prospect park books...prospect park books 2018–2019 1 prospect park books is an independent trade...

From Water, by Kenton Nelson

◆ 2018-2019 CATALOG ◆PROSPECT PARK BOOKS

PROSPECT PARK BOOKS 2018–2019 1

Prospect Park Books is an independent trade publisher of print and digital books, with a focus on fiction, cookbooks, gift, humor, and regional titles.

No, we’re not in that Prospect Park! We were founded in 2006 by sixth-generation Southern Californian Colleen Dunn Bates in her home in Prospect Park, a historic neighborhood in Pasadena, California, and we have a distinctly West Coast sensibility. Prospect Park is dedicated to working with authors, designers, and artists who are outside of the New York mainstream to publish books that combine strong commercial potential with intelligence, creativity, and wit.

Our books have earned high praise from all quarters, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal; they've won awards for literary merit, design, and illustration; and many have enjoyed multiple printings and international sales. That's because we've had the good fortune to work with outstanding authors.

Under the Raymond Press imprint, we also produce books of all kinds for institutions, individuals, and nonprofits, holding to the same high editorial and production standards as all of our books.

Our books are distributed by Consortium, an Ingram company. Retailers may order from Consortium, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Stephen Young, American West, PGW Canada, Raincoast, or directly from Prospect Park.

If you’d like to buy a quantity of books for business gifts, institutional uses, events, or promotional purposes, contact us at Prospect Park and we’ll make you a good deal.

Prospect Park Books2359 Lincoln Avenue, Altadena, California 91001626.793.9796, [email protected]

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So Happiness to Meet YouBlissfully, Foolishly Stranded in VietnamBy Karin EsterhammerAfter job losses and the mortgage meltdown of 2008, Karin Esterhammer and her family flee L.A. to start over in a most unlikely place: a nine-foot-wide back-alley house in one of Ho Chi Minh City's poorest districts, where neighbors unabashedly stare into windows, generously share their barbecued rat, keep cockroaches for luck, and ultimately help her find joy without Western trappings. Vividly drawn, richly humorous, and wisely observant. Paperback: 978-1-938849-97-8 • $16 Ebook available

Louie, Take a Look at This!My Time with Huell Howser By Luis Fuerte with David DuronHuell Howser, the exuberant host of

California’s Gold and other public-television shows, was always exclaiming to the camera, “Louie, take a look at this!” Now Louie—aka Luis Fuerte, an award-winning cameraman—shares stories of their adventures exploring

California, making memorable television, and showcasing Howser’s infectious love for the Golden State. Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-945551-02-4 • $22.95 • Ebook available

St. EverywhereTravels in Search of the Lady SaintsBy Mary Lea CarrollWhile visiting Italy, Mary Lea Carroll grew fascinated with the remarkable story of St. Catherine of Siena and made a resolution: Whenever she was lucky enough to travel, if a shrine dedicated to a female saint was nearby, she'd visit it and learn about her. Her hobby grew into a journey she never expected, one rich with challenges and cappuccinos, doubts and inspiration, glasses of wine with strangers and moments of transcendence. Over eight quests, Carroll takes readers along as she seeks a few great women of history, while trying to be a better woman herself.Hardcover: 978-1-945551-56-7 • $19.95 Ebook available • Coming spring 2019

StruckA Husband's Memoir of Trauma and Triumph By Douglas Segal

One of life’s biggest clichés becomes a horrific reality when Douglas Segal’s wife and daughter are hit head-on by a city bus. Alternatingly harrowing, humorous, heartbreaking, and hopeful, Segal’s memoir, built around

the email updates he sent to family and friends, is ultimately uplifting—a tribute to how love, determination, and the compassion of community all hold the power to heal.After a national launch on The Today Show, Doug Segal and his wife, Susan, have become in-demand public speakers.Paperback: 978-1-945551-38-3 • $16Ebook available

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Insta L.A.101 Must-Snap Photo Ops in L.A. Edited by Dorie BaileyThe definitive guide to the 101 best photo locations in and around Los Angeles, Insta L.A. is compact, colorful, useful, and loads of fun. Follow savvy Instagrammers as they showcase snappable spots that range from the iconic (Disney Hall, the Santa Monica Pier), to the popular (Paul Smith’s pink wall, Made in LA), to the under-the-radar (Coffee for Sasquatch, Ascot Hills Park). Complete with precise locations for each spot, Insta L.A. is a must-have companion for L.A. locals and visitors alike.Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-945551-53-6 • $14.95Coming spring 2019

Hometown PasadenaEdited by Colleen Dunn BatesThe book that launched Prospect Park Books is back in a gorgeous new edition,

reconcieved for a new era. Pasadena is one of the most educated, artistic, culturally rich, architecturally signficant, and naturally beautiful cities in the

US, and Hometown Pasadena shows you the best of it. Created by locals for locals, it's also a boon to visitors and essential for Huntington, Norton Simon, Rose Parade, Rose Bowl, JPL, and Caltech pilgrims. Contributors include Lian Dolan, Chris Erskine, Naomi Hirahara, Lynell George, and editor Colleen Dunn Bates.Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-938849-99-2 • $29.95 • Ebook available

WaterCalifornia Idealism By Kenton NelsonCelebrated painter Kenton Nelson explores the idealistic California of his childhood dreams in this collection of works involving water. Saturated with color and longing, and balancing shadow and light, Water explores California with a powerful, unusual mix of sunny optimism and noir mystery. Kenton Nelson’s paintings have been featured on several New Yorker covers and shown in galleries and museums from Los Angeles to Stuttgart to Salzburg. Collectors include Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, and the Albertina Contemporary Museum in Vienna.Hardcover: 978-1-945551-58-1 • $35 • Coming spring 2019

DaditudeThe Joys and Absurdities of Modern Fatherhood By Chris ErskineLife is never peaceful in Chris Erskine's house, what with the four kids, 300-pound beagle, chronically leaky roof, and long-suffering wife, Posh. And that's exactly the way he likes it, except when he doesn't. Every week in the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, Erskine distills, mocks, and makes us laugh at the absurdities of modern fatherhood. Here are the best of these witty and wise essays, with updated commentary from Posh and the kids. The perfect gift for the father who would have everything—if he hadn't already given it all to his kids.Hardcover: 978-1-945551-30-7 • $18.95 Ebook available

Talk Like a CalifornianBy Helena VenturaDude, are you pumped to hack California-speak so you don’t sound like a buster? This

sweet guide is lit and will get you talking fresh, whether you’re in the 626 or the Yay Area. To translate, this vibrantly designed, modestly priced pocket guide to California slang will help residents and visitors alike feel at home wherever they

go in the Golden State, from the beach to a food truck and from a Hollywood soundstage to a Silicon Valley cocktail party.Paperback: 978-1-938849-85-5 • $11.95Ebook available

Doorways of ParisBy Raquel PuigNothing captures the spirit, romance, and beauty of Paris more than its doorways. Doorways of Paris takes armchair travelers and Paris habitués alike to the the most captivating ones in the city. Organized by arrondissement, it features 300 photographs from the most popular Instagram account of Parisian doors. Richly colorful and affordably priced, this hardcover book makes an outstanding gift for Francophiles everywhere.Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-945551-06-2 • $19.95 • Ebook available

100 Not So Famous Views of L.A.By Barbara Thomason

This collection of paintings offers intimate, often recognizable, sometimes unexpected glimpses of a city known and loved by the artist. Inspired by nineteenth-century Japanese artist Hiroshige’s One

Hundred Famous Views of Edo, Barbara Thomason captures the personality of vibrant Los Angeles, with commentary, history, and an introduction by David Ulin.Hardcover: 978-1-938849-35-0 • $30

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Mark Twain’s Guide to Diet, Exercise, Beauty, Fashion, Investment, Romance, Health & HappinessEdited by Mark DawidziakThis handsome illustrated collection presents the best of the curmudgeonly writer's thoughts on diet, exercise, medicine, smoking, drinking, romance, parenting, old age, fashion, finances, politics, and religion. Perfect for anyone who's had enough of Gwyneth's self-righteous advice.Hardcover: 978-1-938849-45-9 • $16.95 Ebook available

You’re the Best A Celebration of FriendshipBy the Satellite SistersFrom podcast stars the Satellite Sisters—the five Dolan sisters—this is a thank-you note to

our friends, the women we call when the best thing in our lives happens—or the worst. This beautifully packaged collection of essays, lists, charts, and more

incorporates witty, warm, and wise voices from age 15 to 60, and the result is the must-have gift book on friendship. Hardcover: 978-1-938849-58-9 • $19.95Ebook available

Things I Want to Punch in the FaceBy Jennifer WorickJennifer Worick had a bad day. And then a bad week. She channelled her aggravation into creating the blog Things I Want to Punch in the Face, which became a sensation. Although her bad week passed, she has continued to take note of the little irritations that torment us all daily. Family car stickers. Food in jars. Yoga pants. Celebrity baby names. The Giving Tree. #blessed. Man caves. It's astounding how the little things can drive a person insane. Paperback: 978-1-938849-56-5 • $11.95 Ebook available

Vulture VersesLove Poems for the UnlovedBy Diane Lang with Lauren Gallegos

Naturalist and author Diane Lang and artist Lauren Gallegos take children on a guided tour of the animals that do so many

good things for us, yet don't get enough love. Through lively, witty rhymes and warm, friendly illustrations, Vulture Verses helps children appreciate and befriend even the scariest critters. That’s right, even the vampire bat!Paperback: 978-1-938849-64-0 • $9.95 Ebook available

Addicted to AmericanaBy Charles PhoenixRaised on a used-car lot, Charles Phoenix was destined to become the Ambassador of Americana. This riotously colorful book, replete with Charles’s collection of vintage Kodachrome slides and photos from his travels around the nation, celebrates his lifelong quest to unearth the best of classic and kitschy American life and style. Addicted to Americana is the perfect inspiration for future road trips and family travel, and includes more than 100 vibrant photos sure to put a smile on your face!Hardcover: 978-1-945551-19-2 • $29.95

Teepee motels, lost monorails, vintage bowling alleys, drive-ins & drive-thrus, Tomorrowland, mermaids & dinosaurs,

breakfast clowns, and so much more!

Holiday Jubilee By Charles PhoenixYou're invited to celebrate America’s favorite seasonal traditions like never before. Ambassador of Americana Charles Phoenix mixes and mingles spectacular vintage Kodachrome slides of New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with his eye-popping, original recipes for epic edible centerpieces and party pleasers from his colorful Test Kitchen. Be prepared for your imagination to be inspired and your holiday spirit to soar!

Charles Phoenix is a showman, tour guide, food crafter, photo collector, and author known for his live comedy slide-show performances, madcap test-kitchen videos, field-trip-style adventure tours, and colorful books. The self-proclaimed “vintage culture vulture” has appeared on Martha Stewart, The Queen Latifah Show, and Cake Wars, has been profiled in The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, and has been a guest on NPR's The Splendid Table.Hardcover: 978-1-945551-35-2 • $29.95 • Coming fall 2019 (cover to come)

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First We Surf, Then We EatRecipes from a Lifetime of Surf TravelBy Jim KemptonJim Kempton has spent his life traveling and surfing the world, along the way learning to cook the world's best beach-loving dishes. Now he's sharing his vividly colorful, richly flavorful, and vibrantly healthful collection of more than 90 recipes from 10 of the world's most beautiful locations, along with stories of the best waves, markets, restaurants, adventures, and

misadventures that he's experienced, from Australia to Hawaii, the Basque Country to Indonesia, and California to Mexico. First We Surf, Then We Eat features a foreword by The Surfer's Journal publisher Steve Pezman, a preface by famed surfer/chef Raphael Lunetta, and photography by Bill Schildge, Jeff Divine, Tom Servais, and Art Brewer.Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-945551-33-8 • $29.95 • Ebook available

L.A. Mexicano Recipes, People, & Places By Bill Esparza

Los Angeles Magazine's Cookbook of the Year

Richly photographed by Staci Valentine and authentically local, L.A. Mexicano showcases the famously rich and complex Mexican-food culture in Los Angeles. It's an abundancia of home-tested recipes; profiles of chefs, bakers, restaurateurs, and vendors, including the most important culinary pioneers; and neighborhood guides.

Part cookbook, part food journalism, and part love song to the City of Angels, L.A. Mexicano is the definitive resource for home cooks, hungry Angelenos, and food-loving visitors. Features a foreword by Taco USA’s Gustavo Arellano.Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-945551-00-0 • $29.95 • Ebook available

The Urban ForagerCulinary Exploring & Cooking on L.A.’s EastsideBy Elisa CallowThe Urban Forager is a cookbook, guide, and irresistible invitation to both the novice and adventurous food lover to explore the rich, diverse culinary cultures of Los Angeles' eastside. Food makers representing the eastside's diverse traditions share beloved recipes, ingredients, innovations, and neighborhood resources. It's a hands-on, stunningly photographed collection of inspiring recipes, profiles, and references for both novice and adventurous home cooks as well as the culinarily curious. Author Elisa Callow shares her recipes and food discoveries on her blog,

The Urban Forager. She is a well-known arts-nonprofit consultant in Los Angeles. Photographer Ann Elliott Cutting is a photographer and Art Center professor based in Pasadena, California.Hardcover with photographs by Ann Elliott Cutting: 978-1-945551-42-0 • $29.95 Ebook available • Coming winter 2019

Little Flower BakingBy Christine Moore with Cecilia Leung

Winner Best Nonfiction, SCIBAGold Medal, PubWest Design Awards

One of California's most acclaimed bakers shares her very best recipes, all adapted and carefully tested for the home cook. Rich with Christine Moore's down-home warmth and wisdom, it inspires home cooks to make her rustically beautiful, always delicious cookies, cakes, pastries, savory baked goods, breads, puddings, and so much more. Little Flower Baking is beautifully packaged, and every recipe has its own gorgeous photo—a great boon for the home baker.Hardcover with photographs by Staci Valentine: 978-1-938849-60-2 • $35 • Ebook available

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Little Flower Recipes from the CafeBy Christine Moore This award-winning cookbook hails from the home of the country’s best sea-salt caramels. Christine Moore shares her superb and simple recipes for breakfast, lunch, supper, and dessert, each photographed and home tested.Hardcover with photographs by Ryan Robert Miller: 978-0-983459-48-4 $25 • Ebook available

Who Wants Seconds? Sociable Suppers for Vegans, Omnivores & Everyone in BetweenBy Jennie Cook

A gorgeous hand-illustrated cookbook from a celebrated LA caterer, Who Wants Seconds offers modern-classic American recipes for home entertaining with a sustainable focus, plus warm, practical advice.

Cook makes it easy for home cooks to keep everyone at the table happy, from omnivores to vegans, and she'll inspire you to make the world a better place by having more parties.Paperback with photographs: 978-1-938849-13-8 • $24.95 • Ebook available

The Auntie Em’s CookbookA Musician’s Guide to Breakfast & BrunchBy Theresa WahlTerri Wahl, chef-owner of the LA's (now closed) retro hotspot Auntie Em’s Kitchen, showcases her simple and beloved recipes for breakfast, brunch, and dessert in a cookbook that celebrates seasonal and local flavors. Drawing inspiration from her past as a punk guitarist, Wahl pairs her recipes with playlists, sharing her belief that food tastes better when there’s music in the kitchen.Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-938849-26-8 • $29.95

Das Cookbook German Cooking . . . California StyleBy Hans RöckenwagnerDrawing on Hans Röckenwagner's 30+

years of cooking and baking in Los Angeles, Germany, and Switzerland, this modern German-Californian cookbook features sections on bread-making (yes, pretzel bread!), holiday treats, and bar snacks, along with

the most popular recipes from his several L.A. restaurants, including 3 Square Café on famed Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Café Röckenwagner in Brentwood.Hardcover with photographs: 978-1-938849-33-6 • $29.95

Paperback L.A.Edited by Susan LaTempa

"Eclectic, revisionist, brave, and, yes, incredibly fun.” — KPFK

A surprising, colorful, and witty collection of the best writing about Los Angeles, this innovative series gathers new work and fresh discoveries: a radio broadcast, essays, song lyrics, magazine articles, interviews, and excerpts from prize-winning novels, memoirs, and nonfiction books. These pieces are punctuated by perceptive photo essays, a quotable lineup of one-liners and observations, and other quick hits.

In the company of a virtuostic band of storytellers, the three Paperback L.A. books roam across the decades, from the city's earliest days to Hollywood's golden age, from the punk scene to the beach scene, from the jazz clubs and bookstores to the backyard pools and secret drag strips.

HANS RÖCKENWAGNERWith Jenn Garbee & Wolfgang Gussmack

DASCOOKBOOK

GERMAN COOKING . . .CALIFORNIA STYLE

“ We’re set to prepare and devour everything in it.”

— Wall Street Journal

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Book 1: Clothes. Coffee. Crushes. Crimes.Contributors include: Eve Babitz • Paul Beatty • Carlos Bulosan • Cecil Castelucci • Victoria Dailey • Robert Landau • Steve Martin • Vin Scully • Clancy Sigal • Susan Sontag • Hector Tobar • Victor and Mary Lau ValleFlexibound: 978-1-945551-24-6 • $19.95 • Ebook available

Book 2: Studios. Salesmen. Shrines. Surfspots.Contributors include: Ray Bradbury • Diana Serra Cary (Baby Peggy) • Jim Gavin • Wendy Gilmartin • Eric Gutierrez • Chester Himes • Naomi Hirahara • Preston Lerner • Danny Martinez • Gina N. Nahai • Michelle Shocked Flexibound: 978-1-945551-37-6 • $19.95 • Ebook available

Book 3: Secrets. SigAlerts. Ravines. Records.Contributors include: Ann Elliott Cutting • River Garza • Jonathan Gold • Carey McWilliams • Lisa See • Harry Shearer • R.J. Smith • Stuart Timmons • Karen Tei Yamashita Flexibound: 978-1-945551-49-9 • $19.95 • Ebook available • Coming spring 2019


The Ugly TruthBy Jill OrrThere's been a shocking double murder in Tuttle Corner, VA, that involves some high-profile players from Washington D.C. This brings national attention to Riley's lit-tle corner of the world, along with a lot of big city competition for the story. Beloved café owner Rosalee is the prime suspect in the violent crimes, but she insists she's innocent. In exchange for protection, Rosalee gives Holman and Riley exclusive information incriminating a very powerful person who she says is the real murderer. But the pair eventually begins to ques-tion whether or not Rosalee is telling the truth. Unfortunately, they disagree on the answer. Riley and Holman end up going down separate investigative paths until one of them finds the truth...and one of them finds the killer. The third in the Riley Ellison mystery series.

Paperback: 978-1-945551-44-4 • $16 Hardcover and ebook available Coming spring 2019

The Bad BreakBy Jill OrrWhen a beloved cardiologist is found murdered in his Tuttle Corner home, newly minted reporter Riley Ellison is assigned not only to write his obituary, but to cover the murder investigation as well. Riley’s desperation to prove herself causes her to blur the line between reporter and investigator...and places her squarely in the killer’s path. Paperback: 978-1-945551-20-8 • $16Ebook available

The Good BylineBy Jill Orr

Riley Ellison is a smart, quirky young library assistant who's feeling adrift in her hometown of Tuttle Corner, Virginia. When her childhood best friend Jordan commits suicide, the grieving family asks Riley to write her obituary.

Jordan’s co-worker, a paranoid reporter with a penchant for conspiracy theories, convinces Riley that Jordan’s death was no suicide, and leads her down a dangerous path toward organized crime, secret lovers, and suspicious taco trucks. Will writing this obituary be the death of her? Paperback: 978-1-938849-91-6 • $16 Ebook available

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The Big ConBy Adam Walker Phillips Chuck Restic, HR manager and part-time private investigator, has a problem: the consultant guru Julie St. Jean is the bane of his existence. Over his twenty-year HR career, he’s been forced to partner with her on inane employee engagement programs whose only value has been to Julie’s sizable bank account. When Julie is suddenly wanted for the murder of an associate, Chuck sees his chance to rid himself of her forever—until the corporate tables are turned on him and he must find the elusive figure or risk losing his job. The search uncovers a dark past of murder and stolen identity. And what begins as a search to save his corporate neck soon turns into one a lot more literal. The third in the Chuck Restic mystery series.Paperback: 978-1-945551-26-0 • $16 Ebook available

The Perpetual SummerBy Adam Walker PhillipsA missing teenage girl leads LA corporate HR exec–turned–private eye Chuck Restic to a high-profile fight over a new art museum and a 40-year-old murder that won’t stay in the past. Anyone can be behind the teenager’s disappearance: her fitness-obsessed mom, switchblade-toting chauffeur, personal life coach, or even the girl herself.

This second in the Chuck Restic series takes aim at the absurdities of corporate America and the realities and eccentricities of life in Los Angeles, while captivating readers with a first-rate detective story.Paperback: 978-1-945551-12-3 • $16 Ebook available

The Silent Second By Adam Walker PhillipsChuck Restic has achieved the American

dream: a successful career with a large corporation, a nice house, and the best health insurance and retirement package… but he’s crumbling inside. Twenty years in Human Resources has pushed Chuck into an existential crisis. Only when he sets out to find

a missing employee from his LA firm does he start to feel alive again. Applying his HR skills and wit to his moonlight detective work, Chuck unravels a web of crooked real estate deals and three murders, staving off a fourth: his own. Paperback: 978-1-945551-04-8 • $15.95 Ebook available


The Inglorious ArtsBy Alan Hruska Seasoned New York lawyer Alec Brno, first introduced in Pardon the Ravens, is tested again by overlapping personal and professional crises. He must rescue his firm's oldest client, which is being sued vindictively by a giant public utility, as well as the firm's largest client, embroiled in a politically motivated suit before a lunatic federal judge. To avoid professional and financial ruin, Alec must somehow get rid of both cases almost immediately and stop thousands of others from suing. This seemingly impossible assignment arrives as Alec's adopted sixteen-year- old daughter, the inheritor of a Mafia fortune, is targeted in a sex-slave scheme by her uncle, the capo famiglia. Distractions only intensify when Alec's beautiful sister-in-law, looking and acting so much like his deceased wife, becomes a board piece in the Mob

game. Corporate intrigues, political maneuvering, two high-stakes courtroom battles, Mob terror, and the frantic race to save the lives of the women he loves—looks like Alec's got some serious work to do. Paperback: 978-1-945551-40-6 • $16 • Ebook available • Coming winter 2019

It Happened at Two in the MorningBy Alan HruskaAfter another long night of work, brash young lawyer Tom Weldon learns that he’s being passed over for partner at his top-drawer New York firm and quits on the spot. On the 2 a.m. walk home, he happens upon the professional hit of a wealthy power broker. Next thing he knows, Tom’s being held captive in a rural shed with the arrogant daughter of the murder victim. They escape and run for their lives, hiding in rural Kentucky while Tom tries to unravel the complicated mess they’ve stumbled into— and figure out why a hitwoman is after them. Paperback: 978-1-945551-17-8 • $16 Ebook available

Pardon the RavensBy Alan HruskaThis fast-paced legal thriller set in the Mad

Men era grabs you and doesn’t let go. Gifted young New York lawyer Alec Brno gets the career boost of a lifetime: the opportunity to try a huge fraud case making international headlines. But he risks it all when he falls for an alluring young woman whose estranged husband

is a sadistic Mafia don—and the criminal mastermind behind Alec’s case. Paperback: 978-1-938849-88-6 • $16 Ebook available

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Dead ExtraBy Sean CarswellAfter being reported as dead in a German POW camp, Jack Chesley returns to LA in 1947 very much alive, only to discover that his wife is dead—and her twin sister insists that it wasn’t an accident like the cops said. They set out to find her killer, a journey that takes them from the boozy back corners of Musso & Frank, to the Camarillo mental hospital, to a seedy motel where blackmailers shoot dirty movies. In the spirit of such noir masters as Cain and Chandler, Dead Extra explores new shadows on the seedy side of midcentury Southern California.Paperback: 978-1-945551-47-5 • $16 Ebook available • Coming spring 2019

Colorado Boulevard By Phoef SuttonWhen Zerbe, the honorary brother (and roommate) of LA’s toughest bodyguard/bouncer, Crush, is kidnapped, Crush springs into action to save him. Unraveling the mystery takes him to Zerbe’s estranged billionaire father obsessed with building California’s long-promised bullet train, as well as to Pasadena’s famed Rose Parade along Colorado Boulevard. Paperback: 978-1-945551-15-4 • $16 • Ebook available

Heart Attack and Vine By Phoef SuttonThe second in the Crush series, Caleb Rush is back—only this time, it's to untangle the criminal mess involving his con-artist friend, Hollywood players, and a cross-country trek to a New Orleans cemetary. Paperback: 978-1-938849-68-8 • $16 • Ebook available

Crush By Phoef SuttonLA bodyguard Crush must use his wits, martial-arts training, and knowledge of the Russian mafia to resolve the chaos of a billionaire tycoon and his wild daughter—while trying to stay alive.Paperback: 978-1-938849-36-7 • $16 • Ebook available


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Hiroshima BoyIn the seventh and final book in the award-winning Mas Arai mystery series, LA gardener Mas Arai returns to Hiroshima to bring his best friend’s ashes to a relative on a small island, only to be embroiled in the mysterious death of a teenage boy—one who was about the same age Mas was when he survived the atomic bomb in 1945. The boy’s death affects the often-curmudgeonly, always-reluctant sleuth, who cannot return home to Los Angeles until he finds a way to see justice served. Paperback: 978-1-945551-08-6 • $16 Ebook available

Sayonara SlamJapan faces Korea in the World Baseball

Classic at Dodger Stadium, and Mas Arai finds himself caught up in a murder. A Japanese tabloid writer drops dead on the field, and Mas gave the victim his last drink. It turns out there’s more at stake than a baseball championship—international diplomacy depends upon

uncovering secrets buried decades ago. This is the sixth in the Mas Arai series by the Edgar Award–winning and Anthony and Macavity Award–nominated Naomi Hirahara.Paperback: 978-1-938849-73-2 • $16 Ebook available

Strawberry YellowMas Arai returns to the California strawberry farms of his youth for a funeral and encounters murder, family intrigue, and danger. Was his cousin murdered because of the controversial new berry varietal he’d been developing? Is someone trying to kill Mas? Is there more involved in the GMO protests than just picket lines? In his quiet way, Mas gets answers.Paperback: 978-1-938849-02-2 • $15 Ebook available

Blood HinaMas Arai’s best friend Haruo is getting

married, and Mas has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But when an ancient Japanese doll display belonging to Haruo’s fiancée goes missing, Mas must untangle a web of secrecy, heartbreaking memories, and murder.

Paperback: 978-1-938849-19-0 • $15 Ebook available

"Mas is a hyperobservant, methodical sleuth—a blend of Columbo and Hercule Poirot—but what makes this award-winning series shine is the way Hirahara takes readers inside her character’s head." — Booklist

The Texas Twist By John VorhausAfter pulling world-class cons in California and New Mexico, Radar Hoverlander and his crew are back in action, this time in Austin, Texas. So many rich fools to bamboozle—but is Radar having a crisis of conscience? A smart, fast-paced, hilarious work—crime caper fiction at its best! The Texas Twist is the third Radar Hoverlander novel.Paperback: 978-1-938849-07-7 • $14.95 Ebook available

Marry, Kiss, Kill By Anne Flett-Giordano

In this fast-paced and funny Santa Barbara mystery, movie stars are in town for the film festival, powerful business interests are at stake, and detective Nola MacIntire and her partner, Tony, must untangle the complicated

web behind three seemingly unrelated deaths in this idyllic beach town. Marry, Kiss, Kill has it all: snappy dialogue, memorable characters, and a captivating mystery. Paperback: 978-1-938849-49-7 • $15 Ebook available

The Spy on the Tennessee Walker By Linda Lee PetersonMaggie Fiori is still the smart-mouthed magazine editor whose curiousity leads her to become over-involved in other people’s business, especially if a crime is involved. But this time the trigger is not a dead body—it’s a cache of journals, letters, and photographs of her great-great-great-grandmother Victoria, a nurse in a Confederate hospital during the Civil War and a woman of much mystery.Paperback: 978-1-938849-61-9 • $15 • Ebook available

The Devil’s Interval By Linda Lee PetersonIn this second Maggie Fiori mystery, San Francisco’s favorite amateur sleuth is back, still too smart for her own good and foolishly open to another adventure. After a glamorous socialite is murdered in the backseat of a limo, Maggie is on the case—in between marriage-therapy sessions and her sons’ soccer practices, that is.Paperback: 978-1-938849-11-4 • $15 • Ebook available

Edited to Death By Linda Lee PetersonMaggie Fiori has a lot: a job at a chic San Francisco magazine, a handsome attorney husband, two beautiful sons, and a comfortable life in Oakland. But her smart mouth and everyday life as an editor, a loving wife, and mother camouflage a dark secret. The camouflage comes off after murder strikes the magazine, and Maggie can’t rest until she solves the killing—and saves her marriage.Paperback: 978-1-938849-34-3 • $14.95 • Ebook available

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Mysteries from Naomi HiraharaComing fall 2019: Iced in Paradise, the debut Leilani Santiago mystery, set in Kaua'i


This Side of Providence By Rachel M. HarperThis tender novel tells a universal story of struggle, loss, and ultimately, survival. Arcelia left Puerto Rico for the American dream, but within a few years she has three children, no job, and a powerful heroin addiction. Through rotating narration, we meet a diverse cast of characters whose futures are inextricably linked as they strive to succeed against the odds.Paperback: 978-1-938849-76-3 • $16 Ebook available

After Abel and Other StoriesBy Michal Lemberger

How did Eve feel about Cain’s fratricide? What did Lot’s wife do after he offered their virgin daughters to strangers? Frankly feminist, Michal Lemberger’s stories give voice to silent, oft-marginalized biblical women—

their ambition, struggles, and love for their children. Informed by her deep knowledge of the Bible, each of Lemberger’s stories vividly re-imagines a biblical saga from the perspective of a pivotal woman.Paperback: 978-1-938849-47-3 • $16 Ebook available

Helen of PasadenaBy Lian DolanWhen her philandering husband is run over by an errant float at the Rose Parade, Helen finds herself broke and in need of a new start. With its keen social observations, laugh-out-loud scenes, and whip-smart dialogue, this romantic comedy is a strong story of midlife reinvention that delivers humor, insight, and wisdom.Paperback: 978-0-984410-22-4 • $14.95 Ebook available

Elizabeth the First WifeBy Lian Dolan

Elizabeth Lancaster, an English professor at a city college, finds her perfectly dull but perfectly orchestrated life upended one summer by three men: her movie-star ex-husband, a charming political operative, and Mr.

William Shakespeare. As she did so skillfully with her first novel, Helen of Pasadena, Lian Dolan spins a lively, smart, and very funny tale of a woman reinventing her life in unexpected ways.Paperback: 978-1-938849-05-3 • $15.95 Ebook available

One year on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list!

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By Gina Sorell This is the riveting story of a woman’s quest to understand her recently deceased mother, a glamorous, cruel narcissist who left her only child, Elsie, an inheritance of debts and mysteries. While coping with threats that she suspects are coming from the cult-like spiritual program her mother belonged to, Elsie works to unravel the message her dying mother left for her, a quest that ultimately takes her to the South African family homestead she never knew existed.Paperback: 978-1-938849-89-3 • $16 • Ebook available

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A Narrow BridgeBy J.J. GesherAfter a childhood of rebellion, Jacob Fisher has grown to find strength and comfort in his Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn and in the home he’s made with his family. In one stunning moment, the life he knows ends. Jacob flees in anguish, ending up in a predominantly African American town in rural Alabama, where he meets Rosie, the single mother of a young son. Their friendship, along with the rekindling of his love of music, precipitates events that will change both their lives.Paperback: 978-1-938849-82-4 • $16 • Ebook available

From AwayBy Phoef SuttonSammy Kehoe, his sister, Charlotte, and her four-year-old daughter, Maggie, are all each other have left since the car accident that killed the rest of their family. When they visit their beloved old family home on the remote Fox Island in Maine, Sammy and Charlotte each have relationship sparks with island locals. But the budding idyll is shattered when Sammy and Maggie’s unexplained abilities to “see things” are put to the test when dangerous ghosts from the past resurface.

At first, this novel about an unusual and loving family draws readers in with warmth and intrigue—and then it builds with suspense that makes it impossible to put down.Paperback: 978-1-945551-10-9 • $16 • Ebook available


Famous BabyBy Karen RizzoRuth Sternberg was the first and most famous mommy blogger. Now, 18 years later, daughter and blog subject Abbie is bitter about her public exploitation, and she kidnaps her beloved grandmother to spare her the same fate. Famous Baby wisely and hilariously explores mother love, identity, and the hazards of parental over-sharing in the Facebook age.Paperback: 978-1-938849-30-5 • $15 Ebook available

Lesson PlansBy Suzanne Greenberg

This engrossing, dryly funny novel centers on the lives of three Southern California families, each of which has chosen to homeschool for different reasons. As their lives intertwine, each family’s challenges provide a

touching and insightful look into the choices parents profess to make on behalf of their children, and the unpredictable ways that new relationships can change our lives. Paperback: 978-1-938849-24-4 • $15 Ebook available

All the Happiness You DeserveBy Michael PiafskyThe evocative cards of the Tarot deck frame one man’s journey from a Midwestern childhood through an East Coast education and career, and from first love through marriage, parenthood, and old age. This debut novel is a universal meditation on the way we tell the stories of our life.Paperback: 978-1-938849-15-2 • $15Ebook available

Otherwise FablesBy Oscar MandelThe first complete collection of Oscar

Mandel's fiction, including the Gobble-Up Stories, Chi Po and the Sorcerer, and The History of Sigismund, Prince of Poland. As witty as Sedaris and as profound as Calderón, Mandel’s little moral tales are full of unexpected points, deep lessons, ethical ambiguity, and dry wit.

Paperback: 978-1-938849-21-3 • $16

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Literary Pasadena Edited by Patricia O’SullivanThe historic, handsome city has served as home or creative inspiration to countless writers and artists since the early twentieth century. Includes stories and excerpts by David Ebershoff, Scott O’Connor, Michelle Huneven, Ron Koertge, Jim Krusoe, Lian Dolan, Naomi Hirahara, Victoria Patterson, and many more. Introduction by Michelle Huneven.Paperback: 978-1-938849-09-1 • $20 • Ebook available

Odd One OutBy Quinton Skinner When a Minnesota father of three awakens his children late in the night with news that their mother has left him and is bound for California, they set off on a hilarious, emotionally charged cross-country road trip to find her. That trip is just the beginning; it takes another decade for the mystery of what really happened to be revealed—and for the healing to begin. Odd One Out traces this compelling story in three parts, told from three points of view, and unravels the chain of events that forever changes this unconventional, brilliant, damaged, and loving family.Paperback: 978-1-938849-95-4 • $16 Ebook available

Plus OneBy Christopher Noxon

Alex is a midlevel marketing exec in LA whose wife Figgy’s fourteenth TV pilot attempt becomes a huge Emmy-winning hit, sucking them into a mad show-business vortex. Alex quits his job to become the family’s domestic first

responder, falling in with a posse of Plus Ones—husbands of women whose income and fame far eclipse their own. This wickedly honest comedy follows Alex as he tries to regain his mojo, while remaining a loving and responsible husband and father.Paperback: 978-1-938849-72-5 • $16Ebook available

Bertrand CourtBy Michelle BrafmanFrom the author of the acclaimed debut novel Washing the Dead, this captivating novel intertwines seventeen luminous narratives about the secrets of a cast of politicos, filmmakers, and housewives, all tied to a suburban Washington, D.C. cul-de-sac. Linked through bloodlines and grocery lines, they respond to life’s bruises by grabbing power, sex, or the family silver. As they atone and forgive, they unmask the love and truth that transcends white picket fences.Paperback: 978-1-938849-80-0 • $16 Ebook available

Washing the DeadBy Michelle Brafman

A suburban Milwaukee woman confronts her exile from the fondly remembered Orthodox Jewish community that was ripped from her by her mother’s affair. When the rabbi’s wife summons her to perform the

ritual burial washing of her beloved teacher, she returns to the spiritual and emotional home her mother burned down. Exhuming generations of secrets is the only way she can forgive her mother and, in turn, spare her daughter their crippling family legacy.Paperback: 978-1-938849-51-0 • $16Ebook available

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Raymond Press is our custom-publishing imprint. Titles are produced in partnership with institutions, individuals, and nonprofits, and they’re edited, designed, and printed to the same high standards as all of our books. We offer the complete range of services, from manuscript development to layout and printing; consulting on marketing and distribution also available. Clients have included Goose Island Beer, Alere Healthcare, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, UC Irvine, St. Andrew Church, Pasadena Museum of History, and many more.

RAYMOND PRESS

Here are some of the books we’ve produced for clients:

INDIANThe Life of Osage Waterman

Wayne Penn-Schafer

Joe Dunn

Color PasadenaBy Ali ZigerelliFeaturing charming illustrations and perforated pages, this coloring book for adults (and older kids, too) has 38 full-page images of Pasadena. Add your own artistic details to everything from the iconic city hall and the famous Rose Parade to such beloved local landmarks as the Del Mar jacarandas, Huntington Library, Old Town, Arlington Garden, Caltech, and much, much more.Paperback with illustrations: 978-1-938849-87-9 • $16.95

Non-Essential Mnemonics An Unnecessary Journey Into Senseless KnowledgeBy Kent Woodyard

McSweeney’s columnist Kent Woodyard brings new life to the mnemonic memory devices of a bygone era, from creative reinterpretations of classic mnemonics

to original creations of dubious usage. Paired with whimsical illustrations, it's the perfect gift for the word wizards of the world, as well as devotees of pop-culture trivia.Hardcover: 978-1-938849-28-2 • $14.95 Ebook available

The Neurotic Parent’s Guide to College AdmissionsBy J.D. RothmanThe Neurotic Parent, inspired by the popular blog of the same name, is a satiric guidebook mocking the insanity of modern college admissions. Rich with useless yet hilarious charts, graphs, and lists, it’s the perfect antidote for parents (and teens) overwhelmed with FAFSA forms, college tours, SAT prep, and admissions horror stories.Paperback: 978-0-983459-41-5 • $16.95 Ebook available

The Break-up Activity BookBy Lynn ChangWhat better way to recover from a nasty

breakup than... crafting? It’s amazing how many things you can make out of his stuff: a favorite shirt, his precious baseball cards, even the TV remote. For the heartbroken with a sense of humor, this whimsically

illustrated book is the perfect gift.Paperback: 978-1938849-04-6 • $14.95

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