What is Steph Cha reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Steph Cha, author of Follow Her Home.

Her entry begins:

I read a book or two a week, and about 99% of this non-Internet reading is made up of fiction. I alternate between male and female authors and have done so for the past several years. It was a conscious decision, and one that I’m glad to have made – the quality of my reading has not suffered, and I’ve expanded my horizons since my college days of Roth and Murakami. I’ve been on a roll with good books for the last couple weeks, so I’ll share my most recent reads.

Southland by Nina Revoyr

I bought this book after a panel at Skylight Books on “How to Tell an L.A. Story.” I wish I’d read it years ago. It’s a sweeping history of Japanese and black families in Los Angeles, revealed through a slow-burning mystery. There’s a lot of heartbreak and sickening injustice, and the writing is consistently evocative and lovely. Southland reminds me of...[read on]

About Follow Her Home, from the publisher:

A stunning, edgy debut introducing Juniper Song, an amateur sleuth taking on the darkness in the veins of L.A. with razor-sharp wit and a breaking heart.

Juniper Song knows secrets–how to keep them and how to search them out. As a girl, noir fiction was her favorite escape, and Philip Marlowe has always been her literary idol. So when her friend Luke asks her to investigate a possible affair between his father and a young employee, Juniper (or "Song" as her friends call her) finds an opportunity to play detective. Driving through L.A.'s side streets, following leads, tailing suspects-it all appeals to Song's romantic ideal of the noir hero. But when she's knocked out while investigating a mysterious car and finds a body in her own trunk, Song lurches back to the real L.A., becoming embroiled in a crime that goes far beyond role play. What's more, this isn't the first time Song has stuck her nose in other people's business. As she fights to discover the truth about her friend's family, Song reveals one of her own deeply hidden secrets, something dark and damaging, urging her to see the current mystery through, to rectify the mistakes of her past life.

A dazzling debut from fresh new talent Steph Cha, featuring a strong, modern, sharply observant heroine with an unforgettable voice, Follow Her Home takes readers through dangerous twists and turns, beyond the glittering high-rises and freeways of L.A. on a case that will stay with them long after the final page.

Learn more about Follow Her Home, and visit Steph Cha's website and Twitter perch.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Steph Cha and Duke.

My Book, The Movie: Follow Her Home.

The Page 69 Test: Follow Her Home.

Writers Read: Steph Cha.

--Marshal Zeringue