Galilea, Galilea: A Novel

by Norma J Richman

Overview

A gutsy young science geek-a physicist, who has a liking for unaffordable haute couture and heavy drinking-gets a job teaching physics at Pasadena City College and finds herself diving head first into a crime-posing-as-an-accident in a Santa Ynez cult. Her physics background proves to be an advantage in solving this crime, and a new career is born: Forensic Investigator (with style and booze).Thirty-something Galilea is not the author's alter ego; she is based on a physicist, who, at the age of seventy-eight, still works as a forensic investigator. The story offers a thriller with a twist-very real physics. Since the heroine (the fictional one and, yes, the real one too) lives in Pasadena, and the author grew up in the area herself, Richman has embedded some of the best and quirkiest parts of the city-and neighboring Sierra Madre-into her story. In fact, one of the elements that makes her book a standout is a "Visitor's Guide" to Pasadena cloaked in a series of crime-solving capers. Galilea, Galilea takes the reader into the tony neighborhoods and bars of Pasadena, the hippy era canyons of Sierra Madre, and the rolling wine country of the Central Coast, with a humorous eye and a fashion commentary on vintage haute couture and trendy cocktails.And yes, this story (tongue-and-check humor, and all) is truly based on a real character.

"Galilea, Galilea is fun, story-full and very both Pasadena and SoCal, and it makes me wish I was a vintner in Santa Ynez!" -LARRY WILSON, Pasadena Star-News public editor and columnist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578842417
Publisher:	Norma Richman
Publication date:	01/18/2021
Pages:	290
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.61(d)

Editorial Reviews

"Longtime High Point Academy teacher Norma Richman, a lifelong Sierra

Madrean and Pasadenan, just published her first novel, 'Galilea, Galilea,' about a

physicist so-named who sometimes goes by Lee - ʻcause itʼs easier. Fewer

annoying questions. Lee canʼt, or wonʼt, get a job at Caltech, and instead teaches

physics up the street at PCC, where our boozy, fashionista heroine is actually

probably happier than she would be competing with wannabe Feynmans. Though

itʼs got plenty of science, none of it is impenetrable, and because Lee turns into a

forensic investigator, it becomes a cool, cocktail-swilling romp from the Tap Room

at the Huntington Hotel to the 1886 at the Raymond to a cult in the Santa Ynez

Valley vineyards. Itʼs a comedy as well as a mystery, and thoroughly modern: I love

the speech bubbles she uses to indicate texting exchanges, and the funny ways

"G,G" makes science simple: "Matter: Stuff. The material that makes up

something." A really fun Pasadena read." -Pasadena Star-News

"Outrageous, funny, intellectually stimulating, fashionable with a bit of sexual innuendo-Galilea, Galilea is a delight and combines the worlds of science and mystery in unlikely capers around Southern California. Norma Richman nailed it!"-Laura Raulinaitis, Financial Advisor

"Norma Richman's writing is whimsical and informative at the same time. She humorously shares tidbits about the Pasadena area from the perspective of well-developed, funny people. It's delightful reading!"-Deb Snyder, actor and writer

From the Publisher