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nonfiction

Dreamers and Schemers

Now Available

Dreamers and Schemers chronicles how Los Angeles's pursuit and staging of the 1932 Olympic Games during the depths of the Great Depression helped fuel the city's transformation from a seedy frontier village to a world-famous metropolis. Leading that pursuit was the "Prince of Realtors," William May (Billy) Garland, a prominent figure in early Los Angeles. In important respects, the story of Billy Garland is the story of Los Angeles.

A Death in White Bear Lake

Now available in ebook and a new paperback edition

The story of a community that for 22 years never stopped wondering what it could—or should—have done to prevent a small boy's death. The Mystery Writers of American made it an Edgar® Award finalist in the best fact crime category, the New York Public Library picked it as one of 25 "Books to Remember" for 1990, and a panel of experts assembled by the St. Louis Post Dispatch included it on an all-time list of the ten best true-crime books.

Manifest Injustice

2013

The dramatic, decades-long saga of Bill Macumber, imprisoned for thirty-eight years for a double homicide he denies committing, and the lawyers who fought for his freedom.

Claim of Privilege

2008

Chronicling the causes and lasting consequences (both personal and political) of the mysterious crash of a U.S. Air Force B-29 at the dawn of the Cold War.

Shades of Gray

1992

A collection of Barry Siegel's Los Angeles Times narratives in a volume hailed by Kirkus Reviews as "a wise report on how Americans handle ethical shades of gray...The best possible combination of journalism and storytelling, matching weighty themes with real-life, three-dimensional Americans to wrestle with them."

Lines of Defense

2002

In Book three in the Chumash County series, Sheriff's detective Douglas Bard must solve a pair of Chumash County murders on his own after Greg Monarch leaves for retirement on an island in the Pacific Northwest.

Actual Innocence

1999

In Book two in the Chumash County series, Greg Monarch pursues a death row case in El Nido County, an isolated and deceptively peaceful valley just inland from Chumash.

The Perfect Witness

1998

Book one in the Chumash County series introduces the ambivalent criminal defense attorney Greg Monarch, and the imaginary Chumash County, a lost fog-bound community set on the central coast of California.