Created by Alice Zogg
“And everybody’s saying that there’s nobody meaner
Than the little old lady from Pasadena”
— Jan and Dean
Not sure if she’s really mean, but Swiss-born REGULA AGATHA “R.A.” HUBER certainly does hail from Pasadena. She emigrated to the US as a young woman, married a writer named Peter, became a citizen, and worked her entire life — nothing special there. Until she retired, and bored to tears, decided to open up a detective agency.
Of course she did…
She’s not your typical SoCal lady eye, though; not just another healthy young thing jogging up and down the beach, doodling around in some cute little car, and dating some hunky young cop. Sure, R.A.’s smart and she’s got some grit, but she’s quietly cerebral, efficient and patient. She’s also great at interrogation, squeezing info from witnesses and suspects with a disarming blend of charm and flattery. In fact, she thinks of her age as a plus in her new profession. “For one thing, people tend to underestimate me. I am good at solving puzzles or problems, and being older gives me the advantage of lots of life experience,” she admits. “Having an orderly mind helps me with the solving of mysteries. I am also stronger than I look!”
Sure, but by the fifth book in the series, The Fall of Optimum House (2007), she’s acquired an assistant, Antoinette “Andi” LeJeune, a precocious eighteen-year-old Harley-Davidson-riding drifter from New Orleans. Where R.A. is all methodical and sensible shoes, Andi is jeans and cowboy boots; more impulsive and prone to action. Together, they make a solid team.
All together, R.A. appeared in ten books, all self-published, most of which also feature Andi. In the course of the series, R.A. works cases not just locally (Catalina Island, Lake Tahoe, Solvang), but journeys to Mexico, New Mexico, Alaska and Switzerland. But all that travel must have worn R.A. out — by the tenth and final book in the series, Evil At Shore Haven (2016), she’s retired, leaving Andi to run the agency. Until, that is, Andi beckons her old boss out of retirement for one last case.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alice Zogg was born and raised in Switzerland and came to the United States as a young woman, just like her heroine. She met her husband, a fellow Swiss, in New York City, and the two eventually moved to Southern California. An avid traveler and golfer, Zogg is the author of the R. A. Huber series, and has written several stand-alone mysteries as well, including A Bet Turned Deadly, Accidental Eyewitness, The Ill-Fated Scientist and No Curtain Call.
NOVELS
- Reaching Checkmate (2003) | Buy this book
- Turn the Joker Around (2004) | Buy this book
- Tracking Backward (2005) | Buy this book
- The Lonesome Autocrat (2006) | Buy this book
- The Fall of Optimum House (2007) | Buy this book
- Final Stop Albuquerque (2009) | Buy this book
- Revamp Camp (2010) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Murder At The Cubbyhole (2012) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Guilty or Not (2013) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Evil At Shore Haven (2016) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- I Wish They All Could Be California Girls
Maybe it’s the water?
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
