Retired pro football quarterback Tommy Quinn has a few issues-recurring concussions, a beach house with tons of deferred maintenance, zero ambition, and a signing bonus squeezed by partying and tequila. It doesn't stop there. Tommy's ex-girlfriend, supermodel Aya, is on the run after her new boyfriend is found brutally murdered. Turns out he welshed on a big-time hood and Aya has the proof. Just to make matters worse, the cops won't leave Tommy alone, based on the assumption that Aya might contact her old flame. Tommy's resting easy because he knows something they don't-that he's a deadbeat and she would never look to him for protection. But as usual, Tommy's mistaken, and it lands him in some very pretty places with some very ugly people . Tommy finds himself pulled into a wild ride pitting him against a sadistic killer, crank heads that redefine the word loser, wise guys, and all-around oddballs in this raunchy roller-coaster. It's Paradise with a kick. "Pacific Beach Blues is terrific! Smart, intense, vivid, and the plot unfolds and twists nicely." -Steve Kuusisto, National Book Award Nominee, Planet of the Blind

The greatest albums of all time . . . and how they happened. Organised chronologically and spanning seven decades, The MOJO Collection presents an authoritative and engaging guide to the history of the pop album via hundreds of long-playing masterpieces, from the much-loved to the little known. From The Beatles to The Verve, from Duke Ellington to King Tubby and from Peggy Lee to Sly Stone, hundreds of albums are covered in detail with chart histories, full track and personnel listings and further listening suggestions. There's also exhaustive coverage of the soundtrack and hit collections that every home should have. Like all collections, there are records you listen to constantly, albums you've forgotten, albums you hardly play, albums you love guiltily and albums you thought you were alone in treasuring, proving The MOJO Collection to be an essential purchase for those who love and live music.

This comprehensive state-by-state guide looks at every corner of the United States, with details listings of hotels, restaurants, roadside attractions, and historical monuments. 79 maps. 12 color photos.

Mark knows where he should be going but realizes he's seriously lost his way. Meeting Jackie sparks his hopes. Her eyes . He's thrilled by the energy he sees radiating from the electric blue of her eyes at certain times. But she's just a kid. She doesn't seem to know what she's doing or what she's got or what it means. Or how much Mark needs it to keep from feeling that he's freezing up. Dying . The harder he tries the more he realizes he's not getting though to her. He should, he's got to . leave her alone. Forget her. Move on . But . If only they could realize the promise of her bright baby blues .

Southern California is not all sun, sand, and surf in this gripping collection of noir tales from T. Jefferson Parker, Don Winslow, Maria Lima, and others. San Diego is home to miles of beaches, Balboa Park, a world-famous zoo, and some of the country’s most expensive home and resort real estate. Yet the city also houses a few items that aren’t actively promoted by the visitor’s bureau: a number of the country’s most corrupt politicians, border-related crimes, terrorists, and the occasional earthquakes. A noir feast! In the fifty-plus years since Raymond Chandler set Playback in Esmeralda, his name for La Jolla, the population has grown by more than a million, and crime has proliferated as well. San Diego of the past and the present offers the book’s contributors a rich selection of settings, from the cross on Mount Soledad to the piers of Ocean Beach, and perpetrators and victims from the residents of its wealthiest enclaves to the inhabitants of its segregated barrios. San Diego Noir includes stories by T. Jefferson Parker, Jeffrey J. Mariotte, Martha C. Lawrence, Diane Clark & Astrid Bear, Debra Ginsberg, Morgan Hunt, Ken Kuhlken, Taffy Cannon, Don Winslow, Cameron Pierce Hughes, Lisa Brackmann, Gabriel R. Barillas, Gar Anthony Haywood, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Maria Lima. “When it’s done right, noir is a darkly delicious thrill: smart, sharp-tongued, surprising. The knife goes in at the end with a twist. San Diego Noir, a new 15-story collection by some of the region’s best writers, has all that going for it, and the steady supply of hometown references makes it even more fun.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune

An illustrated guide that covers urban hotspots such as San Francisco and LA to the natural beauty of the Yosemite National Park and the Lake Tahoe area. Camping and hiking information in Sequoia, Death Valley and the other great National Parks is included as well as the highlights of the east - Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Hotel and restaurant details are given to suit all budgets together with the lowdown on the coolest (or, failing that, the most interesting) clubs and bars. Comprehensive contexts sections featuring the best books and movies on California, as well as extracts from two best-selling authors are also included.