The Bone Code - Book Discovery Sheds Light on UCL phrenology collection

 

This 3 minute video gives some insight into the collection that Kathy Reichs mentions in her book Bone Code.

Character List for The Bone Code

The Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office (MCME) (North Carolina)

Temperance “Tempe” Brennan—the narrator, a forensic anthropologist who also works for LSJML (Montreal) and is often loaned to Charleston County coroner’s office (South Carolina); she also teaches biological and forensic anthropology at UNC-Charlotte

Dr. Samantha Nguyen—in charge of MCME office, Brennan’s newest boss

Eunice Flowers—MCME receptionist

Tereza Deacon—one of Brennan’s MCME cases: an adopted Bulgarian girl who dies in her NC home while parents are sailing in the Caribbean

Lloyd Thorn—the Deacon family lawyer

Charleston County (South Carolina)

Ebony Herrin—newly elected county coroner, an RN; borrows Brennan from MCME to investigate skeletons in a container washed up on SC coast

Dr. Walter Carl Klopp—pathologist for Charleston County

Brian—tech for coroner’s office

Tonia Vislosky—police detective with Charleston (SC) PD

Characters Related to South Carolina Container Case

Dr. Aubrey “Sullie” Sullivan Huger—owner of genetic testing company GeneFree (HQ in SC); has biochemistry and software engineering degrees; DNA reveals he’s distantly related to one of the SC container victims

Abilene Monger—receptionist/office manager at GeneFree

Digby France—grandfather of one of the SC container victims; Huger’s 1st cousin, once removed; living near Nashville, TN

Bonnie Bird Boatwright—France’s daughter

Harmony Wren Boatwright—France’s granddaughter (and Huger’s 2nd cousin, once removed)

Lena Chalamet—a Canadian girl Harmony meets on an online app; her mother and sister vanished near Montreal in 2002 when Lena was a toddler

Friends/Family/Other Characters Around North and South Carolina

Cat Bird—aka “Birdie,” Brennan’s cat and reluctant travel companion

Katy Petersons—Brennan’s daughter, deployed in Afghanistan but due stateside soon

Polly Susanne Beecroft—surviving twin who wants Brennan to analyze a death mask owned by her deceased twin, Harriet

Susanne Bouvier—Polly and Harriet’s grandmother

Sybil Bouvier—Susanne’s twin who went to Paris and vanished; Polly and Harriet bear an uncanny resemblance to Sybil and Susanne

Anne Turnip—Brennan’s best friend; she solves the death mask question

Tom “TT” Turnip—Anne’s ex-husband

Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaires et de Medicine Legale (LSJML) in Montreal

Dr. Pierre LaManche—a pathologist and Brennan’s boss at the LSJML

Helene Lauzon—coroner for LSJML and also a lawyer

Lisa Savard—LSJML morgue tech

Claire Willoughby—LSJML DNA tech

Dr. Lizzie Griesser—LSJML molecular biologist

Alfonse Vachon—Lauzon’s father, who sustains an unusual injury in an auto accident

Surete du Quebec (SQ) and Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal (SPVM)

Andrew Ryan—former SQ homicide detective, now a private investigator, and Brennan’s boyfriend

Yves Trout—detective in SQ who doesn’t impress Ryan

Luc Claudel—one of the detectives from SPVM who interviews Brennan when Ryan is injured in a hit-and-run

Michel Charbonneau—one of the detectives from SPVM who interviews Brennan when Ryan is injured in a hit-and-run

Characters Related to 2006 LSJML Container Case

Melanie Judith Chalmers—aka Melanie Chalamet; worked for vaccine manufacturing firm InovoVax near Montreal until 2002 when she quit reporting to work and disappears

Ella Chalamet—Chalmers’s youngest daughter who disappears with her mother

Dr. Arlo Murray—director of InovoVax, a PhD in molecular biology

Dora Eisenberg—clerk at InovoVax

Florence Sorg—Chalmers’s great-aunt; Chalmers was renting an apartment from Sorg when she and Ella disappeared

Dr. Alika Bangoboshe—biology professor at a university in the Boston (MA) area who helps Brennan understand Chalmers’s lab notes

Remi Arbour—manager of the cemetery where the skeletons from the 2006 case were buried and are exhumed

Ariel Caldrea—church member who attends interments of anonymous persons

Laura Bianchi—ambitious young freelance journalist who photographs exhumation

Character List for The Good Detective

The Mason Falls PD

Paul Thomas “P. T.” Marsh—the narrator, a detective with the Mason Falls (GA) PD

Remy Morgan—Marsh’s partner, also a detective

Darren Gattling—beat cop with the MFPD

Sarah Raines—the medical examiner with the MFPD

Alvin Gerbin—crime scene tech with MFPD

Abe Kaplan—with Berry, half of the other detective team at MFPD; Marsh’s former partner

Merle Berry—with Kaplan, half of the other detective team at MFPD

Chief Miles Dooger—(aka “Stash”) chief of police for MFPD; Marsh’s boss and one-time mentor

Cornell Fuller—MFPD internal affairs officer

Fin McRae—a deputy with MFPD who reports a drunk Marvin to Marsh

Winston Lamar—a patrolman MFPD has posted at Harmony Farms to repel media

Friends/Family/Characters Around Mason Falls PD

Purvis—Marsh’s bulldog (and inner voice?)

Lena Marsh—Marsh’s dead wife (killed in year-ago accident)

Jonas Marsh—Marsh’s dead son (killed in year-ago accident)

Marvin—Lena Marsh’s father

Exie—Lena Marsh’s twin sister, also a part-time psychic and serial shoplifter

Horace Ordell—bouncer at The Landing Patch bar

Deb Newberry—TV station field reporter

Carlos Ray—mechanic at police mechanics yard

Candy Mellar—oversees Special Collections at University library; a friend of Marsh’s mother

Loyo—Dooger’s phone company contact

Characters Around Murder Scene #1

Corinne Stables (aka “Crimson”)—stripper at The Landing Patch

Virgil Rowe—Stables’s abusive, neo-Nazi boyfriend; murdered soon after meeting Marsh

Randall Moon—Stables’s and Rowe’s landlord

Martha Velasquez—retired school counselor who saw Stables leave and someone else enter the property the night Rowe was killed

Characters Around Arson/Murder Scene #2

Kendrick Webster—missing boy who turns up tortured, lynched, and burned at Harmony Farms

Tripp Unger—(with wife Barb) owner of Harmony Farms whose land was burned in arson and on whose land Kendrick Webster’s body was found

Brodie Sands—crop duster who called in the fire at Harmony Farms

Rev. Reggie Webster—Baptist preacher and father of Kendrick Webster

Grace Webster—mother of Kendrick Webster

Dathel Mackay—older woman who cooks and cleans for the Websters

Jayme McClure—school friend of Kendrick Webster’s at whose home we was supposed to be spending the night when he was kidnapped

Vaughn McClure—Jayme’s father; owns McClure Towing

Alana McClure—Jayme’s mother, who sends the boys home early

Eric Sumpter—the other school friend of Kendrick Webster’s who was at the McClure’s and sent home early

Terrance Clap—clerk at A-1 Industrial who tells Marsh about cable

Cory Burkette—new handyman at Webster’s church; suspect in Kendrick Webster’s murder

Pup Lang—lead arson investigator with Mason Falls Fire Department who investigated fire at Harmony Farms

Delilah Ward—Remy Morgan’s cousin’s granddaughter who’s kidnapped as part of the Kendrick Webster kidnapping/murder

Leticia Ward—Delilah’s younger sister

Lawrence Neary—one of the state police who helps with Delilah’s rescue

Characters Around 1993 Arson/Murder

Junius Lochland—missing grandson of a preacher; Junius turns up tortured and murdered in 1993 case in Shonus County, GA

Capt. Andy Sugarman—present-day sheriff of Shonus County

Brett Beaudin—present-day medical examiner of Shonus County

Brian Menasco—arrested for and convicted of the 1993 arson/murder of Junius Lochland, probably mistakenly; killed in a prison fight

William Menasco—Brian’s father who won back-to-back superfectas on the same day his son was sentenced

Characters Around 1968 Arson/Murder

Jerome Twyman—missing teen never found; named in the ledger Marsh gets from Mellar

Sheila Jones—murder/arson victim; named in the ledger Marsh gets from Mellar

Cliff Monroe—wins governorship when the two primary candidates are killed in a freak snowstorm accident; father of current governor Toby Monroe

Mickey Havordine—Cliff Monroe’s first campaign manager

Other Characters with Connections to “The Order of the South”

Bernard Kane—shows up at MFPD drunk and tries to confess to Webster’s murder; later hangs himself in his cell

Lauten Hartley—lawyer connected with Bernard Kane and other members of “the Order”

Gov. Toby Monroe—current GA governor; son of former Gov. Cliff Monroe

Tyler Windall—security patrol for Hester Peaches

Talmadge Hester—owner of Hester Peaches and Hester Plantation

Wade Hester—Talmadge Hester’s older son and probable heir

Matthew Hester—Talmadge Hester’s younger son; Marsh mistakes him for Meadows’s accomplice

Donnie Meadows—a Samoan-German who lives on the Hester Plantation; he’s referred to by various other characters as “the giant” or “the big ‘un”

Elias Cobb—Meadows’s accomplice, the bearded man

Bayard Oxley—founder of “the Order”; other family names associated with founding: Stover, Hennessey, Kane, Granton, Monroe, Hester

Francis Oxley—the archer at the hunting compound and a descendant of Bayard Oxley

Character List for Conviction

The McDonalds

Anna McDonald (aka Anna McLean, aka Sophie Bukaran)—the narrator

Hamish McDonald—Anna’s “husband” (it turns out they weren’t legally married) and father of her two daughters

Jessica McDonald—Anna and Hamish’s 8-year-old daughter

Lizzie McDonald—Anna and Hamish’s 7-year-old daughter

The Cohens

Estelle Cohen—Anna’s “best friend” who runs off with Hamish

Fin Cohen—Estelle’s anorexic husband, famous lead for a now-defunct-but-once-popular band; starts a new podcast sequel to the Death and the Dana podcast to report Anna’s investigation

The Parkers (and Parker-Adjacent)

Gretchen Teigler—a rich and powerful heiress; owner of a football club and Sophie’s (and Anna’s) nemesis; married to Leon Parker

Dauphine Loire—Gretchen’s personal assistant

Leon Parker—a man Anna met when she worked at the castle (Skibo) and whom she considers a friend

Violetta Parker—Leon’s 21-year-old daughter by a previous marriage (to Julia Parker)

Mark Parker—Leon’s 17-year-old son from a previous relationship (with Daniela)

Julia Parker—a former Italian supermodel; Leon’s first wife and mother of Violetta; she lives in Venice

Daniela—a social worker; one of Leon’s long-time girlfriends and mother of Mark

Lillie Harkan—Leon’s Dutch girlfriend when he’s at Skibo Castle; he leaves her there

Other Characters Introduced in the Death and the Dana Podcast

Trina Keany—an admin at the BBC and the podcaster for the Death and the Dana podcast

Amila Fabricase—(born Rosa Luxembourg Berghoff) chef on the Dana who leaves early and is later accused, convicted, and imprisoned for murdering the three Parkers

Sabine—Amila’s partner in both life and a bakery business

Other Characters From Anna’s Past (Sophie) and Present (Anna)

Patricia Hummingsworth—police detective who investigated the attack on Sophie Bukaran; later jailed for taking bribes from Dauphine Loire

Adam Ross—a friend of Sophie’s who helped her get a new ID (Anna McLean) and the job at Skibo Castle; an addict

Albert McKay—Anna’s boss at Skibo Castle

Pretcha—Hamish’s nosey neighbor who takes and posts pictures of Anna and Fin on the front porch of Hamish’s house

Demy——(aka Yergey) a hired assassin from Georgia (the country); story-teller on train from Venice to Paris with Anna and Fin

Zvaid——a hired assassin from Albania; followed Anna and Fin on train from Venice to Paris; murdered by Demy

“Scarface”——the man who attacked Sophie (in her mother’s home) and later Anna (in Teigler’s home)

For those of you on Zoom today, many apologies for the tech problems.

But with the use of other technologies,

  we can put it up on the Blog.

Author Video for Adrian McKinty

The Island

September 2023

Just for fun, here is a video which shows how to desalinate water

 if you are on a desert island like Owen tried to do.

Character List for The Island

The Baxters

Heather Baxter—a fairly recently married 20-something who grew up in an artists’ commune on Goose Island, WA (the real Goose Island is uninhabited) and has recently been a massage therapist in Seattle

Dr. Thomas “Tom” Baxter—Heather’s fairly new 44-year-old husband, an orthopedic surgeon in Seattle, WA; father of Olivia and Owen

Olivia Baxter—Tom’s 14-year-old daughter

Owen Baxter—Tom’s 12-year-old son

Judith Baxter—Tom’s first wife (a biologist with a PhD); she was from a wealthy family and died in mysterious circumstances

The O’Neills

Ma O’Neill—the matriarch of Dutch Island, Australia

Terry O’Neill—Ma’s deceased husband

Matt Watson—married to Tara O’Neill, Ma’s second-youngest child; she has left the island (she doesn’t appear in the book)

Jacko—unclear whether he’s Matt’s brother or one of Ma’s sons

Ivan O’Neill—one of Ma’s sons; runs the small ferry that runs between Dutch Island and the mainland

Kate O’Neill—Ma’s youngest daughter

Brian O’Neill—another of Ma’s sons

Danny O’Neill—Ma’s youngest son; married to Ellen

Ellen O’Neill—the deaf girl on the bicycle whom the Baxters crash into and kill

Ned—runs food stand on the mainland and is an unexplained part of the family

Jamie—unexplained part of the family

Janey—unexplained part of the family

Lenny—the O’Neill’s blacksmith; unclear if he’s part of the family

Niamh—one of the children on Dutch Island

Freddie—one of the young boys on Dutch Island (his name is only mentioned once, but perhaps he’s “the boy” who seems to accompany Ivan in searching for the Baxters)

Gillian—a former nurse who tends to Tom Baxter’s wounds; unclear if she’s an O’Neill

Friends and Others

Carolyn Moore—Heather Baxter’s long-time friend from Goose Island

Ray—an Aboriginal man the Baxters encounter near Alice Springs; he trades a penknife he’s made for Heather Baxter’s earrings; the penknife becomes important

Chloe—Ray’s wife

Nikko—Ray’s granddaughter

Jenny Brook—conference representative assigned to Tom Baxter in Melbourne

Hans—a retired auto engineer from Leiden, Netherlands; he and Petra tag along with the Baxters to see wildlife on Dutch Island

Petra—a retired sociologist, wife of Hans

Rory—a retired Irish policeman who was once employed by the now-abandoned prison on Dutch Island; he lives there with permission of the O’Neills

Mystery Book for September 2023 - ‘The Island’ by Adrian McKinty

 

September 11, 2023

12:00pm

The Island by Adrian McKinty

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/adrian-mckinty/the-island-mckinty/

THE ISLAND

BY ADRIAN MCKINTY ‧ RELEASE DATE: MAY 17, 2022

An engaging thriller that, despite some flaws, contains storytelling that pulls readers compulsively onward.

An American family’s trip to see koalas and Australian wildlife becomes a life-and-death situation after they kill an innocent woman in a car crash and her family seeks revenge.

Tom, 44; his second wife, Heather, 24; and his kids, Olivia, 14, and Owen, 12, are in Australia, piggybacking a family vacation onto a business trip. After a difficult year that saw the death of Tom’s first wife and his marriage to Heather—whom the kids dislike—a group trip seems like a way to bring them all together. Renting a car to drive to the coast in search of interesting animals seems like a fun excursion. But while stopping at a roadside stand for food, the family gets to talking with some local people, and they end up on a tiny ferry to a remote private island in search of the wildlife they haven’t yet seen. Once on the island, one thing leads to another, and Tom, driving too fast, hits a woman on a bike, killing her instantly. Over several generations, the family that lives on the island has become a law unto itself, and after realizing that the woman is dead, they seek retribution—whether it will be via death, rape, or cash is to be decided by Ma, the head of the family, and Danny, the husband of the woman who's been killed. Some elements of the survival story feel more like convenient plot points than believable developments, and the writing is occasionally overwrought as McKinty seeks to make weighty statements about life, death, and spiritual links to the natural world, but on the whole, McKinty has written an exciting thriller that follows Heather and the others as they seek to run, hide, and survive the elements until the police—whom they have no way of contacting—can arrive.

An engaging thriller that, despite some flaws, contains storytelling that pulls readers compulsively onward.

Character List for A Dark and Twisted Tide

Warning: This list may contain "spoilers."

The Metropolitan Police Marine Unit—Wapping

Detective Superintendent Weaver—Lacey’s new boss in Marine Unit in Wapping

Constable Lacey Flint—recently transferred to the Marine Unit, taking a downgrade from detective in the Metropolitan Police to uniformed officer; we never discover her real name

Sergeant Scott Buckle—a senior officer of the Marine Unit at Wapping

Sergeant Finn Turner—an officer of the Marine Unit at Wapping

Sergeant Fred “Uncle Fred” Wilson—a veteran of the Marine Unit; also Joesbury’s uncle

The Metropolitan Police—Lewisham

Chief Inspector David Cook—Tulloch’s boss

Detective Inspector Dana Tulloch—Lacey’s previous boss when Lacey was a detective

Detective Sergeant Neil Anderson—a member of Tulloch’s team

Detective Constable Pete Stenning—a member of Tulloch’s team

Detective Constable Gayle Mizon—a member of Tulloch’s team

Detective Constable Tom Barrett—a member of Tulloch’s team

Dr. Mike Kaytes—the pathologist for the Metropolitan Police

Jac—lab tech for Kaytes

Max—lab tech for Kaytes

Special Crimes Directorate

Detective Inspector Mark Joesbury—Wilson’s nephew; Tulloch’s best friend; Lacey’s love interest; on undercover case as “Sergeant Mick Jackson”

Neighbors in the Boat Yards and Creeks

Ray Bradbury—owns the boat next to Lacey’s; fellow “wild-swimmer” in the tidal Thames

Eileen Bradbury—Ray’s wife

Marlene—owns a boat docked at Skillion’s Wharf; an “actress”

Madge—Marlene’s partner; a “producer”

Alexander “Alex” Christakos—the medical director of the fertility clinic that Dana and Helen have chosen; also runs the egg-donor clinic (the “house”) where the immigrant women are held

Thessaloniki “Thessa” (aka Mujeeb)—a wheelchair-bound herbalist whom Lacey meets on Sayes Creek; Christakos’s twin

The Immigrant Women

Nadia Safi—a near-drowning victim whom Lacey had rescued during a pursuit of suspected people smugglers the previous October; the third woman Thessa helped escape the egg-donor clinic

Anya Fahid (aka Sahar)—the seventh woman to “escape” the egg-donor clinic; the first body Lacey finds; “Sahar” is the name the police give her when they have a facial reconstruction done from the skeleton

Pari—the sickest woman in the egg-donor clinic; in the room next to Tulloch when Tulloch goes undercover

Rabia Khan—the ninth woman to “escape” the egg-donor clinic; the body Lacey finds dangling from the mast on her boat

Yass—the fourth woman to “escape” the egg-donor clinic; probably one of the last two bodies discovered in the South Dock Mariana

Ummu—the fifth woman to “escape” the egg-donor clinic (probably Thessa’s last rescue); later granted a visa to stay in UK

Samira—the sixth woman to “escape” the egg-donor clinic; probably the Jane Doe #4 body that was found a couple of months earlier near the Marina

Badrai—the eighth woman to “escape” the egg-donor clinic; probably one of the last two bodies found in the South Dock Marina

Maya—the last immigrant woman picked up in a smuggling arrest; the woman Tulloch impersonates when she goes undercover

Jamilla Kakar—the first immigrant woman to escape from the egg-donor clinic “as if magic” (Thessa’s first); later granted a visa to stay in UK

Shireen—the second woman Thessa helped escape from the egg-donor clinic; later granted a visa to stay in the UK

The Egg-Donor Clinic Workers

Dr. Kanesh—examining doctor at the clinic

Nurse Rachel Stafford—a nurse at the clinic

Kathryn Markova—office manager and orderly at the clinic

Family/Friends/Miscellaneous Characters

Helen—Dana’s romantic partner; a detective chief inspector who works for Tayside Police in Dundee, Scotland, where she mostly lives

Carrie—Joesbury’s ex-wife

Huck—Joesbury’s 9-year-old son

Victoria “Toc” Llewellyn—prisoner in a high-security prison at Durham whom Lacey visits every two weeks; a serial killer; there are hints that they might be related

Catherine Llewellyn—Victoria’s younger sister who supposedly died in a “river accident”; Lacey denies that she is Catherine

Dale—civil servant at the UK Border Agency headquarters

Fazil—a supposed distant relative of Nadia Safi’s

Jaamil—Fazil’s wife

Aamil—one of the smugglers who’d been arrested smuggling Maya

Raashid—one of the smugglers who’d been arrested smuggling Maya

MyStErY BoOkS * AUGUST 14, 2023 @12 Noon

Sharon Bolton 

August 14, 2023

12 Noon

A Dark and Twisted Tide 

Click on the link to see an interview with Sharon Bolton and another author. Each video is about 13 minutes long.

  

Character List for The Honjin Murders

The Storytellers

Unnamed narrator

F---—friend who told narrator the story; his father is Dr. F---

Dr. F---—Ichiyanagi family doctor whose notes the narrator relies on heavily in some sections of the book

The Ichiyanagi Family

Itoko—family matriarch, widowed

Sakue—Itoko’s deceased husband, father of Kenzo and siblings

Kenzo—eldest son, inheritor of the honjin legacy, the bridegroom

Taeko—elder daughter, married to a businessman, living in Shaghai

Ryuji—middle son, a doctor in Osaka

Saburo—youngest son, unemployed, considered “the black sheep”

Suzuko—younger daughter, considered “a bit slow”

The Ichiyanagi Branch Family

Hayato—Ryosuke’s deceased father, brother of Sakue

Ryosuke—a first cousin to Kenzo and his siblings, manages Ichiyanagi family finances

Akiko—Ryosuke’s wife

Ihei—great-uncle of Kenzo and Ryosuke (the brother of Sakue’s and Hayato’s father)

The Kubo Family

Rinkichi—Katsuko’s father, deceased

Katsuko—Rinkichi’s daughter, a school teacher in Okayama City, the bride

Ginzo—Katsuko’s uncle, Rinkichi’s brother, a successful fruit farmer

Police/Detective

Kosuke Kindaichi—young private detective, a protege of Ginzo Kubo

Detective Inspector Isokawa—policeman in charge of investigating the murders

Detective Sergeant Kimura—policeman who assists Isokawa

Chief Inspector—Isokawa’s boss

Servants/Farmworkers on Ichiyanagi Estate

Kiyo—Itoko’s maid

Old Nao—cook

Genshichi—gardner/servant

Shokichi—servant in charge of rice polishing mill and waterwheel

Unnamed man who owns the charcoal kiln

Friends/Miscellaneous Characters

The okamisan—owner of the tavern where the 3-fingered man is first spotted

Kyokichi Shimizu—3-fingered man, one of the main suspects in the murders

Tama—Suzuko’s dead kitten

Ofuyu—friend and possible love interest of Kenzo’s, mentioned in his diaries

Yasuke Taguchi—local farmer questioned by Kimura

Seno—insurance man hoping to prove murder was suicide

Shizuko Shiraki—a friend and confidant of Katsuko Kubo

Shozo Taya—Katsuko’s former lover

Characters for The Dawn Patrol

The Dawn Patrol

Boone Daniels—private investigator, ex-cop

Hang Twelve/Brian Brousseau—youngest member, works in Boone’s shop, Pacific Surf

Dave the Love God—lifeguard; occasional drug runner for Red Eddie

Johnny Banzai/John Kodani—San Diego Police Department detective

High Tide/Josiah Pamavatuu—Samoan; former football player; foreman with San Diego Public Works

Sunny Day/Emily Day/Emily Wendelin—best surfer, waitress at Sundowner (next to surf shop)

Investigators/Suspects/Witnesses/Friends

Ben Carruthers/Cheerful—Boone’s wealthy landlord, accountant, friend

Petra Hall—lawyer from Burke, Spitz, & Culver who hires Boone to find witness

Alan Burke—partner in Burke, Spitz, & Culver who’s given Boone lots of PI work

Dan Silver/Daniel Silvieri—owner of strip club, Silver Dan’s (among others); one-time pro wrestler

Tamara Roddick—witness in insurance fraud lawsuit, stripper at Silver Dan’s

Red Eddie/Julius—importer of illegal drugs and other goods, with ties in Hawaii and South Pacific; owes Boone a debt for rescuing his son

Tweety—“muscle” who works for Silver

Chuck Halloran—owner of Sundowner

Lieutenant Steve Harrington—San Diego Police Department detective, Boone’s former partner, Banzai’s boss

Angela Hart/Angel Heart—Tamara’s friend, stripper at Silver Dan’s

Amber—stripper at TNG club in Mira Mesa; provides info about Tamara

Mick Penner—parking valet, gigolo, and an ex-boyfriend of Tamara’s

Alex—parking valet; provides info about Mick

Dr. Theodore Cole/Teddy Cole/Teddy D-Cups—plastic surgeon; involved with Tamara

Luce—child Tamara wants to adopt

Zeke—High Tide’s cousin in Hawaii; Red Eddie uses threat against him to try to get High Tide’s cooperation

Todd “The Rod” Eckhardt—Silver’s defense lawyer in insurance fraud trial

Judge Hammond—judge in insurance fraud trial

Juan Carlos—apparently in charge on boat carrying illegal cargo from Mexico

Esteban—boat hand who refuses to abandon cargo

Marco—van driver working for Red Eddie who delivers illegal cargo

Terry Gilman—lieutenant in Sex Crimes Unit who leads raid

Sakagawa—Banzai’s grandfather; owns old strawberry farm north of San Diego

Tim Mackie—surfer who jumps in on Sunny’s wave during the big swell

Backstory Characters

Dee and Brett Daniels—Boone’s parents

Eleanor Day—Sunny’s maternal grandmother, whose surname she adopted

Rain Sweeny—missing child, subject of case that caused Boone to quit SDPD

Russ Rasmussen—suspect in Rain Sweeny case; known pedophile

Kocera—SDPD cop; involved in incident that caused Boone to quit SDPD

Bench Press—leader of a gang Boone has to kick out of Sundowner for trying to take advantage of a drunk tourist

George Freeth—legendary early 20^th Century lifeguard; Dave the Love God’s hero

 June 12, 2023

12 Noon

Don Winslow’s Dawn Patrol

As cool as its California surfer heroes, Don Winslow delivers a high velocity, darkly comic, and totally righteous crime novel.

Every morning Boone Daniels catches waves with the other members of The Dawn Patrol: four men and one woman as single-minded about surfing as he is. Or nearly. They have "real j-o-b-s"; Boone, however, works as a PI just enough to keep himself afloat. But Boone's most recent gig-investigating an insurance scam--has unexpectedly led him to a ghost from his past. And while he may have to miss the biggest swell of his surfing career, this job is about to give him a wilder ride than anything he's ever encountered. Filled with killer waves and a coast line to break your heart, The Dawn Patrol will leave you gasping for air.

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

Monday May 8, 2023 at 12 Noon:

A New York Times Best Mystery Novel of 2021

Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister's death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II. 

Chicago, 1944: Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train. 

Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose’s death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth. 

Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real crime with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from thirty years of research and archival work in Japanese American history.