Anaheim Beauties Valencia Queen by D.J. Phinney


Thanks to Madison Hoffman of Strategies Public Relations, I am giving away two print copies of ‘The Anaheim Beauties Valencia Queen’ by D.J. Phinney.

Description Anaheim Beauties Valencia Queen by D.J. Phinney

THE ANAHEIM BEAUTIES VALENCIA QUEEN takes readers back a century, to a time when the country was recovering from WWI, orange groves dominated southern California, Hollywood was a mecca for beautiful young women, and the Klan seemed to stand for God, family, country, and the American Way – or did it?

Taking place in post-WWI southern California, THE ANAHEIM BEAUTIES VALENCIA QUEEN is a compelling, multilayered novel which proves that then, as now, validation rackets existed, seducing the lonely, the disenfranchised, the insecure, and the self-conscious, providing them with a sense of fitting in while luring them into behaviors beyond the pale.

In 1924 the Ku Klux Klan took over Anaheim’s city council, plus ten of eleven slots on the police force. In a Roaring 20’s citrus-packing suburb of 10,000 people, where the ethics of Jay Gatsby collide with those of Elmer Gantry, an aspiring high school pitching phenom, fatherless Dean Reynolds, falls under the spell of drop-dead-gorgeous Helen Webber and her rich, agenda-driven father.

Helen, whose face graces orange crate labels shipped around the world, is using Dean as local arm-candy while sleeping her way through Hollywood. Her father and his “connections” all turn out to be Klansmen. After a shadowy motorcar accident kills a teammate on Dean’s prom night, Dean has no one safe to turn to. But the Klan is there to “help”.

Steeped in little-known California history, the story gives us characters whose problems, moral dilemmas, strengths, and weaknesses are as relevant today as they were in 1924. Yesterday meets today in this provocative coming-of-age historical novel.

About D.J. Phinney

A Southern California native with a passion for history and construction, I graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic with a master’s in engineering in the twilight of perceived American innocence. Leaving the Air Force after the Vietnam war, I returned to California and built a career as a licensed civil and mechanical engineer responsible for designing and overseeing construction of over $100 million dollars’ worth of water and wastewater infrastructure in California and Arizona. My favorite accolade came from a contractor who asked his client. “When he left the worksite was Dennis clean or dirty?” On being told my clothes were “filthy,” the client was told, “That’s why we hire him.” I’ve been fortunate to always have a healthy share of work.

A death threat from an insurance company in the aftermath of the Northridge Earthquake overturned my world and launched me in a new direction. Figuring novels are a sneaky way to write about the truth, I began writing fiction writing. I was captivated by L.A.’s master storytellers, the likes of Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, James Ellroy, and Ray Bradbury.

History, particularly California history, has become my hobby.  When not writing, and often for my writing, I can be found pouring through primary source material, traveling to libraries and museums and to the locals to which I bring my readers.  It is a wonderful pastime that has opened so many vistas for me personally and in my writing.

I write what I call “Red Car Noir,” tales of the dark side of the American dream typically set around Los Angeles in the early 1900s when a veneer of front-page optimism whitewashed the corruption that shattered lives on boulevards of broken dreams.

While I’m a published short story author, The Anaheim Beauties Valencia Queen is my debut full-length novel. It was supposed to be a short story, but it kept growing. I became fascinated by the question of why so many joined the Klan in California in the years when Hollywood was getting started. Although the story’s been hushed up, I think it’s time to shine some light on it, if only so we better understand ourselves.

I’ve been married to my wife, Sharon, for over 40 years with one grown son, two grandsons and a golden retriever, Sunny. We divide our time between Irvine and La Cañada, California, and when not writing, I can often be found exploring local history and cooking.  Yes, I am an accomplished amateur chef who sometimes even shares his recipes!

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Giveaway Anaheim Beauties Valencia Queen by D.J. Phinney

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