<div><B>Sixteen storytellers shed light on the darkness that lurks in the California city in this fun collection of crime tales.</B><br/><br/>Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with <I>Brooklyn Noir</I>. Each book comprises all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.<br/><br/>With stories by: Barry Gifford, Jim Nisbet, Lexi Pandell, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Mara Faye Lethem, Thomas Burchfield, Shanthi Sekaran, Nick Mamatas, Kimn Neilson, Jason S. Ridler, Susan Dunlap, J.M. Curet, Summer Brenner, Michael David Lukas, Aya de León, and Owen Hill.<br/><br/><B>Praise for <I>Berkeley Noir</I></B><br/><br/><B>“Each story evokes the dark side of a Berkeley neighborhood and pays tribute both to the city's history as a haven for outcasts and as a literary metropolis. If you race through it, consider picking up <I>San Francisco Noir</I> and <I>Oakland Noir.</I>” —<I>Diablo Magazine</I>, a Top Ticket choice</B><br/><br/><B>“In “Lucky Day,” Thomas Burchfield reveals the evil that can come when a well-meaning aide breaks his boss’s cardinal rule never to allow patrons into the library early. A worried mom from Holloway wangles her son a prized place in the Berkeley school district in Aya de León’s “Frederick Douglass Elementary.” . . . . J.M. Curet’s “Wifebeater Tank Top,” the tale with the firmest criminal pedigree, is the most violent, but its poetic language and come-from-nowhere ending make it the best.” —<I>Kirkus Reviews</I></B><br/><br/><B>“The 16 stories set in Berkeley, Calif., in this above average Akashic noir anthology offer little actual noir but a heaping helping of crime, with almost every entry featuring at least a murder or kidnapping . . . . Readers will be glad that many of these tales are fun in a way that traditional noir isn’t.” —<I>Publishers Weekly</I></B></div>

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Berkeley Noir

<div><B>Have yourself a mysterious little Christmas with fifteen whodunits from <I>New York Times</I>&ndash;bestselling authors Sharyn McCrumb, Mary Higgins Clark, and more! </B><BR /><BR /> Peace on Earth isn&rsquo;t everyone&rsquo;s cup of tea in Charlotte MacLeod&rsquo;s &ldquo;A Cozy for Christmas.&rdquo; <BR /><BR /> Peter Lovesey&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Haunted Crescent&rdquo; delivers a holiday ghost story with a twist.<BR /><BR /> A training session for department-store Santas turns up Saint Nicks who are anything but angels in Isaac Asimov&rsquo;s &ldquo;Ho, Ho, Ho.&rdquo;<BR /><BR /> Marcia Muller&rsquo;s &ldquo;Silent Night&rdquo; finds a tough private investigator searching San Francisco&rsquo;s Tenderloin district&mdash;and discovering something unexpected.<BR /><BR /> A long-married couple&rsquo;s ship finally comes in&mdash;only to spring a mysterious leak&mdash;in Mary Higgins Clark&rsquo;s &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the Ticket.&rdquo;<BR /><BR /> Scottish superstition catches up with a cat burglar in Sharyn McCrumb&rsquo;s &ldquo;A Wee Doch and Doris.&rdquo;<BR /><BR /> These and many more stories will keep you turning pages and gathering evidence of yuletide mayhem. So when holiday shopping brings out your inner Grinch, hunker down with a hot toddy&mdash;and leave the murder to the experts.<BR /><BR /><I>This festive collection includes stories by Charlotte MacLeod, Peter Lovesey, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Eric Wright, John Lutz, Howard Engel, Mary Higgins Clark, Bill Pronzini, Sharyn McCrumb, Henry Slesar, Edward D. Hoch, Aaron Elkins, Susan Dunlap, Isaac Asimov, and Marcia Muller.</I></div>

Mistletoe Mysteries

<div><B>When a PI vanishes and leaves a body in his office, it&rsquo;s up to Jill Smith to pick up the pieces</B>   Jill knows something&rsquo;s wrong with Herman Ott as soon as she sees him on the patio at the Claremont Hotel. A perpetually broke ex-hippie private investigator, Ott is known around town for owning a wardrobe of nothing but yellow second-hand clothes. Yet today he wears all black, and after asking Jill to meet him at Berkeley&rsquo;s most elegant hotel, he clams up and refuses to explain why he needs to see her. Apologizing, he asks her to call him an hour later. Jill obliges, but Ott never answers his phone. And the next day, inside Ott&rsquo;s office, she finds a body. Jill doesn&rsquo;t know what kind of trouble Ott is in, but if she doesn&rsquo;t find him soon, his notorious yellow suit may be marred with a dash of blood red.<BR />   This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Cop Out

<div><B>Three years after a hit-and-run, Kiernan searches the sea for the missing suspect</B><BR />As Robin Matucci sails under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific, the sea is calm and her deckhand, Carlos, is sober. By the next day, the sky is black and Carlos is passed out drunk. The waves crest higher as Robin fights to reach land, until they finally overwhelm her small ship. Fire springs up from the engine room, and the tiny craft goes to the bottom of the Pacific. When the wreck&rsquo;s remains surface, Robin is gone, but the police recover samples of her hair. They then discover that the samples match those found at the site of a hit-and-run accident from three years before. The hit-and-run victim&rsquo;s widow wants Robin found, dead or alive, and hires medical examiner turned private detective Kiernan O&rsquo;Shaughnessy to find her. The answer to the riddle of the missing mariner will take Kiernan to the depths of the ocean, and back into the arms of a man she thought she had left behind forever.<BR /><BR />This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.<BR /><BR /><B><I>Rogue Wave</I> is the 2nd book in the Kiernan O&#39;Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</B></div>

Rogue Wave

<div><B>When a young gymnast dies performing a world-famous stunt, Kiernan suspects foul play</B><BR />As a young girl in Baltimore, Kiernan O&rsquo;Shaughnessy lived for gymnastics, where strict discipline and endless practice kept her centered even as her life fell apart. Her idol was stuntman Greg Gaige. Famous for pulling off the moves no one else could, and for scorning safety equipment, Gaige was the one man O&rsquo;Shaughnessy truly admired. Ten years after Gaige&rsquo;s tragic death, O&rsquo;Shaughnessy is a private detective on the California coast, and a young female gymnast has come along to challenge Gaige&rsquo;s crown. O&rsquo;Shaughnessy goes to watch the girl attempt the death-defying Gaige Move, without a harness, on the edge of a seaside cliff. After a perfect landing, the ground gives way and the gymnast falls to her death. The police call it an accident, but O&rsquo;Shaughnessy is determined to get the truth&mdash;in honor of her old hero, and for the young woman who looked up to him the way she did.<BR /><BR />This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.<BR /><BR /><B><I>High Fall</I> is the 3rd book in the Kiernan O&#39;Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</B></div>

High Fall

<div><b>After a bizarre attack, a petty feud between neighbors turns serious</b><BR>Although the citizens of Berkeley are famously tolerant, that progressive attitude disappears at the property line between the homes of Dr. Hasbrouck Diamond and Leila Sandoval. In the Berkeley hills , there are no worse neighbors than Diamond and Sandoval. What began as a tiff about garbage cans and street parking has exploded into full-blown war, drawing in the city, the press, and now&mdash;to the irritation of detective Jill Smith&mdash;the police department. Struck by a falling eucalyptus branch while sunning on his deck, Dr. Diamond accuses his neighbor of assault with a deadly tree. As a heat wave causes tempers to flare even higher, Jill does her best to referee the back-and-forth. But when their feud ends in death, she realizes that the community might only be safe with the neighbors behind bars.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Diamond in the Buff

<div><b>From the award-winning mystery author hailed by the <i>Washington Times</i> as &ldquo;the leading proponent of gutsy, nontraditional women who nimbly tread in he-man territory,&rdquo; comes a roller coaster of a suspense novel about two friends racing to escape a police dragnet</b><BR>Beautiful, blond Liza Silvestri has put her bad-girl ways behind her and is living the California dream in a Malibu beach house with her adoring venture-capitalist husband, Jay&mdash;until gunfire erupts one evening at their L.A. loft. Liza doesn&rsquo;t dare call the police&mdash;she&rsquo;s got a secret in her past&mdash;and it turns out Jay has secrets of his own. Now, running from professional killers and dirty cops, Liza begs her college friend, Ellen, to come with her. At the last moment, Liza grabs her piglet, Felton, as well. Racing through the back roads of Northern California and Oregon, she tracks the only clue she has, to end the nightmare that has enveloped her, hoping it will prove to be Ellen&rsquo;s and her salvation&mdash;and not their grave. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Fast Friends

<div><b>An activist&rsquo;s murder forces Jill to infiltrate Berkeley&rsquo;s psychedelic underworld</b><BR>A town as diverse as Berkeley, California, is never without controversy. This year the uproar is over the Rainbow Village, a hippie-occupied bayside lot that has degenerated into a drug-infested cesspool. As the city tries to eject the squatters, two Grateful Dead fans are murdered and a developer is assaulted. But for homicide detective Jill Smith, the conflict at the Village is only a nuisance until the violence gets personal. While staking out a coffee shop, Jill sees Liz Goldenstern, a handicapped activist who has long been a thorn in the side of local business. Her wheelchair has broken down, and Jill offers to push her home. The next morning, Liz is found savagely murdered at the Village. To find her killer, Jill will have to remember that sometimes hippies are far from pacifists.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Too Close to the Edge

<div><B>When the nation&rsquo;s political elite descends on a small Northern California town, murder follows&mdash;and only Vejay Haskell can get to the bottom of the shocking crime</B><BR />Each year the Bohemian Club&mdash;a clique of powerful conservatives whose ranks include Nixon, Reagan, and Kissinger&mdash;gathers for a confidential meeting in the backwoods town of Henderson, California. Though their activities are shrouded in secrecy, Henderson meter-reader Vejay Haskell is about to get an all-too-close inside look. Searching the countryside for a coworker&rsquo;s missing niece, she finds the beautiful gymnast lying dead in the bottom of a sewer drain. The sheriff calls it an accident, but Vejay suspects the girl&rsquo;s death was connected to the Bohemian Club&rsquo;s unquenchable desire for drugs, booze, and prostitutes. Finding the killer will mean going head to head with the nation&rsquo;s fiercest politicians. But compared to the Vietnam vets, pot growers, and backcountry crackpots she normally deals with, the Bohemians don&rsquo;t frighten Vejay one bit.<BR /><BR />This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.<BR /><BR /><B><I>The Bohemian Connection</I> is the 2nd book in the Vejay Haskell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</B></div>

Overdrive

The Bohemian Connection

<div><b>When an IRS agent is poisoned, Jill Smith faces a murder case in which dozens of California taxpayers are suspects</b><BR>IRS agent Philip Drem is found face down in People&rsquo;s Park, a haven of drug addicts and streetwalkers in the heart of liberal, eccentric Berkeley, California. By the time homicide detective Jill Smith arrives on the scene, Drem&rsquo;s wallet is gone and the tax collector is near death. The method of attack is as uncommonly cruel as the IRS agent himself. After his death, Jill goes through Drem&rsquo;s files in search of those whose lives he made miserable. An exercise guru, a bankrupt small business owner, and a hippie sculptor are all possible suspects, but as she researches the dead man she finds that the pain of filling out a 1040 might not be the only motive for murder.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Death and Taxes

<div><B>When two immigrant boys die of a brutal and mysterious illness, Kiernan must fight to prevent an outbreak</B><BR />Deaf and incapable of speech, the two children from Panama are unable to voice their suffering, but Grady can tell they are dying. When he met them in the jungle they were miracle workers, soundlessly leading him and his team to the richest geological find of the century, and he brought them back to Las Vegas to safeguard his investment. Unwilling to hospitalize the children and risk deportation, he gets them out of town to die their tortured deaths. Whatever killed them is mysterious, uncontrollable, and ready to sweep across the region. The only person who can stop the impending epidemic is Kiernan O&rsquo;Shaughnessy, medical examiner turned private detective, who once led a losing fight against a similar disease in Africa. She goes to Nevada to fight the outbreak, but finds herself battling greedy geologists and her well-meaning but hapless former houseman instead. If she can&rsquo;t contain the fever quickly, Nevada could find itself on the brink of a deadly disaster.<BR /><BR />This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.<BR /><BR /><B><I>No Immunity</I> is the 4th book in the Kiernan O&#39;Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</B></div>

No Immunity

<div><b>Hard-nosed beat cop Jill Smith combs Berkeley for a Buddhist guru-killing cultist</b><BR>In Berkeley, California, Telegraph Avenue is the headquarters for the city&rsquo;s strangest inhabitants. Cultists, drug addicts, and hippie burnouts wander its streets, looking to raise their consciousness or, if that fails, to just get high. And Jill Smith walks with them, a beat cop with her finger on the pulse of one of the most unique neighborhoods in America. With time on her hands after her divorce, Jill lets a friend drag her to hear the district&rsquo;s hot new guru, a Buddhist holy man from Bhutan. As his disciples clap and cheer , Jill tries to keep from smirking. The guru finally draws her attention, however, when he slumps forward with a knife in his back. She calls for backup and cordons off the temple. Jill doesn&rsquo;t care about karma, but she knows when justice is due.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Karma

<div><b>When a rash of pranks on the city&rsquo;s meter maids turns deadly, Jill Smith isn&rsquo;t amused </b><BR>Two witnesses see the man drag the old woman into a canyon while brandishing a rifle. As night falls, detective Jill Smith and the Berkeley police department set up a perimeter. The canyon is a hostage negotiator&rsquo;s nightmare&mdash;dark, rough, and full of escape routes&mdash;and when she finally opens communication, the gunman doesn&rsquo;t respond. Rather than wait for dawn, Jill leads her team into the darkness. At the bottom of the canyon they find a battered old mannequin and a box of stolen parking tickets. The entire incident was another skirmish in one man&rsquo;s ongoing war to humiliate the city&rsquo;s meter maids. Interviewing the residents on the canyon&rsquo;s lip, Jill meets Madeleine Riordan, retired attorney and legendary firebrand She seems to know something, but refuses to tell until the next day. When Jill returns, the woman has been murdered, and Jill suspects that the prankster may have lost his sense of humor.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Time Expired

<div><b>A favor for her ex-husband leads Jill Smith to a blood-soaked crime scene</b><BR>Someone is stealing hubcaps from the Berkeley police department. An afternoon spent chasing the petty thief leaves beat cop Jill Smith exhausted, flustered, and in no mood to talk when her ex-husband Nat calls asking for a favor. A colleague of his at the county welfare department, Anne Spaulding, is missing. Jill doesn&rsquo;t care about her husband&rsquo;s new crush, but a note of fear in his voice compels her to investigate. She drives to Anne&rsquo;s house, where she finds the back door open, the living room trashed, and the walls caked in dried blood. Searching the apartment yields few clues. The woman liked make-up, exercise, and credit cards. The only item that points to a possible suspect is a pewter pen, which Jill recognizes as one of Nat&rsquo;s. She has no love for her ex-husband, but is she ready to arrest him for murder?<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

As a Favor

<div><b>Jill investigates the death of a chef who was mysteriously poisoned by his own soup</b><BR>Until the helicopter crash, Jill Smith never knew fear. A homicide detective in the leftist enclave of Berkeley, California, she has faced down her share of thugs, thieves, and killers, but since surviving the downed helicopter, her nerves have been shot. Unwilling to submit to her anxiety, she goes back to work. The chef and owner of Paradise, an upscale restaurant in Berkeley&rsquo;s so-called &ldquo;Gourmet Ghetto,&rdquo; is found on the floor of his own kitchen, poisoned by the soup he was seasoning. On his way to the top of the foodie pyramid, the chef made enemies of his dishwasher, his neighbors, and Earth Man, a hippie holdout who lives on kitchen scraps. To pinpoint the killer, Jill will have to remember what it means to be fearless.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

A Dinner to Die For

<div><B>Former medical examiner Kiernan O&rsquo;Shaughnessy investigates a scandalous suicide in a Catholic church</B><BR />Quick-witted, precise, and comfortable with corpses, Kiernan O&rsquo;Shaughnessy was perfectly suited to life as a medical examiner. In her four years with the coroner&rsquo;s office, she never had one unhappy shift until the day they let her go. Enraged and adrift, she made her way to La Jolla, California, to set up a high-class private investigation service for medically suspicious deaths. She works only the cases she wants, and charges a steep enough fee that she can afford a cherry red Triumph and a former NFL player as a houseman. Her latest client is one of the biggest moneymakers on the planet: the Roman Catholic Church. A troubled young priest is found hanged in Mission San Leo in Phoenix, Arizona. Hoping to avoid scandal, the bishop bypasses the police, and hires Kiernan to determine whether the death was an accident or a suicide. They ask her to be quiet, but the secrets she uncovers will make her want to sing louder than any church choir.<BR /><BR />This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.<BR /><BR /><B><I>Pious Deception</I> is the 1st book in the Kiernan O&#39;Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</B></div>

Pious Deception

<div><b>Newly promoted detective Jill Smith confronts a traffic circle homicide</b><BR>After six months of perfect weather, the people of Berkeley, California, have forgotten how to drive during a thunderstorm. Newly christened homicide detective Jill Smith is on her way home to a chocolate ice cream dinner when she gets caught in a traffic jam at the city&rsquo;s only roundabout. At the front of the line, she sees the trouble: a flipped-over Cadillac and one dead driver. The man behind the wheel was one of the city&rsquo;s leading citizens, a philanthropist in a town that puts charity first. He was coming down Berkeley&rsquo;s steepest hill when his brakes failed, flipping his car and ending his charity work forever. Two things trouble Jill. First, the car&rsquo;s brakes had been inspected that afternoon. Second, the driver was nearly blind, and unfit to ever take the wheel. Finding the killer will lead her from Berkeley&rsquo;s upper echelon all the way into the depths of the community&rsquo;s underbelly.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Not Exactly a Brahmin

<div><b>An Olympic athlete finds her life in danger when she starts a feud with a ruthless gym owner</b><BR>Homicide detectives don&rsquo;t chase streakers. So it shouldn&rsquo;t be Jill Smith&rsquo;s problem when Berkeley&rsquo;s new public nudity ban stirs the spirit of the city&rsquo;s exhibitionists, unleashing a horde of indignant flashers on the city streets. But department infighting has resulted in Jill being stripped of her gold detective badge and put back in uniform to pursue the naked radicals. She&rsquo;s pursuing one of these <i>au naturel </i>miscreants though a patch of poison oak when she&rsquo;s stopped by Bryn Wiley, Olympic diver, gym owner, and local hero. Bryn is in a feud with a rival fitness club, whose owner she suspects of shooting bullets through her car windows. Jill can&rsquo;t help her&mdash;she has nudists to apprehend!&mdash;and so Bryn resolves to take matters into her own hands, holding a press conference where she calls her rival out. It&rsquo;s a bold move, and may also be a foolish one. Her assailant&rsquo;s next target will be something far more valuable than a car.<BR><BR>This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.</div>

Sudden Exposure

<div><B>To escape arrest for her best friend&rsquo;s murder, Vejay must find the real killer&mdash;before it&rsquo;s too late</B><BR />In the small woodsy town of Henderson, California, the electric company is strict about sick days. So when meterreader Vejay Haskell decides to play hooky, her first concern is staying out of sight. She skirts around the edge of town, making her way to Frank&rsquo;s Place, a cozy saloon owned by her friend Frank Goulet. After two cups of hot buttered rum, they have an argument and she storms out into the pouring rain. She goes home, takes a nap, and awakens sober, embarrassed, and ready to apologize. But by the time she gets back to Frank&rsquo;s bar, he is dead. Vejay was seen leaving Frank&rsquo;s house in a huff, and her lack of an alibi combined with her suspicious sick day makes her the number-one suspect. As the police close in on her, Vejay turns detective in search of Frank&rsquo;s real killer. It&rsquo;s a perilous task, but she has one advantage when she puts on her work clothes: Nobody ever notices the meterreader.<BR /><BR />This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.<BR /><BR /><B><I>An Equal Opportunity Death</I> is the 1st book in the Vejay Haskell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</B><BR /></div>

An Equal Opportunity Death

<div><B>Vejay investigates the poisoning death of one of the town&rsquo;s most powerful citizens during its oddest annual event</B><BR />Though it sounds violent, Henderson&rsquo;s annual slugfest is less vicious than it is slimy. The regional festival honors the normally detested California banana slug with competitions to prove which slug is the biggest, fastest, or&mdash;in the event that gives the festival its notoriety&mdash;the tastiest. Rather than eat crow, the area&rsquo;s local politicians atone for their sins by eating slug hot dogs, slug chili, and slug pie. This year, one dish will prove murderously foul. Edwina Henderson is the last of her family to live in the town that bears their name. A committed environmentalist, she is also the woman responsible for this year&rsquo;s slugfest, and will take her place at the judge&rsquo;s table. When a slug-pizza knocks her flat, the crowd assumes it was just an especially gross slice. But when she doesn&rsquo;t get up, meter-reader Vejay Haskell must confront the devious murder of the town&rsquo;s leading treehugger.<BR /><BR />This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author&rsquo;s personal collection.<BR /><BR /><B><I>The Last Annual Slugfest</I> is the 3rd book in the Vejay Haskell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.</B></div>

The Last Annual Slugfest

<div><b>A special three-in-one edition of Susan Dunlap&rsquo;s Vejay Haskell Mysteries, about an intrepid meter reader who solves the crimes that the police can&rsquo;t crack</b><BR>In <i>An Equal Opportunity Death</i>, Vejay Haskell is playing hooky from her job as an electric-meter reader in Henderson, California. She skirts around the edge of town, making her way to Frank&rsquo;s Place, a cozy saloon owned by her friend Frank Goulet. After two cups of hot buttered rum, they have an argument and she storms out into the pouring rain. But by the time she gets back to Frank&rsquo;s bar to apologize, he is dead. Vejay was seen leaving Frank&rsquo;s house in a huff, and her lack of an alibi combined with her suspicious sick day make her the number-one suspect. As the police close in on her, Vejay turns detective in search of Frank&rsquo;s real killer. It&rsquo;s a perilous task, but she has one advantage when she puts on her work clothes: Nobody ever notices the meter reader.<BR>In <i>The Bohemian Connection</i>, a clique of powerful conservatives called the Bohemian Club gathers for a confidential meeting in the backwoods town of Henderson, California. Though their activities are shrouded in secrecy, Henderson meter reader Vejay Haskell is about to get an all-too-close inside look. Searching the countryside for a coworker&rsquo;s missing niece, she finds the beautiful gymnast lying dead in the bottom of a sewer drain. The sheriff calls it an accident, but Vejay suspects the girl&rsquo;s death was connected to the Bohemian Club&rsquo;s unquenchable desire for drugs, booze, and prostitutes. Finding the killer will mean going head to head with the nation&rsquo;s fiercest politicians.<BR>And in <i>The Last Annual Slugfest</i>, it&rsquo;s time for Henderson&rsquo;s regional festival honoring the normally detested California banana slug. Rather than eat crow, the area&rsquo;s local politicians atone for their sins by eating slug hot dogs, slug chili, and slug pie. This year, one dish will prove murderously foul. Edwina Henderson is the last of her family to live in the town that bears their name. A committed environmentalist, she is also the woman responsible for this year&rsquo;s slugfest, and will take her place at the judge&rsquo;s table. When a slug pizza knocks her flat, the crowd assumes it was just an especially gross slice. But when she doesn&rsquo;t get up, meter reader Vejay Haskell must confront the devious murder of the town&rsquo;s leading treehugger.</div>

Susan Dunlap
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Books By Susan Dunlap (19 Books)