This post's picture was taken at Point Fermin in San Pedro, the setting for The San Pedro Blues - the latest installment in the Rick Sandler/Katie O'Hara L.A. Mysteries.  The title of this series is about to change to simply The L.A. Mysteries as in this, the fifth book in the series, Katie and Rick are about to go their separate ways.

Some people have expressed dismay at this turn of events, but one of my friends and riding partners, Lisa Lessa, agreed with me totally.  That relationship has run its course.  She likes Rick and Katie individually but not as a couple.

I realized it was time for a major shift in the story line when I discovered I could not write anything remotely exciting about the two of them.  Perhaps they settled too easily into domesticity - which is comfortable for the people in the relationship but not particularly interesting for the reader.  It occurred to me that Katie is too young to be this settled down.  What to do?

The answer, of course, is a new man - one with dark tousled hair and a cheeky, killer grin.

Don't worry about Rick, however.  He is about to enter a relationship with a woman far better suited to him, one who has appeared in the earlier books and is interesting enough in her own right to merit more attention.

The real reason for this blog however, is to give a little background into the title.

The San Pedro Blues is the name of a group of police officers whose beat, and in most cases, whose home, is the working class beach town San Pedro, home to Port of Los Angeles.  They are, in the words of one character, a tribe of sorts - close to each other and ready to close ranks against outsiders.

But the title reaches further than that.  The Blues is a music genre - one that reflects hard times, hard choices and a certain amount of despair, and yet, one that rises above that, to celebrate life no matter how hopeless it seems at times.

It's why we refer to people singing the blues - Idiomatically, when someone experiences intense emotions, feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty, we say that person has 'The Blues'.

In this story almost all of the major characters have 'The Blues' hence the title.

Synopsis - Thirteen young women from Ukraine are smuggled into Port of Los Angeles inside a cargo container, victims of human trafficking, destined for a life of sexual slavery. Twelve of them will die at the hands of a machete wielding murderer.  Only one will survive.  Anichka Markovich who burns with a fierce hatred and desire for revenge.

Rick Sandler and John Cameron, detectives in LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide division are assigned to the case.  Working with U.S. Attorney Ray Manzarek and Vice Officers Angel Estrada and Roy Cooper, they search the streets of San Pedro and North Hollywood determined to find the people behind the trafficking operation, in hopes it will lead them to the killer.

On the personal side, Katie O'Hara is now a graduate of the police academy, working as a patrol officer under the tutelage of her training officer.  When she discovers that Rick has used his influence to gain her a relatively safe assignment, she puts in for a transfer and finds herself in San Pedro, a move that will irrevocably change her life.

Katie soon falls in love with San Pedro and, after an act of heroism, she is accepted into The San Pedro Blues - a unique group of police officers - who take pride in their town and their way of policing it.

Hoping to publish before the end of 2015.