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

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Mystery Series with a Female Detective

The Tustin Chronicles

I never imagined when my husband and I wrote this book that it would be the first in a series about the life and career of a strong and sympathetic female homicide detective from Orange County, California.  "The Tustin Chronicles" starts with her as a child when her father is murdered.  When she turns 18, she starts looking into the court records about his murder and begins to think that the wrong person was convicted.  In the process, she also continues her search for her mother, who abandoned her.

The search for family is the common thread that holds together all four of the Detective Santy Mysteries.  My husband is still upset at me for how I ended the last book, "The Body on Ortega Highway".  He doesn't like what happened to her, but I think that it rings true for the arc of story. You'll have to check it out yourself and see if you agree.

The books are written as stand-alone stories and our readers don't need to read all four of the books to know what's going on.  Here is a brief description of the three other books:

Murder at the Abbey

In this murder/mystery, the peaceful world of a monastery in Orange County, California is shaken to its core 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 its property.  Detective Clarissa Santy is trying to solve the murder, while at the same time, she’s busy reintroducing her father to the world outside of prison, where he’s spent the past 30 years for a murder conviction. Between keeping him out of trouble, babysitting a Criminal Justice Intern from UCI, and dating again after losing her husband several years ago, her life has never seemed so complicated. 

Honeymoon in Savannah

While on her honeymoon in Savannah, Georgia, Detective Clarissa Santy hopes to spend a nice quiet time with her husband in one of America’s most beautiful cities. She and her husband are both big fans of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”, so they decide to make a pilgrimage to Savannah to see the sights mentioned in the book. Her time as a tourist is short-lived however when one of Savannah’s famous chefs is brutally murdered. The chef just happens to be Clarissa’s cousin--so this is personal--and Clarissa can’t rest until she finds out whodunit. This book has something for everybody: it’s part murder/mystery; part travelogue; part romance novel; and even includes a search for a buried treasure.

Body on Ortega Highway

This psychological thriller about sexual obsession will keep you on the edge of your seats until the very end. It's a riveting murder mystery about a female homicide detective who investigates the brutal murder of two teenage girls on a rural road in Orange County, California. In the course of the investigation, she begins to wonder if the serial killer is the same person who has been making upsetting phone calls to her. She begins to suspect that not only does she know him: she used to be in love with him. How much danger must she be willing to put herself into in order to capture him? Based on real events.

These titles are available at most online bookstore, including Amazon.

  Click the hyperlink for each book title in this blogpost to purchase directly at Amazon.com

Common Theme in Literature

When I was an English Major in college, the search for family, for a sense of belonging, was a common theme in some of the literature we read and wrote about.  So, when I started writing novels, I tried to keep that in mind.  One of the first murder/mysteries my husband and I wrote together, "The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery," is about a daughter's search for her parentage. We began the book after my brother passed away and it is loosely based on his relationship with his adopted daughter.

We've written four books with her as a main character.  The second book in the series is about her trying to help her father adjust to life outside of prison; the third is about her meeting her cousins for the first time in Savannah when one of them is murdered; and the last is a psychological thriller about someone from her past stalking her and threatening her family.  We hope you like our characters; many are based on people we know; in fact, the murderer in The Tustin Chronicles, is someone I knew when I was 13.  Art imitating life is what we've tried to achieve in our novels.

Here are the books in The Detective Santy Mysteries:

All are available at your favorite online bookstore for $2.99 and less

The Tustin Chronicles

Murder at the Abbey

Honeymoon in Savannah

The Body on Ortega Highway