July 2011
24 posts
“It often happens that people who are wealthy one day are begging their bread the...”
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How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy
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The War on Meth
In Stranger: A Death Valley Mystery, many characters are caught in the whirlwind of drugs. Ric Delgado, once a narcotics detective in Los Angeles, is all too familiar with the problems that arise with drug abuse. When he moved to Lake City, Nevada, a small desert community near Death Valley, he had hoped to rid himself of the dangers of drugs. Unfortunately, like many small communities ...
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The Death of Mitrice Richardson
A lot has been said about the LA Sheriff’s possible mishandling of the arrest of Mitrice Richardson on September 16, 2009. Whether they should have released her in the dead of night with no transportation, no cell phone and no identification is up for debate.
What’s more alarming is what happened after she walked out of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station at 1am. Mitrice...
“Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all.”
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
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Homeless Youth in America
In Falling Angels, protagonist Luc Actar grew up on the streets of Los Angeles. As a child he spent years living on the street with his father jumping from shelter to shelter. They eventually found temporary housing, but the scar of living poor threatened them daily. At a young age Luc was exposed to the dangers on the streets, such as drugs, gangs, and violence.
In the novel, Luc Actar grew...
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The Other Side of Justice
As the Casey Anthony jury decision had many people questioning our legal system, Bryan Stow, the Giants fan beaten at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day lay in a hospital bed waiting for justice in his case.
Last week, three people were arrested in the Dodger Stadium beating case. Three people completely unrelated to Giovanni Ramirez, the LAPD’s first prime suspect. Since May 22, Ramirez’s...
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“The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts...”
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Anthony Trollope
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Drugs at Home
With over 13 million Americans having used or tried Methamphetamine, it’s no wonder drug trafficking is a worry in the US. But unlike other drugs, the main source of meth is actually within our own borders. It is produced in clandestine meth labs, which can be found in a variety of locations, including garages, apartment rentals, trailers, motel rooms, houseboats, motor homes, and...
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LA - The Third World City
Los Angeles’ Skid Row covers about 10 square blocks in the heart of the city. At night, more than 15,000 people gather to sleep in cardboard boxes that line the streets. The city, known as the first “third world” city in the United States is just the tip of the iceberg. An estimated 110,000 people will be homeless in Los Angeles County at some time during the year with over 15% being children...
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Coincidence? I think not...
Rebecca Zahau was found hanging off the balcony of the Spreckels Mansion in Coronado, California (owned by Jonah Shacknai) last week. Although Police suspect it was a suicide, many have been wondering about the strange death as it has been revealed by police that her hands and feet were bound and she was hanging completely nude. Normally, I would tend to believe the police in this situation as no...
Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela
In honor of Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday, I am reviewing his many wonderful quotes that inspire and challenge us to be better humans. I hope you enjoy reading them and get inspired as well.
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s...
“It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.”
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T.S Eliot
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“This is a brief life, but in its brevity it offers us some splendid moments,...”
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Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Ripped from the Headlines...
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Catherine Kieu Becker was jailed yesterday for drugging her husband, cutting off his penis, and running it through the garbage disposal. The couple have been going through a divorce. (And others complain their divorce is nasty!) The southern California woman claims he deserved it.
This incident comes 18 years after Lorena Bobbit severed her...
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“Fiction must stick to facts, and the truer the facts the better the fiction — so...”
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A Room of One’s Own by Viriginia Woolf
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Ripped from the headlines...
Crime novels give us something real life cannot. A sense of justice, understanding, and closure.
Casey Anthony will be released from jail this week after she was acquitted of killing her two-year-old daughter. People everywhere are asking how someone so obviously guilty of killing her child can be set free. Why would she destroy the life she brought into this world. How could the jurors not want...
Official web site of author Melissa M. Garcia →
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About "Stranger: A Death Valley Mystery"
There is a dead body in room 110 of the Death Valley Motel, and the evidence points to murder. Managers Ric and Alex Delgado, siblings with police work in their blood, chose this small Death Valley city specifically because it appeared to be a quiet place in which...
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About "Falling Angels"
After a panicked call from his best friend, Mattie Hardwin, Luc Actar must return to Los Angeles and the life he fled three years earlier. Mattie’s husband, a prestigious lawyer named Spencer Hardwin, has mysteriously disappeared. Desperate for assistance, Luc...
About the Author
Born in La Mirada, California, Melissa M. Garcia has lived almost her entire life in the sometimes gritty, always entertaining, and ever-changing landscape that is Southern California. She graduated from California State University in Long Beach with a degree in English/Literature. She published her first mystery novel, Falling Angels, in 2006. Her second novel, Stranger: A Death Valley...
