart desires. But for the first time, she wants something she cannot have: Mike, the poor, proud, talented athlete, whose mother is working class, whose family is beneath hers. Mike Melgoza works hard for a living and bears a terrible secret, a secret that clouds his decisions, that pollutes his relationships. He mistakes Danielle’s generosity for pity, spurning her love and everything she represents. Brokenhearted, Danielle embarks...

By chance, Madison Harper, best-selling novelist, happens upon the story of three boys that have gone missing in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California during the past twenty years. The only resolution the authorities can come up with is that they were all killed by mountain lion attacks. She finds their three separate stories intriguing. Research and interviews with their friends and families make her decide that their stories and eventual disappearances become the subject of her next book. The first boy vanished while on a group hike. He couldn’t keep up and was directed to...

It’s Christmastime in the quiet Los Angeles County city of Vista Beach, home of computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson. The magic of the season fills the air as residents enjoy school concerts, a pier lighting ceremony and the annual sand-snowman contest. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Rory plans on painting ornaments to sell at the local craft fair and joining in on the holiday fun. But she finds the season anything but jolly after the house across the street is torn down, revealing a decades old crime. Past meets present when her father is ...

The most powerful legislators in the world are ripe targets for hostile foreign intelligence services and domestic subversive organizations. Do you want to know why members of Congress have embraced radical left policies that damage America and empower her enemies? Did you know that U.S. Congressmembers need no background checks to do their jobs? You would need a security clearance to work for the CIA or FBI, but not to chair the House Intelligence Committee. You would be strictly vetted to work for the Department of Homeland Security, but would require zero scrutiny to chair the House ...

20 short stories from the Cheap Seats

(*This series contains some mature language and subject matter -- reader discretion advised.) When your dang list Keeps getting in the way-- --The one with the people who shouldn't be walking around anymore-- You move to Manhattan Beach, to try to relax. So that's what Chris does. But who's he kidding? *** *Author’s Note: The books in the Chris Seely series are intended to be read in order. That said, there's a Background Synopsis at the start of this book.

Chances are your grandchildren have no idea of the world before cell phones, internet, and digital everything. Written for the author's grandchildren, this book presents vignettes of life before MTV and 24-hour news cycles. At times poignant, funny, and cynical, it's easy and entertaining reminders of a simpler time.

In his latest adventure, Alex Wright, a 32-year old real estate appraiser in Laguna Beach, California, finds himself involved in the murder investigation of a computer geek, Eric Thompson, who has developed a means to steal identities in an undetectable manner. His surfing buddy, Detective Zackery Potrero of the Newport Beach Police Department, is amazed at how Alex can analyze situations and discover leads that were missed by the police and the FBI. With the help of FBI Special Investigator Louis Faulkner, the trio peels away several layers of crime in their effort to solve the mystery.

A significant weekend in Alex Wright’s life begins with the public viewing of his warehouse renovation and ends with a cry for help from an 83-year-old woman being foreclosed and thrown out of her home. Two murders and an encounter with a ruthless Russian oligarch lead our hero into a search through Baja California for the man with the answers.

As described in Readers’ Favorite Review by Vincent Dublado… “James H. Morgan magnificently captures the nostalgia of the 1960s. There is power in the recollection of ordinary people chronicling their experience in specific times in history because it gives a powerful illustration of how ordinary citizens lived and witnessed history… The beauty of The Reject Bench is that Morgan skillfully blends both the mundane and colorful episodes in his life and how they are shaped by the events of the times. How he views the looming war in Vietnam captures the sentiments of a considerable ...

After seven months laying low in Ocean Beach, California, Seattle PI Leo Waterman has finally stopped looking over his shoulder - specifically, for the vengeful band of Washington white supremacists who blame Leo for blindsiding their big plans for America. Where better to disappear with his bodyguard, Gabe, than this laid-back stretch of San Diego heaven? But when Leo finds a boy’s body on the beach, he comes out of hiding to investigate.

Are you excited about planning your next trip? Do you want an edible experience? Would you like some culinary guidance from a local? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this Eat Like a Local audiobook is for you. Eat like a Local - Northern California Redwoods and the Southern Oregon Coast by Jordan Blansit offers the inside scoop on food, drink, and a little bit of hiking in the greatest place on Earth (her personal opinion, but also possibly a fact). Culinary tourism is an important aspect of any travel experience.

In this moving collection of short stories and essays, Gordon Lee Johnson (Cupeño/Cahuilla) cements his voice not only as a wry commentator on American Indian reservation life but also as a master of fiction writing. In Johnson’s stories, all of which are set on the fictional San Ignacio reservation in Southern California, we meet unforgettable characters like Plato Pena, the Stanford-bound geek who reads Kahlil Gibran during intertribal softball games; hardboiled investigator Roddy Foo; and Etta, whose motto is “early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise”.

Working with Seoul’s premiere matchmaker, Jisu’s traditional South Korean parents are determined to ensure her success in life and love by matching her with the right boyfriend. After one too many slip-ups at school, Jisu finds herself shipped off to San Francisco to focus on her academics and approved dates, leaving her little space to figure out her own dreams. As her newly realized passion for photography lights her on fire, Jisu wonders...does she even want to find "The One"?

Raised with limited peer interaction, Ernestine St Bennett has difficulty interpreting social cues. At twenty-five she's become a loner; a shy nerd immersed in her scientific studies, whose best friend is her pet fish, Waldo. Then Ernestine meets Simon Prime, who's obviously a nerd, too! Sympathizing with his social dysfunction, Ernie decides to help poor Simon increase his self-esteem and thus enhance his social standing. Using principles learned in her fish studies, she'll simply turn Simon from meek to macho. What Ernestine doesn’t know (but Waldo suspects) is that Simon Prime is ...

Most familiar with the Wild West know Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp for the famous shootout on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona. But few know the later years of the close-knit Earp family, which revolved around patriarch Nicholas Earp, and their last push at a major monetary coup in Los Angeles.