California Girl

By: T. Jefferson Parker

Narrated by: Patrick G. Lawlor

A different world then, a different world now...California in the 1960s, and the winds of change are raging. Orange groves uprooted for tract houses, people flooding into Orange County, and strange new ideas in the air about war, music, sex, and drugs, and new influences including Richard Nixon and Timothy Leary.

But for the Becker brothers, the past is always present and it comes crashing back when the body of the lovely and mysterious Janelle Vonn is discovered in an abandoned orange packinghouse. The Beckers and Vonns have a history, beginning years ago in high school with a rumble between the brothers of each clan.

But boys grow up. Now one Becker brother is a cop on his first homicide case. One's a minister yearning to perform just one miracle. One is a reporter drunk with ambition. And all three are about to collide with the changing world of 1968 as each brother, in his own special way, tries to find Janelle's killer.

As the suspects multiply and secrets are exposed, the Becker brothers are all drawn further into the case, deeper into the past, and closer to the danger.

©2004 John Case (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

Edgar Award, Best Novel, 2005

Predictable but ok

I liked the characters. The story was a bit moralistic, with too many stories tied up neatly - for my taste.

Predictable

You'll probably guess the outcome fairly early on. If you do, you'll probably be right.