The Best of Todays SoCal Mystery Scene
Explore the best of today’s SoCal mystery scene with top picks like Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker and Kill the Shogun, featuring gripping tales of suspense from Southern California's finest crime fiction.
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Silent Joe
by T. Jefferson Parker
The #1 Los Angeles Times bestselling author of Red Light and The Blue Hour returns with a moody, sexy, suspenseful novel about a scarred man, the father he idolized, and the secret he uncovers. With the horrible remnants of a childhood tragedy forever visible across his otherwise handsome face, Joe Trona is scarred in more ways than one. Rescued from an orphanage by Will Trona, a charismatic Orange County politician who sensed his dark potential, Joe is swept into the maelstrom of power and intimidation that surrounds his adoptive father's illustrious career. Serving as Will's right-hand man, Joe is trained to protect and defend his father's territory -- but he can't save the powerful man from his enemies. Will Trona is murdered, and Joe will stop at nothing to find out who did it. Looking for clues as he sifts through the remains of his father's life -- his girlfriends, acquaintances, deals, and enemies -- Joe comes to realize how many secrets Will Trona possessed, and how many people he had the power to harm. But two leads keep rising to the surface: a little girl who was kidnapped by her mentally disturbed brother, and two rival gangs who seem to have joined forces. As Joe deepens his investigation -- and as he is forced to confront the painful events of his troubled childhood -- these two seemingly disconnected threads will intersect. Just how and why form the crux of this intricate, intelligent mystery that satisfies the mind as well as the heart -- and reveals yet again the impeccable detail, vivid characterization, and emotional complexity that make a T. Jefferson Parker novel impossible to resist.
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Dem Bones' Revenge
by Kris Neri
When the cops catch mystery writer Tracy Eaton's mom, Hollywood legend Martha Collins, alone with the bloody remains of celebrity litigant Vince Sperry -- holding nothing but a lame excuse -- Tracy leaps to her mother's defense, despite her own publication woes.Only Martha seems determined to impede Tracy's attempts to clear her. That just convinces Tracy her mom has pulled a doozy this time, even if Tracy can't see how anything Martha does relates to Sperry's murder..Not that other suspects don't abound -- but those scare Tracy even more. Was Martha right, had Tracy's stuffy lawyer husband, Drew, settled his career-making lawsuit with a bullet? Or did her dad, aging Hollywood heartthrob Alec Grainger, decide to end an old feud once and for all?All roads seem to lead to the past, to one Hollywood scandal after another. Will Tracy's digging clear Martha's past and free her future? Or will she unearth something that's sure to slam the cell door shut on her exasperating, but much-loved mother?
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Kill the Shogun
by Dale Furutani
Matsuyama Kaze, a samurai on a quest to rescue his murdered lord's kidnapped daughter, is caught in a plot to kill the shogun.
