Historical Mystery Author Ona Russell Releases New Sarah Kaufman Novel, Rule of Capture

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. - April 10, 2015 - PRLog -- Solana Beach, CA – San Diego author Ona Russell announces the release of her third Sarah Kaufman historical mystery novel, Rule of Capture (ISBN 978-1632930477). Rule of Capture follows the first and second books in the critically acclaimed Sarah Kaufman series: O’Brien’s Desk (ISBN 0-86534-416-7) and The Natural Selection (ISBN 978-0-86534-628-4). O'Brien's Desk was nominated for a Pen/Faulkner award, and The Natural Selection was a finalist in the 2009 San Diego Book Awards, the 2009 Next Generation Indie Awards, and the 2009 California Commonwealth Club Book Awards. The Natural Selection was also nominated as the New Mexico Book Awards 2008 Best New Paperback.       `

Set in Los Angeles in 1928, Rule of Capture finds Ohio court officer and civic trailblazer Sarah Kaufman at the trial of C. C. Julian, a suave huckster who knowingly over-issued stock in his petroleum company. Swindling thousands out of their savings, Julian and his cohorts were notorious in their day, and as one of their victims, Sarah is in the city to see that justice is served. But when a former acquaintance, the beautiful Rita Fuentes Bradford, is murdered, Sarah finds herself drawn into a search for Rita’s killer.

Plunged into a tense, ethnic tug-of-war between the Jewish and Mexican communities in the “melting pot” of early L.A., Sarah becomes involved with the handsome and powerful Carlos Martinez, a Chicano man both living the American Dream and engaged in subversive activity. While the relationship between Sarah and Carlos heats up, Sarah’s lover, journalist Mitchell Dobrinski, decides to visit Los Angeles to report on the trial and keep an eye on Sarah. But Mitchell gets more than he bargains for, learning not only of Sarah’s infidelity, but her discovery of a cover-up that threatens to break the city at the seams. Laced with historical details from 1920s Los Angeles—when oil was booming, Hollywood was young, and Tijuana was the frontier—the story also shines a light on the ruling class corruption and ethnic prejudices that continue to this day. In providing a tantalizing glimpse into Southern California’s past, Rule of Capture holds a mirror up to its present.

Like the highly-praised O’Brien’s Desk and The Natural Selection, Rule of Capture is a rich, layered narrative that challenges simple assumptions of right and wrong. It is a must-read for historical mystery lovers who crave evocative details, engaging characters, and sociological themes that center on race, class and gender, particularly on the power these categories confer or deny. Masterfully written and researched, Rule of Capture introduces readers through actual courtroom testimony to the individuals behind the once infamous C. C. Julian oil scandal, while drawing us back into the world of Sarah Kaufman and her unending quest for justice.

“Los Angeles is a city of contradictions,” said Russell, “built on optimism and despair, settlement and displacement. It is a city of dreams and nightmares, renewal and dissolution, tolerance and bigotry. And as many writers before me have discovered, it is a city of hidden crimes, and thus a ripe setting for a mystery. It is one of the darkest of these crimes that forms the basis of my story and that teaches my protagonist—a real historical figure who I adopted as my fictional sleuth—that a victim of injustice can also be a victimizer.”

Russell holds a Ph.D. in literature from the University of California, San Diego and is a credentialed mediator. Teaching for years at various colleges, she created courses that combined her interdisciplinary interests, including Literature and the Law, a topic on which she has written and spoken extensively. Russell was born in Los Angeles and now resides with her husband in Solana Beach, California.

For more information on Ona Russell and Rule of Capture, please visit http://www.onarussell.com/

For further information, please contact:

Paula Margulies Communications

8145 Borzoi Way

San Diego, CA 92129

858-538-2047

paula@paulamargulies.com (../AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Local%20Settings/Local...)

www.paulamargulies.com (../AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Local%20Settings/Local...)