Southern California Fiction

A wealthy family with DARK secrets. A SHOCKING reveal that you guaranteed won't see coming... Avery Collins is an attorney with the tender heart of a warrior for the wrongfully accused, for one simple reason. She was once wrongfully accused, and spent 7 years in prison for a murder she didn't commit. Now sworn to protect the indigent accused, she's persuaded to represent Esme Guitierrez, an El Salvadoran refugee who is accused of killing 21-year-old Aria Whitmore. Aria was the daughter of the prominent billionaire hotelier Jacob Whitmore, and was also an aspiring concert pianist and music ...

Jill Gardner has volunteered her Coffee, Books, and More to host a Christmas adopt-a-pet party. Among the potential forever friends is a male terrier named Baby, whose owner died of a heart attack. With few clues to go on, even finding the name of Baby's human is a daunting task. But there's no challenge too big for Jill this holiday season. Playing Santa's Little Helper, Jill is determined to find out what happened - and to fulfill a long-time coming Christmas wish.

Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules. But when her sister is attacked, revealing a connection to a series of murders across Southern California, she realizes a conventional investigation will not be enough to stop the ruthless perpetrator. With nowhere else to turn, Sanchez enlists the aid of Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert who, unlike Sanchez, believes rules are merely suggestions. The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favor and she’s cashing in.

Building on her critically acclaimed novel The Last Days of California and her biting collection Always Happy Hour, Miller slyly transports listeners to her unapologetic corner of the South - this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to 63-year-old Louis McDonald, Jr. His wife of 37 years left him, his father has passed - and he has impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. One day, he stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets overweight mixed-breed Layla.

NEWLY EDITED AS OF 7/8/19!!!! An unstable beautiful woman is accused of murdering her wealthy husband. She claims she didn't do it. She is not to be trusted. Aidan Collins has his very first large case when his client, Marina Vasiliev, a drop-dead gorgeous mental patient, is accused of killing her wealthy husband. Marina insists that she didn't do it, but Aidan can't trust her. He knows Marina well, too well. After all, he met Marina in the mental hospital - he originally obtained her as a client when she was involuntarily committed, and he assisted her with getting out. Diagnosed with ...

All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind. She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice.

Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak. Reeling from the worst night of their lives, the three mothers plunge into a desperate investigation of the bizarre incident. How could something so horrible happen in their wealthy Southern California suburb? They soon discover that the accident was just the beginning, and troubling discoveries lead to chilling questions: Do they really know their children? Do they even know each other?

On a beautiful October day in the San Fernando Valley, teenager Missy Avila was lured into the woods, beaten, tortured, and drowned. Missy's best friend, Karen Severson, publicly vowed to find the killer and even moved in with Missy's family to help. Three years later, a surprise witness exposed the murderers as Missy's two best friends—one of whom was Karen. New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury delivers a story full of twists, turns, betrayals, and confessions.

California is on the edge of disaster. The banks are nearing collapse. Fear rises. The State Government can't cover its pension payments. Talking heads argue, while retirees wonder when their next check is coming. Unrest grows. There's murder in the streets. Gangs terrorize the population in the big cities - Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Sacramento. It's not just gangs, though. Somebody else is stirring things up. Who? Why are they doing it? People flee if they're able. The military tries to shore up its bases in San Diego. Unrest continues to build. Local law enforcement can't...

After a few months of living with her boyfriend, Greg, Jill Gardner is still getting used to sharing such close quarters, but she's got no hesitation about joining him for a weekend at South Cove's most luxurious resort. While Greg and his college pals celebrate their buddy's upcoming wedding, Jill intends to pamper herself in style. But when the groom is found floating facedown in the pool, Jill must find the killer fast, or she might not have a boyfriend to come home to anymore....

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.

What would you do if the government took your liberty?California citizens wage war against the UN, brought in to enforce martial law as their Islamist henchmen terrorize the countryside. Some citizens feel safer under martial law, free of the street violence and looting. Other citizens see this for what it is. Globalist tyranny. Their only choice is to fight the invaders, to the death if necessary. They’re making progress, but the cost is high.In Bug Out! California Book 10, the various groups of patriots merge, getting ready to stop a massive invasion of Islamist Fighters from south of ...

What would you do if the government took your liberty?California citizens wage war against the UN, brought in to enforce martial law as their Islamist henchmen terrorize the countryside. Some citizens feel safer under martial law, free of the street violence and looting. Other citizens see this for what it is. Globalist tyranny. Their only choice is to fight the invaders, to the death if necessary. In Bug Out! California Book 13, the war ends after Daan Mertin’s defeat in New Mexico, the citizen forces ready to celebrate and go back to their normal lives. It was not to be. General Hogan ...

What would you do if the government took your liberty?California citizens wage war against the UN, brought in to enforce martial law as their Islamist henchmen terrorize the countryside. Some citizens feel safer under martial law, free of the street violence and looting. Other citizens see this for what it is. Globalist tyranny. Their only choice is to fight the invaders, to the death if necessary. They’re making progress, but the cost is high.In Bug Out! California Book 12, a multi-front battle rages. Marines and civilian recruits in Mexico battle a horde of Islamists as they race ...

What would you do if the government took your liberty? California citizens wage war against the UN, brought in to enforce martial law as their Islamist henchmen terrorize the countryside. Some citizens feel safer under martial law, free of the street violence and looting. Other citizens see this for what it is. Globalist tyranny. Their only choice is to fight the invaders, to the death if necessary. In Bug Out! California Book 13, the Globalists hunted resistance team leaders, drawing blood, but taking losses themselves. General Hogan and Ivan planned their response, and launched it without...

Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. And that’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.

“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...

In a suburban LA neighborhood, neighbors keep wary distance and at times collide, propelled by desire, fury, and mischief. Precocious Korean-American sisters Mira and Rosemary find their world rocked by a suicide; a charismatic and creepy drama teacher grooms his students; an aging gay horror novelist fights loneliness; and a white mother and her adopted Vietnamese daughter deal with lifelong anger issues.

What would you do if the government took your liberty?California citizens wage war against the UN, brought in to enforce martial law as their Islamist henchmen terrorize the countryside. Some citizens feel safer under martial law, free of the street violence and looting. Other citizens see this for what it is. Globalist tyranny. Their only choice is to fight the invaders, to the death if necessary. They’re making progress, but the cost is high.In Bug Out! California Book 11, the battle rages as the citizen patriot forces, under the leadership of Ivan the Butcher, make life impossible for ...

Terror has come to California. What started out as local violence has morphed into world war, with nuclear attacks happening in several parts of the USA. The violence is getting worse in California, provoking a response from the state government. Martial law is declared in all the larger cities. Grids and checkpoints are laid out, and the population is forced to obey. The Governor brings in UN Peacekeepers to run checkpoints and police the population, pushing local law enforcement out of the way. Resistance begins almost immediately. Patriots rise from all walks of life, no longer trusting ...