The Valley of the Moon (1913) is a novel by American writer Jack London. Inspired by his experiences as a working-class man and dedicated socialist, London incorporates aspects of his own biography-his interest in sailing, his life on a ranch in Sonoma County-to tell a story of hardship, hope, and perseverance. Having grown disillusioned with the labor movement, London uses the novel to advocate for sustainable agriculture and other alternatives to...

Back in 1969, a lot of young people were hitting the road and disappearing. More than one of them wound up dead, including the girl in daisy patterned pants who was found in the quarry off Highway 1 in Lompoc, the victim of multiple stab wounds.

From the author of McTeague: The classic novel of corporate corruption and violent rebellion in the railroad industry. On May 11, 1880, at a San Joaquin Valley ranch, a shootout between tenant farmers and a sheriff's posse left seven dead. The dispute was over land rights. The law was acting in the service of the Southern Pacific Railroad. This tragedy marked the beginning of the end for the American frontier, and it became the inspiration for Frank...

Kinsey Millhone ventures into the darker side of the human soul in this gripping novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton.
Kinsey Millhone never sees it coming. She is mired in the case of a doctor who disappeared, his angry ex-wife, and beautiful current one—a case that is full of unfinished business, unfinished homes, and people drifting in and out of their own lives. Then Kinsey gets a shock. A man she...

A seemingly straightforward assignment to "babysit" Reba Lafferty, a wealthy and spoiled young woman just out of prison on probation from the California Institution for Women for embezzlement, turns unexpectedly dangerous for Kinsey Milhone when one of Reba's former associates is suddenly very much back in the picture.

A novel about men, women, romance, and real life. When Teresa was a little girl, she went to sleep with dreams in her head--dreams of dark-eyed, fearless heroes on white horses who would sweep her away. The men her mother told her about were a special breed, and someday, Teresa vowed, she would find one of her own. But now, as the adult Teresa negotiates life and love, she begins to understand that fairy tales don't always come true--and that passion...

"Of #1 New York Times-bestselling author Sue Grafton, NPR's Maureen Corrigan said, "Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters." With only two letters left, Grafton's many devoted readers will share that sentiment. X: The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss. X: The shortest entry in Webster's Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic letter....

"Sid and Ronnie Abel are a first-rate husband-and-wife detective team, both retirees of the LAPD. Ed and Nicole Hoyt are married assassins-for-hire living in the San Fernando Valley. Except for deadly aim with a handgun, the two couples have little in common--until they are both hired to do damage control on the same murder case. As the book races toward a high-octane climax, the Abels must fend for their own lives as they circle ever closer to the...

In this story set among the missions of nineteenth-century southern California, Ramona, a young woman of white and Indian descent, falls in love with Alessandro, a handsome Indian--but their passion is forbidden by Senora Moreno, Ramona's cold adoptive mother, who took Ramona in as a child out of obligation and holds personal prejudices against both sides of her ancestry.

From the Publisher: Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than fifty years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose everything. And Winnie angrily determines that she must be the one to tell her daughter, Pearl, about the past-including the terrible truth even Helen does not know. And so begins Winnie's story of her life on a small island outside Shanghai in the 1920s, and other places in China during...