Trouble has a way of finding Blanche Murninghan... When Blanche “Bang” Murninghan visits an exhibit of ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico City, she sees that all is not ancient. One of the mummies has a pink hair clip embedded in its haylike do, and the texture of the skin is not quite right. Blanche, a part-time journalist, starts to dig for answers and gets tangled in the mystery of the mummy at the Palacio Nacional.Her cousin and traveling companion, Haasi Hakla, aids and abets and puts the reins on Blanche. All the while, the two eat and drink their way across the city, following one hunch after another with a cast of colorful characters that include a prescient elderly chilanga, an amiable overworked detective, and a stunning doctor of shady deeds. The cousins are willing to risk kidnapping and attempted murder to get at the truth, but first, Blanche stops for another excellent beer and Haasi delights in one more taco al pastor. Trouble Down Mexico Way is the second book in the Blanche Murninghan cozy mystery series. Each of the books can be read as a stand-alone. Foreword Reviews is in love with the "spunky heroine" and Kirkus Reviews says, "There's a reason Blanche Murninghan's cousin Jack calls her 'Bang.' When she gets mad, it's an event to rival a Santa Maria Island sunset and it happens about as often." Fans of Jana Deleon's Miss Fortune Mystery series and Tonya Kappes A Camper and Criminals Cozy series will fall hard for the colorful characters and exciting misadventures in the Blanche Murningnan Mysteries.

Slocum’s outnumbered and outgunned—but that’s just his idea of a good fight! Slocum’s already dodged a woman who wants his head in a sack when he hooks up with a lovely widow in a town bullied by bandits. Their leader, Reyas, uses peasants as slave labor, takes any woman he desires, and tortures and kills anyone who displeases him. So where does some upstart gringo get off coming along and giving him orders? It’s really not Slocum’s fight—but he never did learn to avoid trouble. He’s going to show Reyas that it’s one thing to push around harmless country folk—and another to face a tough pistolero who’s shooting back.

Fans of Jana Deleon's Miss Fortune Mystery series and Tonya Kappes A Camper and Criminals Cozy series will fall hard for the colorful characters and exciting misadventures in the Blanche Murningnan Mysteries, now available in a convenient three-in-one boxed set. Saving Tuna Street After Blanche "Bang" Murninghan's grandmother left her a cabin on Tuna Street, life starts looking up for the part-time journalist. But when a development company moves in from Chicago, Blanche must fight tooth and nail to keep her new-found inheritance. Matters only worsen when her friend is found murdered in the parking lot of the nearby marina. The harder Blanche pushes against the source of trouble, the more she is sucked into the vortex of greed, murder, drug runners, and kidnapping (hers). Trouble Down Mexico Way When Blanche “ Bang” Murninghan visits an exhibit of ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico City, she sees that all is not ancient. One of the mummies has a pink hair clip embedded in its hay-like do, and the texture of the skin is not quite right. Blanche digs for answers and gets tangled in the mystery of the mummy at the Palacio Nacional, a murder with more complexity than anyone at the museum expected. Mission Improbable: Vietnam Blanche's amateur sleuthing skills have become local legend, and Jean McMahon needs her help. It' s not a simple favor Jean asks: Will Blanche go to Vietnam with her and look for Jean' s mother? As they trace Jean' s mother' s steps, they meet more than one shady character who thinks it better to let things lie. Against her better judgment, Blanche beats down the doors of the past. She is looking for Jean' s mother and following her father' s trail. He left without a trace. Or did he? Does anyone? These cozy mysteries are perfect, light-hearted, world-traveling fun from the comfort of your own couch.

It's 2003, nearly 30 years after the Vietnam War...Blanche “Bang” Murninghan is sitting on the dock of the Peel ‘n Eat Pier on Santa Maria Island, sipping an excellent draft and wiggling her fishing pole after an elusive sheepshead. It's hot out and the sun is shining. She doesn't see the woman eyeing her from the fishing hut—not until she appears at Blanche's side and forever disrupts Blanche's peaceful idyll in this quiet Gulf coast town.The woman is Jean McMahon and she needs Blanche's help—her amateur sleuthing skills have become local legend after she helped solve the murder of a friend and dodge some drug-dealing land developers. Jean needs a good dose of that Blanche determination and doggedness. It's not a simple favor Jean asks. Will Blanche go to Vietnam with her and look for Jean's mother?It's as if Jean has ripped a new hole in Blanche's heart. Her father was killed in Vietnam, and she's never gotten much history from her beloved grandmother and mother on the subject. Jean's request grows on her. Blanche wants the truth...Blanche and Jean don't stop once they land in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, and ex-pat “Stick” Dahlkamp makes sure of that. They pick up the search together. The three cross the rice paddies on Stick's Honda Dream to Ben Tre and My Tho, old stomping grounds for Stick, a former Ninth Infantry Division Riverine and now bar owner of the popular, The Follies. He's got friends in jungle towns who might help, and indeed they do. And don't. Blanche begins to wonder if he's running them off the road.They trace Jean's mother's steps around South Vietnam, to where she met Hank McMahon, an infantry scout with the old Americal division. They meet more than one shady character who thinks it better to let things lie, deep and peaceful, just the way that they were after the horror of war passed. But Blanche's stubbornness beats down the door. She is looking for Jean's mother, and following her father's trail. He left without a trace. Or did he? Does anyone?

A large collection of artifacts is left to the Calleshire museum in the will of a local man once prominent in the British colonial service. But Inspector C. D. Sloan of the local police gets involved when the 3,000 year old mummy case is found to contain a body that's been dead less than a week, in Catherine Aird's Little Knell.

This Companion contains 25 original essays by writers and scholars who present an expert assessment of the best and most important work to date on the complex history of Los Angeles. The first Companion providing a historical survey of Los Angeles, incorporating critical, multi-disciplinary themes and innovative scholarship Features essays from a range of disciplines, including history, political science, cultural studies, and geography Photo essays and ‘contemporary voice’ sections combine with traditional historiographic essays to provide a multi-dimensional view of this vibrant and diverse city Essays cover the key topics in the field within a thematic structure, including demography, social unrest, politics, popular culture, architecture, and urban studies