T. Jefferson Parker

The Tustin Chronicles:

A Detective Santy Mystery

by Louise Hathaway

My husband and I graduated in the same class as T. Jefferson Parker, a famous writer from Orange County, California who wrote mysteries that took place in our home town; so it's always been in the back of our minds to try to write our own mysteries, filled with lots of local color and tidbits of real crimes that actually occurred here.  My brother and his adopted daughter had a very close relationship and when he died, I thought I'd write a story about what would happen if he were murdered, and when his daughter looked into the case, she found out that the wrong person was convicted of the crime. In the process of her investigation, she finds out who her real parents are and discovers that there are some questions that are best left unanswered.  This is the first book in the successful Detective Santy Mysteries Series.  It has received five-star and several four-star reviews.  Only 99 cents.

Available at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, 

Google Play, Smashwords, Kobo and Scribd

Purchase Link

Avoid the Black Friday Frenzy

Are you wondering what to buy that special someone in your life who likes to read?  Instead of going to brick and mortar bookstores such as Barnes and Noble, please consider purchasing any of our novels that are available in both digital and paperback formats at Amazon.  We write mysteries, time travel, and romance novels.  To purchase, just click on the titles of the books below.

For Readers Who Like Murder Mysteries:

Death Among the Stacks: The Body in the Law Library

The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery

Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery

Honeymoon in Savannah: A Detective Santy Mystery

For Fans of Cozy Mysteries and Nancy Drew:

The Buried Treasure on Route 66: A Nancy Keene Mystery

Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery

The Missing Bachelor Farmer: A Nancy Keene Mystery

Here Are Two Time Travel Novels:

Travelers in Time Aboard the California Zephyr

The Summer of Love: A Trip Back to 1968

For Those Who Like Romance Novels:

Watchin' the Detective: A Mystery Dinner Romance

The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery

This murder mystery, about a daughter's search for the truth behind her father's murder, is an homage to the books of T. Jefferson Parker that describe crime in Orange County, California. Focusing on Tustin in the early 1970s and 1990s, this book brings back the bygone days of tractor showrooms; hippies and head shops in Laguna Beach; and a packing house called "The Sunkist Cathedral" where the Catholic Church once held Mass. It's a world of blimp hangars at the Lighter-Than-Air base; orange groves where virginities are lost; and a restaurant that looks like a train station in South Coast Plaza--all set to the music of Bob Dylan and the Eagles.

The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery

By Louise Hathaway

eBook available for $2.99 at most online bookstores

Also Available in paperback at Amazon

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Click here to purchase at iTunes
Click here to purchase at Barnes & Noble
Click here to purchase at Kobo Books
Click here to purchase at Google Play
Click here to purchase at Smashwords

The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery

This murder mystery, about a daughter's search for the truth behind her father's murder, is an homage to the books of T. Jefferson Parker that describe crime in Orange County, California. Focusing on Tustin in the early 1970's and 1990's, this book brings back the bygone days of tractor showrooms; hippies and head shops in Laguna Beach; and a packing house called "The Sunkist Cathedral" where the Catholic Church once held Mass. It's a world of blimp hangars at the Lighter-Than-Air base; orange groves where virginities are lost; and a restaurant that looks like a train station in South Coast Plaza--all set to the music of Bob Dylan and the Eagles.

eBook available for $2.99 at most online bookstores

Click here to purchase at Amazon.com

The Importance of Setting in "The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery"

The best English teacher I ever had used to tell us that what we learned in class is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding literature.  He'd remind us, "This book was not written in a vacuum: what was going on in the time the novel or poem was written?  What about the setting in which the action takes place?  Why did the author chose that locale to tell his story?  How about the author's life?  Did that affect the way he wrote the novel?  Most of the time I felt that I could never do enough to please him; he was always challenging us to do more and that's why his students either loved him or hated him.

His name was Alan Gauley and he taught at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California.  He also inspired T. Jefferson Parker, a classmate of ours in high school, who wrote books about Orange County, such as Laguna Heat or Little Saigon.  I wanted to write a book about my hometown of Tustin that takes place between 1970's to the 1990's.  Mine was a town where the Catholic Church used to hold Mass in a Sunquist packing house, with birds flying among the rafters, before the parish finally got enough money to build a "real church".  It was also a place of hippies and headshops and a nearby restaurant at South Coast Plaza that looked like the waiting room of the 20th Century Limited, complete with a steam train and an announcer intermittently proclaiming "All Aboard!"

My husband and I wrote this murder mystery about our home town.  We'd like to think that Tustin is one of the main characters in our story, The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery. We live in a city where everyone across the United States, especially in the winter time, dreams of moving to; it's a place where the sun is always shining.  Our town has undergone tremendous growth in the last few decades as orange groves are plowed under to make way for housing tracks and mini-markets. We'd like to think that the theme of the book, a daughter's attempt to find the truth behind her father's murder, could only have taken place here in all the local places with all the interesting real life people that we feel are integral to telling this story.  Hopefully, while reading it, you can almost close your eyes and see it.

 
eBook available for $2.99 at all your favorite online bookstores
Paperback available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

T. Jefferson Parker

The famous murder/mystery writer, T. Jefferson Parker, graduated in the same class we did in high school.  If you haven't heard of him, he wrote "Little Saigon" and "Laguna Heat" to name but a few. Orange County, California is the setting for most of his books.  We have followed his career through the years and a couple of years ago we told each other, "We should try to write some murder/mysteries that take place in Orange County, too." 

The results are our three books:

The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery

Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery

The Body on Ortega Highway: A Detective Santy Mystery

All are available at your favorite online bookstores

A New Murder/Mystery Set in Orange County, California

T. Jefferson Parker isn't the only one who grew up in Tustin and writes murder/mysteries about Orange County.  My husband and I graduated from Tustin High the same year he did; so there must be something about "The OC" that is inspiring writers of our generation.

We now have two murder/mysteries that show Tustin and its nearby cities as main characters in our books.  People who had read it, have really given us positive feedback about how landmarks in our book bring back so many memories of when they were growing up.  Our readers have told us that they feel as if they are right there with our main characters watching as the plot unfolds. 

So swing on over to your favorite ebook store today and check out our Tustin mystery books! And if that isn't enough, you can get your hands on good old-fashioned print copies at Amazon too! There's no excuse for not getting lost in a good mystery about Orange County!

Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery

by Lousie Hathaway

In our newest murder/mystery, a monastery in Orange County, California is shaken when one of its priests is murdered. Who would want to kill him? Tempers have been running high in Silverado Canyon ever since the abbey purchased land to expand on. Detective Clarissa Santy is trying to solve the murder, while she’s busy reintroducing her father to the world outside of prison where he's spent 30 years for a murder conviction.

The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery

by Louise Hathaway

This murder mystery, about a daughter's search for the truth behind her father's murder, is an homage to the books of T. Jefferson Parker that describe crime in Orange County, California. Focusing on Tustin in the early 1970's and 1990's, this book brings back the bygone days of tractor showrooms; hippies and head shops in Laguna Beach; and a packing house called "The Sunkist Cathedral".

These ebooks are available at Apple's iBookstore, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or any of your favorite e-reader sites.  They're also available in paperback from Amazon.com.

Our Books Are Now Available In Paper

Five of our books are now available in both paper and e-book formats:

They are:  The Ghost in the Plantation; The Buried Treasure on Route 66; and The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery; Murder at the Abbey: A Detective Santy Mystery; and Death Among the Stacks: The Body in the Law Library.

They are available in paperback at Amazon.com and at your favorite eBookstores (i.e. Apple; Barnes and Noble; Amazon; Kobo; or Sony; to name but a few.