When I reviewed Lee Goldberg’s Calico, I said it was a difficult book to discuss. All the more reason to share Kevin Tipple’s review with you. Check out his non-spoiler review. You can compare it to mine, if you’d like, and then decide if you want to read it. Here’s mine. https://lesasbookcritiques.com/calico-by-lee-goldberg/. Thank you, Kevin, for sharing your review.

Calico
It is February 2019 as Calico by Lee Goldberg opens and Beth McDade is in Barstow,
California. Not that she ever wanted to be there, but in the here and now, she is doing
time in exile. Things went bad for her in Los Angeles. There was a media driven
firestorm and she had to leave the police department in disgrace.

After the scandal hit the media fan, her name and reputation in the minds of many
meant that it was almost impossible to get a job. She finally did with the San Bernardino
County Sheriff’s department and is a detective. She is assigned to the substation in
Barstow and is on call almost always, even when off duty. It means that even when she
has spent the previous few hours drinking at a local place where everybody knowns
your business, and she is currently in bed with a man from the bar, she still gets called
out to bodies.

Like when a couple in a RV hit somebody who ran out in the road in front of them. That
just happened outside of Peggy Sue’s in nearby Yerno. A roadside diner, it is part of
string of small places clustered there at the highway, and is the last stop for gas or a
remnant of civilization until one gets to Baker, about fifty miles to the east across yet
more desert.

The deceased might have been homeless considering his clothing and general
appearance. The couple claim that there was lightning storm in the sky and then a
boom from the nearby Marine base. The driver looked over to see what was happening
and when he looked back, the guy was screaming and running right out in the road in
front of him. The husband and wife are very upset.

According to Sheriff’s Deputy Willits, who was first on the scene, the breath analyzer
indicates neither one has been drinking. He is ready to write it off as an accident.

While Deputy Willits is sure it was an accident and Deputy Beth McDade would tend to
agree, she does have some questions. Why was he running across the parking lot of
the diner in terror seconds before impact. Why does he have some items on his person
that have not been seen in decades? Why did the Security Chief for the Marine Corps
Logistic Base nearby, Bill Knox, showed up on scene, ask her some questions, and then
bald faced lied to her.

This is the first of several cases, a couple of which are interlinked, that become her
focus in Calico by Lee Goldberg. This police procedural features adult language, adult
situations including sexual intimacy, and is not for everyone. It is also very complicated
and well worth your time. Cases from the past and the present are worked by a
detective that does her job and more as she pursues answers and justice.

This reviewer is deliberately ignoring a major chunk of the story as to not cause any
spoilers. This is a read that will bend your mind and is well worth your time. Calico by
Lee Goldberg is very good.

My reading copy came by way of Severn House and a NetGalley ARC with no
expectation of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023