I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Calico
by Lee Goldberg
Published by Severn House Publishers on November 7, 2023
Setting: Barstow, California
Genres: Historical Thriller
Pages: 320
Format: Audible Audiobook, Audio CD, ebook, Hardcover, Kindle
Source: the Publisher
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Nook
There's a saying in Barstow, California, a decaying city in the scorching Mojave desert . . .
The Interstate here only goes in one direction: Away.
But it's the only place where ex-LAPD detective Beth McDade, after a staggering fall from grace, could get another badge . . . and a shot at redemption.
Over a century ago, and just a few miles further into the bleak landscape, a desperate stranger ended up in Calico, a struggling mining town, also hoping for a second chance.
His fate, all those years ago, and hers today are linked when Beth investigates an old skeleton dug up in a shallow, sandy grave . . . and also tries to identity a vagrant run-over by a distracted motorhome driver during a lightning storm.
Every disturbing clue she finds, every shocking discovery she makes, force Beth to confront her own troubled past . . . and a past that's not her own . . . until it all smashes together in a revelation that could change the world.
Calico by Lee Goldberg is amazing. The combination of genres is pure magic.
Will Beth find out what actually happened to Owen on February 2, 2019?
Beth McDade
Homicide Detective Beth McDade of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department is called to investigate the death of a man hit by an RV near Yermo, California. Beth hasn’t made many outstanding decisions in her lifetime, yet she is a magnificent detective, even if she is doing it in Barstow, California. The weather is hot and dry there. If you have ever been there, you know there isn’t much to do. Most people use it as a pitstop between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Anyway, the man is a bit different from most. He wears strange clothes and is physically in terrible condition, even for a corpse. The investigation gets weirder when a man on his way home to Los Angeles disappears almost in the exact location. Oh, it gets better as a corpse is discovered by an excavation company working not far from the freaky spot that may be connected.
Beth is so real. She has issues that she is not dealing with, nor does it seem that she cares to either. Yet, she embraces her quirks and puts her best foot forward when it comes to her job. Beth is an exceptional investigator, and she has decided that she will figure out what happened to Owen and the man hit by the RV. Tenacious is a good description.
There was a saying about Barstow that Beth heard when she’d arrived from LA three years ago.
The interstate here only goes in one direction: away. Nobody wants to be in Barstow and those who do, you don’t want to know.
Owen Slader
Owen is a YouTube Chef with a twelve year old daughter. Who drives into the past literally and figuratively. Once he realizes he is in the 1800s, he sets about making a life for himself that won’t endanger his life in the future or that of his daughter. He basically takes all of the knowledge of time travel he has ever read about or seen in movies and applies it to his present predicament. I love it. Owen became a part of the time he was in but didn’t forget who he was or the principles he stood for.
He also set his new family with a list of things to make them prosper in the future. Owen was a genius, or at least his wife was. They found love, happiness, and prosperity in the 1800s. All those history classes were worth it.
The Mix
Mr. Goldberg mixes many different genres into this story and does an excellent job doing it. There is the mystery, police procedural, some crime scene and coroner type of scenes, some science fiction, western, romance, a bit of a thriller with all the cloak and dagger stuff. I love it! The story is written from the point of view of Owen in the past and present, along with Beth, who investigates it and pulls all the clues together in the present. It’s amazing. You can see he did a ton of research, but the characters are my favorite. I love them all: Wendy/Gwendolyn, the Judge, Tuttle, Chet, Bill, Chris Cartwright, Nicole, and Amanda. All of them are so realistic, even the mad pisser with the crooked finger.
The pop culture references are spot on for Mr. Goldberg, from Outer Limits to Star Trek, the Time Machine by HG Wells, Denny’s, and Ben Cartwright.
Five Stars
My rating for Calico by Lee Goldberg is five stars. If you are looking for a book with a bit of everything with a fantastic story, I highly recommend this one. Please check out Calico. It brought the Barstow area of California into a new light.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Calico by Lee Goldberg.
Until the next time,
About Lee Goldberg
Goldberg broke into television with a freelance script sale to Spenser: For Hire. Since then, his TV writing & producing credits have covered a wide variety of genres, including sci-fi (seaQuest), cop shows (Hunter, The Glades), martial arts (Martial Law), whodunits (Diagnosis Murder, Nero Wolfe), the occult (She-Wolf of London), kid’s shows (R.L. Stine’s The Nightmare Room), T&A (Baywatch, She Spies), comedy (Monk) clip shows (The Best TV Shows That Never Were) and total crap (The Highwayman, The New Adventures of Flipper).
He’s written and produced TV shows in Canada (Murphy’s Law, Cobra, Missing), England (Stick With Me Kid, She Wolf of London) and Germany (Fast Track: No Limits). His mystery writing for television has earned him two Edgar Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America.
His two careers, novelist and TV writer, merged when he wrote the eight books in the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced. He followed that up by writing fifteen bestselling novels based on Monk, another TV show that he worked on. His Monk novels have been translated and published in Germany, Poland, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, and many other countries.
In addition to his writing, he’s worked as an international TV development expert and consulting producer for production companies and major networks in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
But perhaps he’s best known for his pioneering work mapping the human genome and negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Goldberg lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his daughter and still sleeps in Man From U.N.C.L.E. pajamas.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Jenz 2023 Beachcombers Mystery RC
- Jenz 2023 Cloak and Dagger
- Jenz 2023 Goodreads RC
- Jenz 2023 Medical Examiner RC
- Jenz 2023 Six Shooter
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