California Girl

by T. Jefferson Parker

Overview

“Love, lust, murder, betrayal, suffering, and redemption all parade by as a brilliant tale-spinner once again has his way with us.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Edgar Award–Winner, Best Novel of the Year

The Orange County, California, that the Becker brothers knew as boys is no more—unrecognizably altered since the afternoon in 1954 when Nick, Clay, David, and Andy rumbled with the lowlife Vonns, while five-year-old Janelle Vonn watched from the sidelines. The new decade has ushered in the era of Johnson, hippies, John Birchers, and LSD. Clay becomes a casualty of a far-off jungle war. Nick becomes a cop, Andy a reporter, David a minister. And a terrible crime touches them all in ways they could never have anticipated when the mutilated corpse of teenage beauty queen Janelle Vonn is discovered in an abandoned warehouse.

“Parker’s drum-tight prose and richly layered characters borrow a bit from Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled L.A. noirs as well as the more psychologically lurid novels of Dennis Lehane, but California Girl easily earns Parker his own spot on the shelf between these two masters.” —Entertainment Weekly, Editor’s Choice

“A masterpiece filled with intriguing, multidimensional characters, an enthralling, sweeping plot, and some of the finest writing you’ll ever read.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“Subtle—and effective . . . as much a family saga as it is a crime novel . . . an abundance of richly drawn characters.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“An evocative trip back to the days of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll, hippies, LSD, Charles Manson, peace protests, and the rising anger against the war in Vietnam. Parker perfectly captures the turbulence of the times.” —Orlando Sentinel

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061834059
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	30,361
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of seventeen novels, including the Edgar® Award winners California Girl and Silent Joe. Alongside Dick Francis and James Lee Burke, he is one of only three writers who has won the Edgar® Award for Best Novel more than once. Parker lives with his family in Southern California.

Hometown:

Fallbrook, California

Date of Birth:

December 26, 1953

Place of Birth:

Los Angeles, California

Education:

B.A. in English, University of California-Irvine, 1976

Website:

http://www.tjeffersonparker.com

Read an Excerpt

California Girl
A Novel
Chapter One Here and Now

I drove past the old SunBlesst packinghouse today. Nothing left of it. Not one stick. Now there's a bedroom store, a pet emporium, and a supermarket. Big and new. Moms and dads and kids everywhere. Pretty people, especially the moms. Young, with time to dream, wake up, and dream again.

I still have a piece of the flooring I tore off the SunBlesst packinghouse back in sixty-eight. When I was young. When I thought that what had happened there shouldn't ever happen anywhere. When I thought it was up to me to put things right.

I'm made of that place — of the old wood and the rusted conveyors and the pigeons in the eaves and the sunlight slanting through the cracks. Of Janelle Vonn. Of everything that went down, there in October, 1968. Even made of the wind that blew that month, dry and hot off the desert, huffing across Orange County to the sea.

I have a piece of the picket fence from the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza, too. And a piece of rock that came not far from where Mercury 1 lifted off. And one of Charlie Manson's guitar picks.

But those are different stories.

Later I met my brother Andy at the Fisherman's Restaurant down in San Clemente. Late August. The day was bright as a brushfire, no clouds, sun flashing off the waves and tabletops. Andy looked at me like someone had hit him in the stomach.

"It's about Janelle," he said.

Janelle Vonn in the SunBlesst orange packinghouse in Tustin.

Thirty-six years ago, two brothers who didn't look much alike, staring down at her and across at each other while the pigeons cooed and the wind blew through theold slats.

A different world then, different world now.

Same brothers. Andy stayed thin and wiry. Tough as a boiled owl. Me, I've filled out some, though I can still shiver the heavy bag in the sheriff 's gym.

San Clemente, and you have to think Nixon. The western White House, right up the road. I picture him walking down the beach with the Secret Service guys ahead and behind. Too many secrets and nobody but the seagulls to tell them to. Andy's newspaper ran a cartoon of him once, after he'd been chased out of office, and the cartoon showed him walking the beach with a metal detector, looking for coins. Thought thatwas a funny one. I kind of liked Dick Nixon. Grewup just over the hill from us. He was tight with my old man and his Bircher friends for awhile, used to come to the house back in the fiftieswhen he was vice president and in the early sixties when he'd lost for governor. They'd sit around, drink scotch, make plans. Nixon had a way of making you feel important. It's an old pol's trick, I know. I even knewit then. In fifty-six I graduated from the L.A. Sheriff 's Academy and Dick Nixon sent me a note. The vice president. Nice handwriting. It's still in my collection of things.

But that's a different story, too.

"You don't look so good, Andy," I said.

Brothers and we still don't look much alike. An old cop and an old re-porter. There used to be four of us Becker boys. Raised some hell. Just three now.

I looked at Andy and I could see something different in his face.

"What gives?" I asked.

"Listen to me, Nick. Everything we thought about Janelle Vonn was wrong."

California Girl
A Novel. Copyright © by T. Parker. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

What People are Saying About This

Wichita Falls

“Fascinating.”

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
The 1950s and '60s were turbulent times -- supercharged with conflicts over change of every kind. In Orange County, California, some of that energy boiled over into violence between two sets of brothers -- the Vonns and the Beckers. Although that infamous high school rumble is years in the past and the boys who fought have become young men, thay are all still trapped in different ways by their common past. When the body of lovely Janelle Vonn is discovered in an abandoned orange packing plant, the turbulence of those earlier times becomes relevant in a whole new way. Armed now with the skills of their adult professions -- reporter, minister, and cop -- the Becker brothers set out to uncover the truth about Janelle's death. And, as more and more secrets are exposed, the risks grow too, on all sides. For whatever Janelle's death was supposed to hide, someone thinks it's too dangerous be allowed into the light of day.

In California Girl, award-winning mystery writer T. Jefferson Parker -- author of the bestsellers Red Light and The Blue Hour -- has done a wonderful job of capturing the dark, edgy side of the Summer of Love. Sue Stone

bn.com

in the end California Girl is a rambling, likable book with a good deal on its mind … the strategic nostalgia of California Girl delivers well-chosen blasts from the past.
— The New York Times

Janet Maslin

Set on Parker's usual turf, this Orange County, Calif., saga is a family drama carefully wrapped around a mystery involving a murdered beauty queen. Back in 1954, the Becker brothers, David, Nick, Clay and Andy, win a fight with the wrong-side-of-the-tracks Vonn brothers at the Sunblesst orange packinghouse. After the rumble, the Vonns' little sisters, Lynette and Janelle, show up to throw rocks. Thus begins a lifelong association between three of the brothers and the two girls. In 1968, Janelle is back at the packinghouse, only now she's lying dead on the floor, her decapitated head several feet from her torso. Nick is with the county sheriff's department working his first case as lead detective. Brother Clay has been killed in Vietnam, Andy is a reporter on a local newspaper and David is a minister. Framing the occasionally glacial narrative with Nick's present-day reworking of the case, Parker (Cold Pursuit, etc.) introduces a wide variety of quirky period characters, from stoned-out hippies to Dick Nixon and his conservative cronies, one of whom might be Janelle's killer. Readers should think mainstream novel rather than thriller and prepare to wait patiently for the rewards offered by this intricately plotted tale. Agent, Robert Gottlieb. (Oct.) Forecast: A solid push by the publisher is an attempt to move Parker from regional to national bestseller lists, though this rather slow entry makes that a long shot. Five-city author tour. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Besides telling a killer story, Parker's latest thriller hauntingly evokes a time (the 1960s) and a place (Southern California). The Becker boys (Andy the homicide reporter, Nick the cop, and David the minister; Clay was killed in Vietnam) grew up near the Vonns, a troubled, abusive family burdened with more than its share of tragedy. When 19-year-old beauty queen Janell Vonn, the essence of a California girl, is found beheaded in the abandoned SunBlesst packing house, the Becker brothers begin their separate quests to find her killer, finally bringing him to justice while realizing redemption for themselves. But 40 years after a conviction, it becomes apparent that the Beckers were wrong, very wrong. Drenched in lust, love, betrayal, and unfulfilled promise, California Girl features masterly plotting, smart prose, and memorable characters. Another excellent work from the author of Cold Pursuit; highly recommended. [See Mystery Prepub, LJ 6/1/04.]-Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Blazingly pretty at 19, Janelle Vonn was the quintessential California Girl, and all men were drawn to her, including the one who killed her. Instead of the Earps and the Clantons, Parker presents the Beckers and the Vonns; instead of the OK Corral, the abandoned SunBlest Oranges packing house in Tustin, California; and instead of a firefight, a rumble, the aftermath of a school-kid incident. That's when Nick and Andy Becker first set eyes on a five-year-old Janelle, an interested, if curiously detached, witness to her brothers' humiliation. When the same setting is cordoned off as a murder scene fifteen years later, in October, 1968, with Janelle the brutally mistreated victim, Nick Becker, homicide detective for Tustin PD, is there. So is Andy Becker, crime reporter for the Orange County Journal. For different reasons, Janelle was special to both of them. Catching her killer is a matter of personal importance, though both already lead complicated lives. They independently begin to investigate, uncovering a long and varied list of suspects: a US congressman, a newspaper publisher, a musician, a high-school football coach, a third Becker brother, and even, momentarily, Timothy Leary. Charles Manson makes a brief but chilling appearance as well. Love, lust, murder, betrayal, suffering, and redemption all parade by as a brilliant tale-spinner (Cold Pursuit, 2003, etc.) once again has his way with us. Agency: Trident Media Group

Kirkus Reviews

A man much praised doesn’t need more encomiums; but T. Jefferson Parker deserves all he gets.” — Los Angeles Times

“The book is a gripping, atmospheric saga…wonderfully evokes its time and place. California Girl is an unforgettable book.” — Wall Street Journal

“One of the most entertaining tough-guy writers.” — Esquire

“Visceral.” — New York Times

“Drum-tight prose and richly layered characters.” — Entertainment Weekly

“California Girl is wound tight as a spring and filled with characters you won’t soon forget. Parker is superb.” — Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author of TEN BIG

“A piercing piece of storytelling.” — Reviewing The Evidence

“Evocative. Delicately crafted.” — Orlando Sentinel

“Grabs the reader in a stranglehold of poignancy and suspense that doesn’t let up until the final page.” — New Mystery Reader

“Love, lust, murder, betrayal…brilliant.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Intricately plotted.” — Publishers Weekly

“Fascinating.” — Wichita Falls, TX, Times Record News

From the Publisher

One of the most entertaining tough-guy writers.

Esquire

Visceral.

New York Times

A man much praised doesn’t need more encomiums; but T. Jefferson Parker deserves all he gets.

|Los Angeles Times

The book is a gripping, atmospheric saga…wonderfully evokes its time and place. California Girl is an unforgettable book.

Wall Street Journal

Drum-tight prose and richly layered characters.

Entertainment Weekly

Evocative. Delicately crafted.

Orlando Sentinel

Grabs the reader in a stranglehold of poignancy and suspense that doesn’t let up until the final page.

New Mystery Reader

California Girl is wound tight as a spring and filled with characters you won’t soon forget. Parker is superb.

Janet Evanovich

A piercing piece of storytelling.

Reviewing The Evidence

The book is a gripping, atmospheric saga…wonderfully evokes its time and place. California Girl is an unforgettable book.

Wall Street Journal

Evocative. Delicately crafted.

Orlando Sentinel

Fascinating.

Wichita Falls

A man much praised doesn’t need more encomiums; but T. Jefferson Parker deserves all he gets.

Los Angeles Times

Parker’s twelfth novel is a family saga and whodunit set against the turbulent ‘60s. The Becker brothers grew up among the orange groves of Southern California, brawling and scrapping with the low-class Vonn boys through most of the 1950s. By 1967, Janelle, the tomboyish little sister of the Vonn boys, has grown into a cover-girl beauty with a tragic edge. When her decapitated body is found in an abandoned orange-packing plant, the Becker brothers struggle to find the truth amid conflicting politics and family secrets. Patrick G. Lawlor reads the novel with a precise deliberation that at first seems stiffly at odds with the sunny setting of the story. But as the novel proceeds, Lawlor loosens and the book takes on a life if its own. Dotted with cameos by Richard Nixon, Timothy Leary, and even a young Charles Manson, CALIFORNIA GIRL is a beautiful, moving, and memorable novel. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

JUNE/JULY 05 - AudioFile