Southern California Fiction

I'm the one who broke up the golden couple - the woman people still whisper about, point at, and give dirty looks to. Did I sleep with the prom king? No. Did I sleep with the town's golden boy on vacation from college? Yes. Did I believe that he was going to marry me? Wholeheartedly. Did he? Not even close. He got engaged right in front of me, and then his father threw $200 at me and told me to take the trash out.

Never make the same mistake twice is my motto. After being left in the dust of an old pickup truck, I promised that I would take care of myself and never trust another man with a sexy smirk and cowboy boots. Then he showed up, and he’s everywhere I turn, making me want something I shouldn’t.

I never wanted to be a cowboy - living in a small town was suffocating. The military was my out. I saw every place I ever wanted and everything that nightmares are made of...until I almost lost my life and ended up back home.

First a dead stranger. Now a missing police chief. Did Chief Cade run off to elope? Or has he met with foul play? No one knows who the victim was, where he came from, or why he staggered out in front of Chief Cade’s car. Guilt overwhelms him that he killed the mysterious stranger, until Cade...

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.

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?

Emily: I fell in love with him when I was 14. Under the stars, he told me he loved me, and under the stars, we promised to love each other, always. But under the stars, he broke my heart. He left me without a second glance. I was just an afterthought. Now he's back, but this time, I'm not falling for his Southern charm. Maybe. Ethan: On my 21st birthday, I found out that everything I thought I knew was a lie, that the man I had grown up thinking was my father wasn't. The pain I felt blinded me. I left them all behind, including her, my best friend and the woman I was going to marry.

Hannah Hudson has had a rough start to the year. Returning home to London from her magical holiday in Norway, still on a high after meeting the wonderful Kristine, her newfound happiness is dealt a crushing blow when she discovers that her ex has been stealing from her and she is going to lose her business. A letter from an American lawyer throws her an unexpected lifeline, informing her that she’s inherited a house and a restaurant in Presley, Louisiana, from her biological mother who gave her up for adoption at birth.

“Perceptive and witty—like a Sally Rooney novel set in Southern California.” —The Minnesota Star Tribune “It’s this author’s best work yet. A Sapphic roller-coaster ride.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A controversial Los Angeles-based author attempts to revive her career...

Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife. “A shimmering rendering . . . pairs the surf...

From the award-winning, internationally acclaimed writer, a taut, elegiac novel about a man trying to uncover the truth about the father who left him behind Steven Mills has reached a crossroads. His wife and son have left, and they may not return. Which leaves him determined to find out what...

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.

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.

From the author of the best-selling Christy Miller and SisterChicks series comes a new book of community, friendship, and tackling the hard things of life with God and loved ones around a table. Five young moms, including beloved Gunn character Christy Miller, gather to share meals and soon...

This program features multicast narration. “I read everything Ivy Pochoda writes. Her capture of the complexities, diversities, and insanities of today’s life and culture is next to none. I loved Sing Her Down. The world will too.” —Michael Connelly, author of Desert Star No Country for...

Named a most anticipated novel by Oprah Daily, Vogue, Parade, The Millions, and Electric Lit A Reader’s Digest Quarantine Book Club Pick Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A “rugged and ravishing” (Oprah Daily) debut novel of desire, betrayal, and loss...

Joe McGinniss Jr., who is “poised to become one of our sharpest observers of life in America at the start of the twenty-first century” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), returns with a gripping, psychologically intense literary thriller about the unraveling of a modern marriage in the midst...

A novel of psychological suspense about an idyllic community rocked by a serial killer—and a dark secret. “A stellar achievement, a book that unspools like a dark-toned movie in the reader’s mind.”—The Wall Street Journal (One of the Best Mysteries of the Year) Detective Ben Wade has...

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.

In this moving collection of short stories and essays, Gordon Lee Johnson (Cupeño/Cahuilla) cements his voice not only as a wry commentator on American Indian reservation life but also as a master of fiction writing. In Johnson’s stories, all of which are set on the fictional San Ignacio reservation in Southern California, we meet unforgettable characters like Plato Pena, the Stanford-bound geek who reads Kahlil Gibran during intertribal softball games; hardboiled investigator Roddy Foo; and Etta, whose motto is “early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise”.