California Books

Southern California private investigator Delilah West would rather confront a serial killer holding a weapon to her head than the emotional problems caused by her falling in love with developer Erik Lundstrom. Even the attack at the mall by a maniac shooting people does not affect Delilah (who anonymously took out the crazed killer) as much as her heart beating for the wealthy Orange County businessman.

Erik desperately wants to get closer to Delilah, but realizes that before that can happen two barriers must be torn down. First, his teenage daughter Nikki must accept the new woman in his life. Second, his beloved must listen to her heart. To that end, Nikki and Delilah go out together, but soon are embroiled in a kidnapping in which they are the abductees. It is up to the hard boiled detective to find a way to save not only her life, but the life of the daughter of her beloved.

Though this reviewer has not had the opportunity to read all six Delilah West mysteries (having read four of them), the series remaisn one of the better female private investigative collections on the market today. In her latest entry, DOWN FOR THE COUNT, Delilah is a beautiful conflicting mix of emotions that makes her seem so poignantly human and thereby, stir readers' interest. The story line is at time humorous and at other times very hard-boiled. The dichotomy not only works well, it adds to the humanization of all the characters. Maxine O'Callaghan continues to provide strong detective fiction that feel so real.

Harriet Klausner

"Down for the Count" is fast-paced and exciting, the kind of book that you literally won't want to put down. Delilah seems so real that you will feel as though you are experiencing her misadventures right along with her.

The book is wonderfully plotted and filled with interesting (and, in some cases,menacing)supporting characters. Men and women will enjoy this book!

I encourage readers to look for the other books in the Delilah West series, as well as the two books about Anne Menlo.

Delilah West is a PI in Santa Ana, California. She's single but involved with Erik Lundstrom, a rich, sexy man who wants her to get to know Nicky, his teenage daughter better. They take an instant dislike to each other but are forced into a lunch date.

On the way to the restaurant, Nicky and Delilah are kidnapped and they have to learn how to trust each other and work together to survive. Delilah is eventually let free but Nicky is held for ransom. Delilah knows that Nicky was left with neough food for only a few more days.

The second part of the book is about her struggle to figure out who has kidnapped Nicky and why so she can be rescued.

Delilah is a very likable character. She is honest about her shortcomings and has a sense of humor. But she is also able to be tough when she has to be and to accept the consequences.

There is very good character development between Delilah, Nicky and Erik. It has a twist at the end which makes you wish there was at least one more chapter.

This is the 6th in the series and there definitely will be a 7th.

This book is one of the best. A real page turner. Impossible to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I don't usually read P.I. mysteries. Plot driver, centered in Orange County, California, it is superb! Don't miss this one!

Finally - a beautifully illustrated and easy to follow guide toward even better health with weight management and corrective health measures. Everything is here, including food suggestions and even grocery lists!
Congratulations on a wonderful presentation!
MJ Franklin

All of us that want to live a healthy lifestyle are always in search of something or someone that can help us to achieve our goals.This book can really help you achieve your goals to eating and living well. I believe you will be motivated by the wealth of information that is contained in this book so you can take the necessary steps to become a more vibrant and healthy individual.

This book is a very helpful tool to use to get your body in to the best health. After incorporating Coreen's wealth of knowledge in to my daily routine, my test results have shown that my body is well on its way to the best health. Eat Right - Your Life Depends On It will become a reference book not far from your daily reach.

This book is full of great suggestions and recipes for eating healthy. It acts a lot like a "workbook" and gives you a place to enter in your daily food intake, along with new recipes for each day. The Grocery List is very helpful, as well. We have incorporated a lot of Coreen's healthy eating habits into our daily lifestyle. My favorite is a quick and delicious smoothie to start the day off right!

Eccentric California is a wonderful travel guide for those visiting California! It is full of great leads and information about the quirky and fun places and events California has to offer! I highly recommend bringing this book with you on your next visit to the Golden State!

As a native Californian (who ran away from San Francisco because it was getting too mainstream and conservative) I am very familiar with many of the things reviewed in this book, most particularly in the Central and Northern coastal areas. But, much to my surprize, areas that I thought I knew well house many previously unknown and interesting places to visit and things to do. Cool!

Definitely worth dropping a few bucks for if you are planning on discovering what makes Californians tick. (Just remember, Northern and Southern California really are two different states, lol.)

The author Jan Friedman has touched base on so many eccentric places, things and events in California.
Her detailed explanation of each place makes me want to pack my bags and go see them all.
Coming from Phoenix, AZ I have not seen or been too much in the Golden State, but with 2006 around the corner and a great book. My News Year's resolution is to travel and get coffee stains all over this fantastic read.

And to all you want to be PRICE IS RIGHT CONTESTANTS.
This author has hit the nail on it's head.
Not only did I stay at the Farmer's Daughter Hotel and was prepped with the best insiders information. I also started milking the cows about 4:00am just to become the:
Showcase Showdown Winner.
Yes, I said WINNER!!!!!!

I'm very excited to see more with this book in 2006.
Thanks for the great information on California.

There are many misconceptions about the Golden State and one of them is that California is an eccentric place. And, in truth, eccentricity there is not the same as eccentricity in, say Utah.

California is known for it's cutting edge social conventions, and admittedly, many first originated in the Golden State (from Frisbees and motels to skateboards and drive in churches).

Clearly, author Jan Friedman has her work cut out for her, but she seems up to the challenge, discussing festivals and events, peculiar pursuits, museums and collections, "quirkyvilles" (towns with a twist), offbeat tours, unusual cuisine , kitschy attractions, and anything and everything else that is different to say the least.

Edible and Useful Plants of California (California Natural History Guides)

If you are interested in wild plants, this is a good book for identification. The recipes provided are easy and delicious. I have already prepared Purslane (Verdolaga) in her recipe titled, "Verdolagas Con Queso" -- Excellent! There are many more I can't wait to try. Excellent book by Charlotte Bringle Clarke.

I have quite a few "nature" books on my shelf, and at least 5 on plant identification. I was a tad bit leary when I ordered this book, thinking that it would just become another dust gatherer. Boy was I wrong. It is one of the easiest reads I have ever seen on this subject. You do not have to have a degree in botany to get into, and begin to use the info in this book. It has rekindled my desire to learn more about the plant-life around me. If you live, and play outdoors in California, then I would definately recomend this book, and some of the recipes listed in this book really are to die for ( and I am not talking about the chapter on poisonous plant identification ).

Clearly written guide to edible plants with recipes and well told descriptions. I enjoyed every page.

As a former graduate student in botany I have almost 100 books on botany and plant identification, and this is one of the most fun and easiest to use guides that I have. It's not a rigorous guide, but it's not meant to be, since it focuses on the edible and useful plants of California. About a hundred species are covered, if I remember right (cut me some slack here since it's been awhile since I picked it up), and the notes on their herbal or culinary use, which I don't know as much about, increased my knowledge there.

This would probably be one of the best books for an amateur to get their feet wet identifying plants because it limits itself to one topic and many of the easier species to identify. Plus you'll learn about how various plants they have been used in the past and continue to be useful today.

For example, to mention just one, ceanothus, of which there are about 40 species in California, was used both as a tea substitute and tobacco substitute by the early settlers. And it's easily identifiable by the three prominent veins on the underside of the leaf, as well as the small, pretty clusters of violet flowers. Most of the 40 odd species are low growing herbs or bushes, but the largest species can be a 40 foot tall tree.

Overall, a fine book and one that imparts a lot of fun, useful information.

Excellent portrait of this facinating King. Highly recommended. Buy the paperback though....$28.00 as opposed to $60.00.

The late Charles D. Ross presents here one of the most readable and interesting presentations of of English monarch ever written. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the king or his era-I used it extensively in my senior thesis!

Edward IV is one of the great enigmas of history. Even how he was able to become King is not self-evident. His seizing the throne was then followed by government marked by occasional brilliance and great folly. For someone who at times was keenly aware of dynastic considerations, his own marriage was the height of folly compounded by giving far too much influence to the Queen's relatives. He gave far too much trust, power and wealth to a few individuals, especially the Earl of Warrick and his traitorous brother Clarence alienating in the process much of the established nobility and wrecking in his early years the King's finances. Overthrown in the course of his reign, he nevertheless succeeded in recapturing the throne in short order and then repairing his fortunes spectacularly. Even so, this was accompanied by the strangest series of preparations for invasion of France, ending in an almost farcical procession in Northern France and a pusillanimous retreat. Lazy, debauched, perceptive and effective-many such adjectives can be applied to him - and all miss the puzzling essence of the man and his reign. What a set of stories could be woven out of this material without clearly capturing the essence of the situation! One cannot help wondering why of the adult kings between Richard II and Henry VII, Edward IV alone did not attract Shakespeare's pen.

Charles Ross wrote a fascinating book on this puzzling ruler, making as clear as the scanty and somewhat unreliable records allow the course of Edward's life and reign, and the various episodes that both fascinate and puzzle. The book (with a short introduction by R.A. Grifffiths rather than a revision by him) proceeds first by laying out the story, and then returning to give separate investigation of various aspects of Edward's rule, such as governance, his relations with the community and his finances. This latter subject is particularly well handled, as is the penultimate chapter on law and order. The story is well told, without excessive pedantry and without any attempt to hide when the record is unclear or the author has had to make large interpretations. One may not really know or understand Edward by the end of the book, but one's feeling is that it is the man himself who escapes capture by the biographer's art, not any weakness of the biographer himself. For those interested in such matters - and this is not light reading - Griffith's biography should prove highly satisfying.

Charles Ross presents an unforgettable tale of the most confusing, uneven and adventurous reign of any king in the English history. Edward IV remains the only king who was able to loose a kingdom and them successfully reclaim the crown. Possessing remarkable talents in administration and warfare, he however managed to bring the treasury to almost complete ruin by the end of his term, and botch the most impressive show of force in France any English king (including Edward III and Henry V) can ever master to assemble. Edward IV lived in the extraordinary age, full with great personalities like Richard Warwick the "Kingmaker", Margaret, the queen of Henry VI, and his own kid brother Richard, future most vilified by Shakespeare king Richard the III.

It is very easy to fell victim to novelized history when relating the events as extraordinary as the events of Edward's reign. Not Charles Ross. He is extremely well researched and versed in the records of the period, and presents the somewhat dry details of the records of the Household and Exchequer, in an interesting way and extremely well cross-referenced. Internal English sources are corroborated by continental and papal records. I would recommend this book to a serious student of history.

Also see Charles Ross's "Richard III" for a mysterious, bloody, and tragically brief concluding reign of Plantagenet dynasty. This one is also highly recommended.

Any history book by Kevin Starr is worth reading. I'm working my way through all of them. He is the greatest California historian ever!

I finally got around to reading "The Grapes of Wrath" and was ashamed to realize that the context of the story was all new to me. Right about then, Kevin Starr's book came out and was reviewed in my local paper. He's done a great, steady job of illuminating the rise of the unions and the treatment of the Okies. The only major flaw I found was the lack of a map of California included in the book. I'm from the east coast and found it difficult to keep the place names straight without a ready reference.

Kevin Starr's continuing work on the history of California since 1850 continues to impress me and fill me with interesting and useful knowledge about the state. Being a resident of the state, it is relatively easy for me to keep following the thread and the meaning of names and locations. I can imagine this would be somewhat more difficult for readers not as familiar with our state. The story of the waterfront strikes in San Francisco and the farming/migrant/labor issues of the 1930s are very compelling and should be easily understood by readers regardless of where they are from. The issues dealing with our water supply and other water management issues as well as those dealing with large public works within the state, can pose a bigger challenge for those readers.

As with his other volumes, Mr. Starr doesn't just give us straight-ahead, factual history. In my view, he is especially good at giving incidental stories about some of the players involved in a way that keeps the reader more interested. Immediately after finishing the book I went to the internet to find out more about people like photographer Dorothea Lange and the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. That is what I ask of books like these: that they teach me about things I don't know much about and that they cause me to follow up and learn more about some of the topics within the book.

One learns reading this particular volume that the current quirkiness of California (governor recalls, liberalism, social diversity) is not something that just developed in the 1970s. We had recall movements back in the 1930s as well and some ugliness comes through regarding racism and discrimination in this state that sometimes thinks so highly of itself in that area. It is truly shameful how we discriminated against all migrant workers, whether of color or the Oakies that came to us from the Dust Bowl. The stories of abuse of power by the police and other government entities were very interesting.

I would love to have every Californian---especially our politicians---read Mr. Starr's work. Most history is slow to read, and this is no exception, but the amounts of knowledge one will get about California, make it worth the while.

This fourth chapter in Starr's "Americans and the California Dream" is the best yet. I was paticularly interested, in what Starr sees as the States battle between the forces of communism and fascism. The text reads like an account of a some great war, following each battle and skirmish throughout the State. I would recommend this work to anyone who is seriously interested in California or Labor history.

This was a great mystery -- kept me entertained all the way through. But I have one question for the author. She referred to the different colors of Monopoly playing pieces: "He sat in the chair that was usually his and placed two pieces on Go. Purple was his father's favorite. He took it for himself and gave his father the yellow." Isn't Monopoly played with the well-known "tokens" -- hat, dog, race car, etc.?

This is a good mystery which is very easy to read. My one dissapointment was Jesse Drake. I'm tired of reading about gorgeous women cops that all the fellow officers harass in some way. I still have to find one book about women on the force which weren't harassed in some ways by the male species. Very tiresome. Still, this book is worth a read.

A friend lent me this book, and thought I would enjoy the plot. I am, I admit, a lover of thrillers and read this in one day.

A strange killer is on the moves (pun intended), and a woman detective (Jessie Drake) must identify him before it is too late. Will Jessie save her sister's marriage, and will she find the Curare Killer before he strikes again... Romance can not be avoided, as in most thrillers, but it at least is plausible and believable. Of course, the inevitable happens, the plot does get a little predictable, nevertheless the suspense is there all the way. Definitely deserves five stars.

I ran across this book and decided to give it a shot even though I wasn't familiar with the author. I was not disappointed. The characters are wonderful and by the end of the book, you feel like you know them all as friends. There are nice twists throughout the book and it never bogs down. It's a great read. I highly recommend it.

Fatal Obsession
Stephen Greenleaf 1983.

I'm going to give this 4 *'s because I like Greenleaf's John Marshall Tanner series so much, and because even an off day for Greenleaf still makes for a good read. But this fourth volume in the series seems to lose some of the steam that has built up over the previous three. Away from Marsh's home area of San Francisco and Northern California, the lovely specificity of place that informs so many great mystery series is missing, and of course the cadre of support characters that has been forming make only a token appearance or two on the phone. Sometimes taking a break from the home stomping grounds can be a nice breather for a series that's getting stale, but that's hardly the case so early in this one.

Fatal Obsession takes place in and around Marsh's Midwestern hometown of Chaldea, population 6189, where after nearly 30 years away he has been called by his sister Gail to decide what to do with a plot of land left to them and their two brothers, Matt and Curt, by Uncle Raymond several years ago. Gail wants to keep it in the family and let her daughter and son in law farm it, while Matt and Curt want to sell out. Matt gets to cast the deciding vote (it takes 3 to sell), and the vultures are circling -- the town wants it for an industrial park to save their economy of failed factories, the environmentalists for a preserve, oil, coal and agribusiness each have their proposal. Marsh, ever the moralist, spends the book trying to figure out what is fair and just. But this being a mystery, something just has to crop up to stir the pot, and it does -- Curt's son Billy, still suffering from his experiences in the Vietnam War, and making a royal nuisance of himself, is found hanged almost as soon as Marsh hits town. Everyone seems eager for it to be a suicide, but Matt isn't so sure and investigates. Plus, his high school sweetheart who brutally dumped him has recently moved back to town.

There's lots going on, and it's definitely not a bad book, but it somehow just does not gel for me, and problems loom larger than they might otherwise. The resolution of Billy's death seems forced, and although there are hints as to its general nature it seems too much the deus ex machina. The big plot question to me, though, is just what is so special about this particular, not very large, plot of land? There are abandoned factories galore, and farmers are being forced to sell out and auction off their property on what seems like a weekly basis. So why is the Tanner plot the one that will save the town, or draw the extractive industry wheeler dealers with their nefarious schemes? (And on a more minor level, why has this come to a head just now, this week? the land has been farmed on a shares basis by its neighbor since Uncle Raymond died.)

Also, the writing just doesn't seem to have the same snap, the cynical quip, that has characterized the earlier volumes. I've been flagging lines, and paragraphs, to copy out as I've been reading the series, but could barely find a handful here, a few short lines. And though there is a lot of description of the small town and its plight, and the aftermath of Vietnam which of course hit small towns particularly hard, it doesn't rise to the height of Greenleaf/Tanner's social observation in the more California-centric books, I don't find myself flagging whole paragraphs that summarize an issue just so.

The writing was so great in this book that I found myself reading sentences over again just to savor the language. This is my second Greenleaf book, and it is great to know that I have at least half a dozen more awaiting me (assuming the rest are as good as the two I've already read).

The plot involves Greenleaf's lawyer-turned-private investigator, Marsh Tanner, returning from San Francisco to his Iowa home town to discuss what to do with the family farm. Two of his brothers want to sell it (but to whom -- coal strip miner, wildcat oil company, neighboring farmer, the town?), whereas his sister wants to keep the land in the family and let her daughter and SIL farm it.

Not long after Marsh arrives in town, however, his bad-boy nephew is found hung -- although it appears to be suicide, Marsh has reason to question this verdict. He starts poking around, and in the course of poking around, learns a lot of things about the people of his home town that had been kept secret.

Greenleaf's characters are vivid and memorable, and I was kept guessing about what happened to nephew Billy until the final chapter -- but it all made sense.

I grew up in this town! It was amazing to picture the settings of my youth as the story unfolded.I look forward to Greenleaf's next Tanner book.

Most interesting of the John Tanner series. Interesting plot twists and turns inter-woven with period settings. Great book to read as escapism. Kept my attention throughout and such that I didn't want to quit reading and looked for excuses to interrupt other activites to finish reading.

So useful for boys who have no father figure in their lives. Almost a guide to identify willing candidates and make sure you have that vital male role model in your life! Even though I have a real, live father, (thanks Dad!) this still tugged at my heartstrings no end, especially the initial scenes when Sweeney's father is dying and he describes his sister's grief about not kissing him goodbye on the fateful day - incredible.

This account of a young man's search for someone to teach him the lessons and values that his dead father could not is a beautifully written, thoughtful book. His style of writing is straightforward and candid, as the struggles of his large, financially-strapped family are detailed. Especially well-drawn are the three men he chooses as father figures, and his strong yet vulnerable mother. It would make a good book to give to a man who may have served this function in your life, or someone in need of a father figure.

Following the devastation of September 11, 2001, the author of the remarkable new memoir, "Father Figures," wrote an online essay to remind Americans of one of the grim realities of that day: the thousands of children who were suddenly left without a parent, and what others could do to help these kids as they made their way from grief to growing up. The response felt by many to that first essay led to the writing of "Father Figures."

Kevin Sweeney knows an unfair amount about this sad subect. His own father passed away when he was three, leaving a loving but now nearly destitute mother to raise six children alone.

The Sweeneys, without a father, husband, provider, faced a grim challenge, but the young boy named Kevin was determined to work his way through the loss.

Each child who loses a parent must inevitably come to terms in his own way, but Sweeney, by some quirky inspiration that only an innocent youth could summon, came up with a novel solution. He would adopt a father; in fact, three. Secretly. Without their knowing it.

His plan was simple: without a father of his own to guide him, he knew something was missing, so to fill in the chasm he would select the best, the wisest men in his small world, watch them, learn from them, but never tell. And bask in their glow when he was brought into their gentle orbits.

His powers of observation as a child serve him well as an adult. Sweeney has rendered wonderfully a world that is so quaintly American, so hopeful, that one wishes to step back into it, if only for a sweet neighborhood picnic, or a summer pick-up baseball game with the kids. A time when an entire suburban block came out to cheer the neighbor girls on their way to the prom. That was all in the outdoor world of youth. Inside was a different story.

They were tough times growing up, and Sweeney brings alive an almost Dickensian tale of the private sacrifices his family endured for years after his father died. Nor does he pull punches when, growing up, he begins to discover some of the flaws of hiw own beloved dad. Refreshingly, Sweeney tells this story without a hint of bitterness. The optimism of a boy who is determined to survive and flourish is alive and well in the grown-up who set out to record his past.

Sweeney has done a remarkable job in showing us how a child navigates, poorly at times, the shifting tides of growing up, the yearnings and fears and disappointments. But also the joys and thrills of the little victories, like learning to hit a curve ball. He is funny, honest and blunt and does not spare even himself from his critical eye, not even when it comes to reliving those inexorably dumb decisions adolescent boys seem driven to make.

Above all, he is a gracious and grateful memoirist, and that spirit rubs off on his readers. He is grateful for these three remarkable men and how they, chosen secretly by a bright, fatherless boy, helped him steer his way. It is a wonderful tribute to them, surrogate fathers who deserve a pat on the back from all of us who read Sweeney's memoir.

Kevin Sweeney has created a whole world in Father Figures, giving us not only a strong portrait of what it is like to grow up without a father, but also of a modern Catholic childhood. His writing and insights are strong and often simply beautiful. He's a wonderful story teller and will keep any reader turning pages long into the night.

This book is filled with beautiful photograhs of a very imaginative visual artist. If one cannot find insperation in this publication, they need to have their eyes checked!!!!!

The House That Faux Built As the author of The House that FAux Built-Transform Your Home with Paint Plaster and Creativity, I shared the faux-cademy stage with the the author of this book and we traded books at the end. I was thrilled and amazed at his creativity. It is an exceptional book full of great ideas. Even better, I was able to visit the house this summer on a tour. If you ever get the chance do it! In the meantime defn. buy the book, Adrienne van Dooren

carlo lives the artist's life surrounded by a world of his own creation, and shows us that it is our mission to create and spread beauty in this world, with our skill, and our hopes and dreams. plus, it looks like he knows how to throw a good party. bravo maestro!

What a joyous occasion it becomes to whirl through the new book on Venetian-born Carlo Marchiori, a master of many arts, who now lives and works in Calistoga, Ca., the northern-most town in Napa Valley. The book not only presents his life and work in a colorful, well-photographed journal, but it has the magical touch of Carlo's own imagination for the styling of the photographs, layout, and storyline. Now his mastery of arts includes book design as well as painting, drawing, sculpture, construction, architecture, and costume design!

A self-proclaimed great illusionist, he nontheless informs us of the historical references in his art while capturing our imaginations on an illustrated magical journey back through time. The book is storybook, history, and journal, all rolled into one, and written with Carlo's great sense of humor and gusto for life. From the moment you turn the first page, you are captured by Renaissance man Marchiori's presentation, all colorful, fun, and fantastic. It is a delightful glimpse into his most beautiful imaginings, and they are bountiful. You laugh, smile, ooooo, and ahhhhh, and see life above the mundane, as does Carlo!

It is interesting to note that he allows tours of his home, and has a shop and artist studio in Calistoga, where various pieces of his art are sold. These are extraordinary experiences not to be missed while in Napa Valley.