California

Judy said, "Here is the link to my first state book: 1st to Die by James Patterson." The book is set in California.

First to Die is the first in the Women's Murder Club series of books by James Patterson. Four women -- four friends -- share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle. But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand. The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered -- before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.

California

Laurie suggests: "CA: Self-Portrait with Ghosts by Kelly Dwyer. See my review here."

Self-Portrait with Ghosts is about the pain that leads to suicide, as well as the pain that suicide leaves behind. It is about the many ways we betray the people closest to us, sometimes without even knowing it, and about the healing powers of grief, forgiveness, and love. Kate Flannigan has done pretty well for herself. After a disaster of a first marriage, she's going with a great guy who is crazy about her, she has raised a loving, if slightly rebellious, teenage daughter, and has made a name for herself as a ceramist, an accomplished sculptor of portraits. She has worked hard to meet the demands of single motherhood and, at the same time, to put her sister Colleen's betrayal behind her. Kate's brother, Luke, hasn't done so well. Haunted by the early death of his father, he has struggled with depression for most of his life, and kept it a secret from his family. Only Audrey, Kate's daughter, is able to crack through her uncle's solitude. To her, Luke isn't just a substitute for the father who left years ago -- he is the only person she believes will always tell her the truth. When Luke commits suicide, the family is forced to reexamine the deceptions that have torn it apart, and to face and forgive the past and present, the real and imagined ghosts. The story is told through three compelling voices -- Kate's, Audrey's, and Luke's.

California

Bonnie said, "Place Last Seen by Charlotte McGuinn Freeman is a novel set in the Sierra Nevada range in California. I wrote a book review about it this morning which you may want to read."

During an idyllic autumn-day hike in the Desolation Wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas, the Baker family is hurled into a nightmare when six-year-old Maggie, a child with Down Syndrome, runs away while playing hide-and-seek with her brother. As the Search and Rescue team combs the place where Maggie was last seen, all the family can do is wait and hope that a clue will lead them to her. Much of the story is seen through the eyes of the search and rescue team members, mapping quadrants, sending out tracker dogs, trying to imagine what a little girl might do when she doesn't think like most children in the first place.

California

Gracie said, "CA - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck."

Of Mice and Men was John Steinbeck's first masterpiece. Originally published in 1937, it's the timeless story of George Milton and Lennie Small, ranch hands who drift from job to job, always one step ahead of the law and a few dollars from the poorhouse. George is small, wiry, sharp-tongued and quick-tempered; slow witted Lennie is his opposite—an immense man, brutishly strong but naturally docile, a giant with the mind of a child. Despite their difference, George and Lennie are bound together by a shared vision: their own small farm, where they'll raise cows, pigs, chickens, and rabbits, where they'll be their own bosses and live off the fat of the land.

When they find work on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley, the dream at last seems within reach. If they can just save up a little money. But their hopes, like "the best-laid schemes of mice and men," begin to go awry. The story unfolds with the power and inevitability of a Greek tragedy, as Lennie commits an accidental murder, and George, in a riveting, deeply moving finale, must do what he can to make things turn our right.

California, Colorado, Idaho

Lisa offers two titles for California: John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and Wallace Stegner's Angle of Respose.

Thanks, Lisa, you have come up with a couple of very good books. Grapes of Wrath is set mostly in California, after the road trip of the Joads from the dustbowl.


I had to look up Angle of Repose because I was remembering it taking place in other parts of the west. Actually, Lyman Ward's grandparents were in three states (Colorado, California, and Idaho), plus Mexico.