Welcome to Kings River Life Magazine:
A California Magazine with Local Focus and Global Appeal.

With weekly issues every Saturday morning at 10am and new articles throughout the week, including reviews — movies each Monday at 7pm and live events Wednesdays at 7pm. If you love mysteries — explore Mysteryrat’s Maze — there's something for everyone… and check out our sister site on Blogger for bonus articles; Follow the River for updates.

← Previous Entries

Man of Steel: Movie Review

FROM THE June 17 ISSUE

IN THE Fantasy & Fangs SECTION

by Lorie Lewis Ham


Much like Star Trek, I grew up with Superman. I used to watch reruns of the old Adventures of Superman TV show starring George Reeves with my dad when I was a kid, and I watched various Superman cartoons–including one that featured Clark as a boy and of course Superfriends in the 70s. I really didn’t care for the campy Superman movies starring Christopher Reeves, but found my love for the character again in the 90s with Lois and Clark and then again with Smallville. I do have to admit I have never read the comic books.

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Joel Abels: Actor, Director, Father

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Arts & Entertainment SECTION

by Lorie Lewis Ham



At KRL we enjoy putting the spotlight on some of the wonderful local talent we are blessed with in this Valley. Because it is Father’s Day weekend, we decided to profile someone who is not only an actor and director, but someone who has worked many times locally with his actress daughter–local actor and director Joel Abels.

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A Look Back: Updates On Animal Rescue Adventures Of The Past

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Joyce Brandon SECTION

by Joyce Brandon


I thought it would be fun this month to look back over a year’s worth of articles and give you some updates on a few of my favorite stories. Time doesn’t stand still and neither does rescue. As soon as we finish with one need, the next is waiting; more often than not they overlap. We bury the sad and celebrate the happy: that is how we manage to keep going.

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Tell Your Daddy: Three Mysteries for Father’s Day

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Mysteryrat's Maze SECTION

by Sharon Tucker



“Fathers are important,” Jesse Stone tells a rebellious teenager in Robert B. Parker’s Night Passage. Love him or hate him, whether he is too present in your life or too absent, whether he’s a good father or a nightmare, and even if he is all of the above–we recognize the father as an inescapable archetype whose influence reverberates throughout our lives, proving to be infinitely fertile ground for writers to plunder. Lee Harris’s The Father’s Day Murder makes surprising use of the holiday as the major theme at the heart of her novel. Jonathan Kellerman’s The Butcher’s Theater strongly illustrates the influence for good or ill a father wields. Leonard Holton’s Out Of The Depths reminds us that not all good fathers sire children.

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The Fame Thief: A Junior Bender Mystery By Timothy Hallinan: Review/Guest Post/Giveaway

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Cynthia Chow SECTION

by Cynthia Chow
& Timothy Hallinan


There’s a good reason why professional thief Junior Bender would prefer to give up his side occupation as a private detective for criminals. With criminals as clients who want other criminals investigated, someone is always going to be unhappy and the probability is high that that someone already has a record of not following the law.

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Like Father, Like Son: Father’s Day Mystery Short Story

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Mysteryrat's Maze SECTION

by Herschel Cozine


The disappearance of Jeff Lisbon is still a topic of conversation wherever people gather. It seemed incredible at the time that someone as famous as he could simply vanish without a trace. Sure, it happens now and then–take Jimmy Hoffa, for example, but this case was different. There wasn’t any rational explanation for Lisbon to “take a ride.”He wasn’t in that line of work. Ask any baseball fan and he will tell you about Jeff Lisbon. He was one of the greats. He broke into the Major Leagues in 1954, when ballplayers were still playing for the love of the game and not because they could make millions just for hitting 200.

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The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Arts & Entertainment SECTION

by Christina Morgan Cree



The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk…just mention the place and I can smell the cotton candy. Around here we all have our own special memories of the boardwalk; walking the strip at dusk hand in hand with your sweetheart, being lured into indigestion by the intoxicating smells of the funnel cakes and garlic fries, getting stuck upside down in the cage ride and having all the change fall out of your pocket onto the cages below, running into almost everyone you know on dollar night, bringing the kids and eyes reliving your own childhood fun all over again through them.

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Father’s Day Rat Tale

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Rebecca McLeod SECTION

by Rebecca McLeod




“Lookit what we caught!” hollered Linus as he and the other baby boys scampered up from their latest expedition. The four young boy rats were dragging a fish by a length of fishing line still attached to the hook in its mouth. Behind them waddled Zander and Dexter. Dexter wore an army helmet and a machete strapped to his curly-furred back. Those zombie hamsters weren’t going to catch him unprepared.

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Chihuahua Mysteries By Waverly Curtis: Reviews/Falling In Love With Chihuahuas/Giveaway

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Cynthia Chow SECTION

by Cynthia Chow
& Waverly Fitzgerald


A divorce, the tanking of the real estate market, and being forced to move into a one-bedroom condo all have home stager Geri Sullivan in dire need of some unconditional love. That’s what she’s looking for when she goes to the Humane Society to pick out one of the 40 Chihuahuas shipped to Seattle after a certain celebrity made the purse dogs so popular that the Los Angeles shelters could no longer house them once the pets lost their trendiness. What Geri got was a sidekick with his own forceful personality, who nudges her into a new profession and becomes her companion, best friend, and life coach. Oh, and he also talks, telling Geri that his name is Pepe, now Pepe Sullivan.

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Father’s Day Tribute: Bouchon Bakery

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Alicia Lieu SECTION

by Alicia Lieu


In the words of author Randy Pausch in his book The Last Lecture, “I won the parent lottery. I was born with the winning ticket.” I was born to loving and supportive parents who, to this day, continue to sacrifice unconditionally for their children. My father is one of the kindest, gentlest, most generous souls you could ever meet.

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Little Elvises By Timothy Hallinan

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Mysteryrat's Maze SECTION

by Ted Feit


A pattern seems to be developing in the Junior Bender series. In the debut novel, Crashed, Junior, a professional burglar, was blackmailed, indirectly, by Trey Annunziato, the female head of a crime family, to steal a Klee. In this, the second book in the series, he is blackmailed by a detective to try to protect his uncle, Vincent DiGaudio, from a murder rap. I guess we’ll have to wait for the third installment, expected in June, The Fame Thief, to find out whether the trend continues.

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A Father’s Legacy: Looking at Robert Dugoni’s Life and Work

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Mysteryrat's Maze SECTION

by Paula Gail Benson


Many descriptions apply to New York Times bestselling novelist Robert Dugoni. In addition to being the author of such fast paced legal thrillers as The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, and Murder One, he has worked as a reporter, actor, and attorney. He brings his knowledge from previous occupations to his writing, but he also brings something else: an uncanny ability for creating characters and placing them in realistic, thought-provoking situations.

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Sanger Sober Grad

FROM THE June 15 ISSUE

IN THE Cheryl Senn SECTION

by Cheryl Senn


Attendance at the 2013 Sanger High Sober Grad event was more than double the number of students who participated in 2012, according to Sanger High Sober Grad organizer and Sanger High teacher, Sara Smith. This year 170 students participated, but in 2012, only 82 students participated. The location had a lot to do with the increase in attendance.

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Happy Father’s Day: A Father’s Day Mystery Short Story

FROM THE June 13 ISSUE

IN THE Mysteryrat's Maze SECTION

by Brenda Williamson



“Happy Father’s Day,” she told him, as they stood in the moonlight on the boardwalk at the deserted marina. “When I kill you and you vanish, the kids will think you abandoned them; this will be the last Father’s Day they will remember you fondly.”

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Woodward Shakespeare Festival In Fresno-2013

FROM THE June 12 ISSUE

IN THE Local Live SECTION

by Lorie Lewis Ham


This week for our Local Live we are chatting with Greg Taber, the Executive Producer of the Woodward Shakespeare Festival in Fresno, which begins their 2013 season this weekend!

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Eternally 21: A Mrs. Frugalicious Shopping Mystery By Linda Joffe Hull

FROM THE June 10 ISSUE

IN THE Cynthia Chow SECTION

by Cynthia Chow


One would have thought that being Frank Michaels of Channel Three’s Frank Finance Show would mean that “Mr. Finance” would be the least likely to fall victim to a Ponzi scheme. Unfortunately, for Maddie Michaels though, her husband did invest all of their savings with an investor who promptly stole all of their money, leaving it up to Maddie to figure out a way to scrimp and save and not have Frank risk losing his reputation and job at the television station due to his poor judgment.

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← Previous Entries

  • Arts & Entertainment

  • Downtown Doings

  • Everything Education

  • Food Fun

  • Helping Hands

  • Hometown History

  • KRL Reviewers & Tales

  • Pet Perspective

  • Teen Talk

  • Terrific Tales