Over hill & dale.

She is watching the detectives.
"ooh, he's so cute!"
She is watching the detectives
when they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
Elvis Costello 1977

Val & I are great fans of American crime authors.
Two of our favourites are Michael Connelly and Robert Crais whose main characters are respectively, Harry Bosch, a policeman & Elvis Cole, a private detective. Both are based in LA and graphically describe the areas that they are working in and travelling through.
Over the last week we have been travelling through those same areas and it's great to put a picture to a place. In reverse, when we read one of their books, we often think 'been there' when one of them speaks about a particular area.
Quite often they travel through the canyon roads of the Santa Monica mountains and if I recall correctly, one or both of them live there and that's where we have been doing our own investigating.
A couple of days ago we came through Beverly Hills and had a tour of the wonderful houses in the roads on either side of Rodeo Drive. These beautifully laid out and maintained road are bordered on either side by mansions of unbelievable luxury and all of them individually designed. Not many modern monstrosities I'm glad to say. Prince Charles would approve I think.
Once we had had our fill of oohs and ahs we carried on up one road and found ourselves on Coldwater Canyon, winding a tortuous route up the southern side of the Santa Monica Mountains only to repeat the process, nose down, on the northern side.
Houses literally cling to the side of the slopes, defying gravity in many cases and their owners must live in fear, every time there is a tremor which are apparently regular but which we have yet to witness. Most of them jut straight out over a sheer drop supported on a trellis of supports. The ground beneath them drops away at an alarming angle, usually over 70 degrees. I'll add some of Harvey's pictures when I get a chance to download them but they are few as it's difficult to find anywhere to stop on the narrow winding roads.

Today we went down to Westwood village
which was very 30's and pretty and then on to the Pacific Highway as far as Malibu.
The houses that cling to the hills facing the sea look to be in a parlous state even without the tremors as the land is slipping at an alarming rate in some placesand all sorts of desperate measures are being taken to stop their houses sliding down with the side of the hill.
We came back this time over the Topanga Canyon road which is less densely populated but just as interesting. The roads were just as steep and winding but more rugged and we could just as easily have been in the middle of Yosemite as in the heart of LA (well, in the liver anyway).
We were surprised to find a town at the top which is Topanga and it was quite an odd-ball, hippy type of place.
On our way down the north side we stopped at the Topanga State Park which has a wonderful view out over the cities of the San Fernando Valley that form the north eastern suburbs of LA.
Unfortunately, without a large format camera, it is impossible to take any photos that could recreate for you the views as we saw them. Here's the best I could manageIf you want to see more photos of the SF Valley, try here.

This is just another facet of LA that makes it such a great base to work in and from. It can be tacky, as in Venice Beach, it can be dangerous, as in Watts but it is always interesting if you take the time and effort to look which is what the Smiffs have taught us to do.

That's it. We've followed our heroes paths and tried to describe them to you as best we can so in return, there's something you can do for us.
When we were here last year, Val found a new author for me called Robert K Tannenbaum. I got engrossed in his stories and tried to find more of his books when I got home.
Nothing. Zip. Nada. It's as if he doesn't exist in the UK.
I'd like to get Val started on his books but he's one of those authors who often refers back to previous books thus I thought it best to get all his books so she can start at the beginning and read them sequentially.
With me so far? Good.
We have trawled every Thrift, Goodwill and Salvation Army shop in California as well as second hand book stores, to find his books.
The Smiffs have enthusiastically joined in the hunt. Well latterly anyway. I think they thought we were mad for a start but now the shout of 'GOODWILL' normally emanates from one of them when one is spotted.
Our problem is, that with 4 days left, we are still short of one book and that's the 3rd book in the series.
So, if you're in the States, please visit your local Thrift, Goodwill and SA shops to look for 'Immoral Certainty'. The Smiffs will gladly reimburse you for your troubles (they don't know this so break it to them gently) and they will bring it home with them.
PLEASE don't use this as an excuse to fire off an order to Amazon. I know how embarrassingly generous you buggers can be.
If you're at home, please look in your local charity shops or car boot sales. You'll probably have no more luck than us BUT you may come across someone who has brought one home to read.
Give me a call.
PLEASE!!