A California Online Magazine with Local Focus and Global Appeal
Embarking on the writing of a novel is a truly novel (ha!) experience. As a physician, researcher, and teacher, who wrote extensively throughout my career in academic medicine, including an introductory anesthesiology textbook with my mentor, I assumed the words would flow and a book would appear. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Though a life-long reader, I soon realized I’d never analyzed the craft of the books I love, which of course is the author’s intent.
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We are all familiar with the conventional wisdom about light and dark, struggle and triumph, failure and success. “Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light,” wrote author Madeleine L’Engle. “What makes night within us may leave stars,” added Victor Hugo. In sports, Michael Jordan insisted, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” And the Latin adage Si vis pacem, para bellum reminds us, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
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What exactly does a forensic psychologist do? I know precisely what you are thinking right now. You are picturing Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins—Clarice and Hannibal. You’re seeing a beleaguered Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross, hunkered over a desk, analyzing crimes scenes, profiling serial killers, and putting together a puzzle no one else can solve. But, for most forensic psychologists, a day in the life is far from Hollywood.
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Fire and Vengeance is a murder mystery. First and foremost, I hope readers find it entertaining, especially in this coronavirus era, when we all need relief from the grim realities of life. This novel, like the others in the Koa K?ne mystery series, plays with several of my favorite literary themes. While they are not unique, I’ve woven these themes into my narratives and hope this blog post provides some insight into the development of the Koa Kane mysteries.
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The Burn Patient is a gritty, action-packed L.A. thriller featuring African-American TV reporter, Beatrice Middleton, and her photographer partner, Lucy Vega. It’s the third in the Vega & Middleton series with a fourth scheduled for release in 2021. If you like Rizolli & Isles, you might enjoy this series, too.
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In 1990, I remember sitting in a theater, stunned by the turn of events at the end of Presumed Innocent. Now that I have read three of Scott Turow’s Kindle County novels with the same characters, I see that his characters and plots are even better on the page. The internal monologues detail so much more than actors can ever vocalize. It is really a pleasure to go back and read what made the books best sellers and to discover more about these rich characters.
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Fake Truth is the third book in Lee Goldberg’s Ian Ludlow thriller series. It takes place shortly after the end of book two, Killer Thriller. Ian is a well-known thriller author whose books keep unintentionally turning out to be more truth than fiction.
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Comfort reads are always a necessity, and mine currently are romantic thrillers I read or meant to read some time ago (with the occasional sci-fi or fantasy novel thrown in for variety) and I do find them all most comforting. The world of the thrillers is something I recognize from my early years of getting lost in fiction and, as ever, with genre reading we recognize where we are and we like it or go home. Mary Stewart’s novels were my favorites, and I’ve read them all so I decided to explore others in the same vein.
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When I wrote my thriller Dark Tomorrow, I thought I had imagined a true worst-case scenario, one in which the entire East Coast was crippled by a massive cyber attack launched by an unknown enemy. In my book, the electrical grid is shut down, supply chains grind to a halt, our national defense system is hacked, and industrial plants are turned into terrorist weapons.
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My stories have two main characters, one familiar to Western readers as he makes nature documentaries in remote places, and the other a man of the land, a tribal elder.
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This week the latest book in Lee Goldberg’s Ian Ludlow Thriller series, Fake Truth, was released. We took a moment to chat with Lee about the book and the series, and in a few weeks we will also have a review of the book. This is a fun series you won’t want to miss!
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There’s something about crime stories we’re all drawn to. It’s the thrill we get when reading and can’t wait for the next page to see what happens. We’re nervous or anxious but are cuddled up on our couch with a hot chocolate completely safe.
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Alice Fine is the lucky one. As a young girl, she was stolen from the backyard of her Indiana community, but her policeman father was able to find her and bring her home. That memory has haunted her, and now she spends her free time volunteering for a missing person website called The Doe Pages. When a man is reported on the site as missing, Alice recognizes him as her childhood kidnapper.
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Forty-two years ago, a gardener working in a Bakersfield back yard spotted blood creeping under his client’s door. Police discovered the beaten and stabbed body of Tommy Tarver, owner of an exclusive beauty salon.
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Meet Pete, who, according to his foster mom “is a huge sweetheart”! Not only is he a fuzzy wuzzy sweetheart, but he also has a big, happy, motorboat purr that he generously shares to announce his sweetness! He loves to play and enjoys every single toy he meets! This irresistible boy is a big boy and a hugely loving addition in a wonderful forever home of his own. Could sweet purrasaurus Pete be the great new addition in your loving family? Peter was adopted and returned by his original family at no fault of his own, there was a illness in the family, he might need some time to adjust to his new family. Pete is available from the Cat House on the Kings.
