The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery

Book excerpt: Set in Orange County, California during the early 1970s and 1980s, this murder mystery brings back the bygone days of tractor showrooms, hippies and head shops in Laguna Beach, and a Catholic church in a citrus packing house dubbed the "Sunkist Cathedral." In a world of WWII-era blimp hangers and disappearing orange groves, Detective Dick Santy investigates a murder that has unmistakable connections to the controversial construction of a nuclear power plant. An arrest is made in the murder but he is not convinced they have the right man. The victim's 18-year-old daughter is not convinced either and sets out, with the help of Detective Santy, to seek the truth about her father and, in the process, learns that there are some questions best left unanswered.