M. G. Rawls

Pasadena Author Delves into One of California’s Last Public Hangings

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Also published on 3 September 2025 on Hey SoCal

Image courtesy of M. G. Rawls

Public executions aren’t exactly pleasant subjects to write a book about. But for M.G. Rawls, a retired Pasadena lawyer and author of the young adult fantasy trilogy “The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow,” it was a compelling topic that had captivated her for decades. Rawls’s great-great-grandfather, James Madison Anderson, was the El Dorado County sheriff who carried out one of the last public hangings in California towards the end of the 1880s. For years, the thought that an injustice might have been done weighed heavily on him.

In her book “Hanging Justice,” scheduled to publish in October, Rawls delves into this event and gives readers an intimate look at the victim, the killers, the crime, and the hangings. She chronicles the details of the case and then reaches her own conclusions about this long-forgotten and rarely discussed episode in Placerville’s past. She will give an author book talk sponsored by the El Dorado Historical Society on Friday, October 17 from 6 to 7:30 pm at the Morning Star Lodge (also known as the Odd Fellows Lodge) in Placerville.     

Based on newspaper articles at the time, a reputedly wealthy farmer John Lowell was murdered on March 24, 1888 during a robbery at his ranch near Mormon Island in El Dorado County. Three men were convicted of first degree murder – John Henry Meyers, a 27-year-old immigrant from Germany; John Olsen, a 24-year-old Norwegian native immigrant; and William Drager, a 41-year-old immigrant from Germany.

Meyers was hanged on November 30, 1888, but Olsen and Drager’s execution on the same day was stayed pending appeal. Coverage of the arrests, trial, and hangings was a local sensation. Dozens of newspaper articles ranging from the Sacramento Bee to the San Francisco Examiner recounted the gory details. Hundreds of spectators observed Meyer’s hanging, that gave it a circus-like atmosphere.

Olsen and Drager – who steadfastly claimed throughout the trial that they weren’t involved in the plot to kill Lowell – were hanged on October 16, 1889. Sheriff Anderson limited the observers to the minimum required by law and had canvas draped over the courtyard to keep out as many prying eyes as possible.

The Placerville Wagon Trail Event in 2023. | Photo courtesy of ‘Save the Graves’

Hangings were not uncommon in the United States back then; Placerville had been referred to as “hangtown” since the Gold Rush days. However, Olsen and Drager’s sentence galvanized the whole town into action because Placerville residents felt they had not been complicit in the murder, and the death penalty was too harsh for their actual crime.

Over 425 townspeople – including the district attorney who prosecuted the case, the sheriff, and nine of the 12 jurors – signed a petition requesting the sentence be reduced to life imprisonment.

The men had been model prisoners and were ready to accept their fate. Moreover, the victim –  John Lowell – allegedly was of dubious character, having made many enemies and was himself accused of murder just a couple of years before. Olsen and Drager’s attorneys worked diligently to save them, even hand-delivering the petition and request for a pardon to Governor Waterman in Sacramento. Still, the petition was rejected, and the pardon turned down. For a long time, the townspeople wondered whether Olsen and Drager should have been executed.

Rawls’s grandmother had previously written about this event; but she was determined to find out more. She scoured through hundreds of old newspapers online and did extensive research at the Huntington Library in San Marino, the El Dorado Historical Society, the Center for Sacramento History, and the California State Archives. She traveled to Auburn, New Hampshire, to look at family documents and photos that her aunt and uncle have meticulously preserved.

By email, Rawls talks about what made her author “Hanging Justice,” what she learned from her exhaustive investigation, and the reader takeaway.

Model clipper ship ‘the Mountain Queen”. | Photo courtesy of M.G. Rawls

“In 1970, my grandmother wrote a community college paper about the last hangings in El Dorado County in 1888 and 1889 for which she got a B+,” recounts Rawls. “She’d played with a small model clipper ship called the Mountain Queen, crafted by two of the three hanged men while they were in jail. Sailors by trade, the two men made the miniature ship for her grandfather, my great-great-grandfather, Sheriff James Madison Anderson. It was their way of thanking him for taking care of them while their appeals were pending. They looked up to him like a father, yet he would be the one to hang them. My grandmother gave me the Mountain Queen, and I display it on a table in our living room as a relic of the event.”

It would take a while, though, before Rawls started writing the book. She discloses, “I’d had the story in my head for years, as I’m guessing many writers do, but didn’t start in earnest until about four years ago, just after I’d finished writing the third book in a young adult fiction shape-shifting trilogy – a series which combined my love for the local animals with California history. It was a natural transition for me since I love history and had experience doing research with my fiction books.”

Asked if the event haunted her family, Rawls replies, “I know that Sheriff Anderson and Marcus Bennett were emotionally torn about the executions of two of the men. Both felt that these men should have received a life sentence instead of death. Other than that, except for my grandmother, who was probably more intrigued than haunted, I don’t know what the rest of my family thought. But for the model clipper ship and my grandmother’s college paper, it is doubtful this story would have survived.”

Sheriff James Madison Anderson. | Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls

In the course of her investigation, Rawls learned a few things that she hadn’t previously known and unearthed some personally meaningful finds.    

“I knew that my great-great-grandfather, James Madison Anderson, was sheriff of El Dorado County from 1886 to 1890, so I was aware that he was generally in charge of the men,” states Rawls. “Still, I didn’t fully understand his specific role in the hangings until I read the contemporary newspaper accounts. Furthermore, until I started researching, I didn’t grasp that it was my great-uncle, Marcus Percival Bennett, Sheriff Anderson’s son-in-law, who was the district attorney prosecuting the case. I can only imagine the discussions that the two men must have had over the trial and hangings.”

“There were many surprising discoveries, made possible through the numerous institutions that I visited, family members who opened up their collections, and the hundreds of newspapers I pored over online,” Rawls continues. “I learned that the ‘victim,’ farmer and rancher John Lowell, was hated by many, and there were probably dozens who wanted to see him dead. But of course, you take your victim as you find him. I also learned that the State of California keeps all the files in death penalty cases and that anyone can access them in person through the California State Archives.”

“And lucky for me, despite a fire that burned down the El Dorado County courthouse in 1910, the El Dorado County Historical Museum had the preliminary examination records and original exhibits” adds Rawls. “While most of the records at the museum were in cursive and at times challenging to read, nonetheless, holding these documents, I found myself transported back to the period.”

The iconic Placerville Bell Tower. | Photo courtesy of M.G. Rawls

The fantasy novels Rawls previously penned flexed her imagination and creative thinking. Writing a historical non-fiction, it seems, proved to be an adventure that was just as fun and pleasurable for her.

“While I did a lot of research for my fiction books, ‘Hanging Justice’ necessarily required exponentially more,” Rawls reveals. “Still, the research institutions and historical places visited and friends made along the way more than made up for the time spent. Plus, I like researching. For me, it’s detective work – with bits and pieces in various sources to be put together like a puzzle.”

Although that’s not to say that it was without its challenges. Declares Rawls, “This is my first non-fiction book, so accuracy was necessary. Besides, while it’s unconventional, I was determined to use footnotes instead of endnotes so the reader wouldn’t have to keep turning to the back. I’ve tried to make the story interesting, too.”

Writing “Hanging Justice” was a revelatory experience for Rawls as well.  

“Placerville is known as ‘Hangtown’ for the vigilante-driven hangings that occurred during the gold rush period, starting in 1849, after the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall in nearby Coloma, California, the previous year,” Rawls explains. “’Hanging Justice’ includes the telling of a particularly abhorrent hanging in 1852, when an ‘assemblage’ stormed the jail in Coloma and two men – one white and one black – were forcibly taken and hanged. The original account is in the El Dorado County Archives at the Huntington Library.”

A gold mine in El Dorado County. | Photo courtesy of Pixabay

“As highlighted in my book, the hangings for the killing of John Lowell were not the result of vigilantism,” clarifies Rawls. “They were legal executions after due process of law. Plus, like my great-great grandfather and great-uncle, many of the townspeople did not want two of the men to be executed. In my view, despite the circumstances surrounding these last hangings, Placerville had transformed into a lawful community and was determined to give these defendants a proper trial. The trial transcript in this case was over 600 pages, and the three men were represented by Placerville’s finest. Though in the end, Placerville’s best wasn’t good enough.”

This book isn’t your everyday read but Rawls thinks there’s valuable takeaway for someone who buys and peruses it.    

“‘Hanging Justice’ lays bare the factual and legal groundwork for what happened,” Rawls describes. “But I hope the book also allows the reader to reach their own conclusions as to whether justice was rendered by the hangings. Personally, I found the victim’s own trial for murder several years earlier and the legal issues surrounding two of the men’s appeals fascinating. But then I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to history.”

“Family stories worth keeping can be very fragile and will disappear if not written down,” pronounces Rawls. “The process of saving them can be both unifying and rewarding. In my case, despite the dark topic, this story has brought me together with cousins and friends I didn’t know I had, including the townspeople of Placerville. So I would urge readers to pursue their own family stories.”

During her countless trips to Placerville, Rawls learned that residents there today didn’t know about this particular event. As she worked on her book, she made it her mission to uncover all the documented facts so she could retell the story of what transpired over a century ago. It is a significant piece of their community’s history.        

M. G. Rawls Completes Series with Third Book ‘The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow: Henry’s Hopes’

/ May S Ruiz / Leave a comment

Also published on Hey SoCal on 14 September 2023

Chapter 28 ‘Extirpation’ illustration by J.J. Dunn | Rawls says, “I’m fascinated with the idea that there are extirpated animals and it makes me wonder whether they’ll come back | Photo courtesy of M.G. Rawls

While enjoying a refreshing glass of iced tea – and maybe a sandwich – on the balcony of M.G. Rawls’s home, you may get a sighting of a black bear. Or maybe a mountain lion. A review of her security camera from the previous night’s outdoor activity might show nocturnal creatures having free run of the creek that abuts her property.

They are the inspirations for the characters that inhabit The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow, a trilogy of young adult books created by Rawls in 2019 (Sorts are people who can transform into animals). Her first book, Hannah’s Fires, at 166 pages, follows a teenager’s story as she settles into her new home in Pasadena Hollow. The second installment, Tony’s Tales, is 224 pages and focuses on Hannah’s first friend there. The last in the series is Henry’s Hopes, which is 332 pages long and has just been released on Amazon as an ebook (order it here). It chronicles the life of an elderly Tongva shaman, one of the earliest residents in the area, who also serves as mentor for the young Sorts.

Chapter 1 ‘A Red Dragonfly and Birch Beer’ illustration by J. J. Dunn | Rawls says, “This red dragonfly landed on a single upright branch of a small apple tree in my yard. His face was so expressive, I couldn’t resist including him in my story. Birch beer (non-alcoholic) was a staple of my New England childhood and later visits.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls

Rawls graciously invites me for lunch followed by a short interview for a second article about her books (read first article here). I mention that each of the three books became increasingly longer, and ask if she planned it that way or if more ideas just came to her as she wrote.

“My initial thought was always to have three books but the audience would start at 5th grade and they would mature as I went along,” Rawls replies. “At the same time, it would help me, since I was a new writer, to be able to write in a way that I was comfortable with with each book. So you can see my progression through my work – it starts out simpler, then gets more complicated. I was always hoping that the reader who liked the book in 5th grade would like the next in 6th, and so on, as they were reading. I was writing it for middle schoolers and older.”

“With the exception of a few supporting characters, the main people in Henry’s Hopes were already part of the first,” Rawls adds. “One of the comments I received from readers is that there are so many to keep track of, so I included a list and description of characters at the beginning of each book.”  

Rawls kept to a fixed idea about how each book will flow. She explains, “Consistent with I told you in the first interview, the concept was the same with all three books. I created the chapter titles first and then built the story for each section. And what I wrote inspired me as I fleshed out that chapter. I pretty much stayed with the same titles I started out with; I made very little deviation from them.”          

Chapter 3 ‘Till Death Do Part’ illustration by J. J. Dunn| Rawls claims, “This one is pure fantasy. Thankfully, no one I know (except for Sparkle Bitters) ever sliced off the tail of a marine iguana.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls

I then ask if she has a favorite character in her books, and Rawls responds, “You had a similar question the first time you wrote an article about The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow and my answer is: if I did, I wouldn’t say. Although each book has its own unique characters. In the first, there’s Hannah, the young adult girl with the emotional constraints within her. In the second, there’s Tony, who’s somewhat reckless; I meant for Tony’s Tales to be a boys’ book; and in the third – the adult book – there’s Henry, the Tongva spiritual leader. He wants the best for everybody but he doesn’t necessarily go about it the right way; he tends to be Machiavellian.”    

“Did the idea to write a book set in your neck of the woods happen organically or was there a particular moment or instance when it occurred?” I query. Rawls replies, “The inspiration for this series came from an article in the L.A. Times – which I included in Hannah’s Fires – about an engineer who was convinced there were half-lizards living deep under the ground with a cache of gold and arranged to dig for it. I was so intrigued by that article and it motivated me to create these characters.

“Besides that, we live next to a creek and I can hear the water running – especially when the door is open at night. Most (not all) of the animal events in my books have their genesis in reality. In the first book, for example, there’s a raven who tries to steal Hannah’s bracelet and pretends he hurt his wing to try to get sympathy from her because he likes her. About 10 or 15 years ago, my husband found what he thought was an injured juvenile raven. We took it in for the night and the next morning there was such a squawking outside, it woke us up. Dozens of ravens were on our fence and across the street staring at us – it was clear what they wanted. We brought out the juvenile and he flew off unhurt. My daughter named that raven Nicky and she would look for it at her school. I later heard that ravens are very smart and will sometimes feign injury to get attention.”

“As I said during your first interview, I had been nurturing this story in my mind since we moved here in 1988. When the idea to write these books happened, all the stories that have accumulated over the years living here started coming back to me,” she continues. “In 2019, I began writing them as notes on my iPhone in the early morning and they got longer and longer. Finally I started pruning it out and thought ‘Oh, this is interesting.’ It gave me comfort – it was a world I could escape into.”   

Chapter 11 ‘The Jeweled Koi’ illustration by J. J. Dunn | Rawls states, “I had a number of goldfish growing up including one named ‘Goldy’ who lived for several years until one day she jumped out and the consequences were tragic. The jewels were inspired by a book I read where the rulers kept giant kois in ponds and they attached precious jewels to their tails.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls

Unlike some popular fantasy young adult books set in dystopian worlds, the Sorts live in a utopian society. Rawls intentionally created an inclusive world where everyone is accepted. Without calling attention to it, she ensured there was representation for people of diverse race, age, and sexual orientation.                            

While some authors say they wish they had written something differently, Rawls stands by what she has created. “I’m fine with how they all turned out. If there was something I put in the book that sent me on a different path, I went along where that led me. That’s not to say I abandoned an idea or that I didn’t have a particular destination – I had the chapter titles to guide me – but the road wasn’t restricted.”

The ending to her third book wasn’t planned in advance. Rawls reveals in jest, “A writer I know once told me that every story needs to have an arc. Until she said that I hadn’t heard of the word. I didn’t know what it meant; I think I had to look it up because I was embarrassed. So I worked on my arc. Seriously, though, I had an idea how I wanted it to end, but not the specifics. It only came to me as I got there.”          

Chapter 33 “Wedding of Sorts’ illustration by J. J. Dunn | Rawls describes, “I thought the Tongva phrase ‘My heart is with you’ was appropriate for a wedding book. J. J. Dunn based her painting on her husband’s German family book. I added the stink bug and hibiscus from my yard.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls

When I ask her to describe how she felt after completing the last book in the trilogy, Rawls simply answers, “These characters have taken a life of their own – my job is done!”

At the end of Henry’s Hopes, we find Lydia as the voice for the characters and the narrator of events we’ve been following. It comes as a surprise. And yet it’s because she isn’t a Sort – not in spite of it – that makes her the logical storyteller. As Rawls says, “The events that happen are everyday occurrences for the Sorts so they don’t find them interesting. But they’re not normal activities for Lydia so she’s fascinated by them. Being an investigative reporter, she thinks of them as a mystery to be unraveled.”

Rawls’s characters grow with her as she matures in her writing. While she starts out tentative in Hannah’s Fires, she gets more confident in Tony’s Tales, and reaches her stride in Henry’s Hopes. In the same vein, a reader slowly gains insight about them and inevitably becomes invested in Hannah, Tony, Henry, and all the Sorts in Pasadena Hollow… and feels sad that there won’t be another book to look forward to. But Rawls also leaves a huge gap where a reader can infer that events will have transpired, leaving the possibility open for her to pick up where she left off.

As with painters and other artists, authors cede control of their work once it’s out there for the public to make of it what they will. So we can imagine for ourselves milestones happening during that gap – or

‘The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow’ Features Local History and Wildlife

/ May S Ruiz / 1 Comment

Originally published on 12 November 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly

Illustration by J.J. Dunn | Courtesy photo / M.G. Rawls

Pasadena is only 12 miles from the hustle and bustle of downtown Los Angeles, but you’d never know it if you are a resident of its canyon area. Here, busy activity comes from the bears, mountain lions, and exotic wildlife that call it home. Human residents are used to observing animals we would otherwise only see at the zoo go about their daily existence.

In a newly published young adult book called ‘The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow: Hannah’s Fires,’ (available on Amazon) humans and the wildlife share equal billing as well as the locale’s physical space. Readers will be excited to read on and find out what creatures are lurking in the book’s pages.

‘The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow’ is an unexpected offering from M. G. Rawls, a former lawyer who spent her working career battling with contractors who had failed to pay pension and fringe benefit contributions on behalf of their union employees. Let me add that I am also her friend and, in all the years I’ve known her, never imagined she would come up with this book. But, as this article will reveal, there is a logical explanation for the theme choice.

Conducting the interview by email, I start by remarking, “I’ve heard of previous lawyers who ended up writing legal thrillers, proving the adage that you write what you know. And that begs the question – why fantasy? Have you been harboring an interest in the genre for a while?”

“Great question!” answers Rawls. “I’ve wondered about this myself. Before retiring in 2013, I represented union trust funds in breach of contract actions. I enjoyed what I did, but it’s probably not an exciting basis for a novel.”

“What inspires and continues to inspire me is living in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles Crest Forest and watching bears with cubs, deer, coyotes, skunks, mountain lions, foxes, miner’s cats (bet most have never heard of those stripe-tailed and raccoon-eyed nocturnal animals), the list of sightings is endless. Many of the descriptions in my fantasy story have their genesis in real events that happened and most of the wild animals I write about are local to the Pasadena and surrounding areas. I have been nurturing this story in my mind since I moved here in 1988,” reveals Rawls.

“Did the ideas about what animals to include in the books come before the people?” I ask, and Rawls replies, “No, generally the people came first and then as I developed their characters, their animal forms emerged.”

Illustration by J.J. Dunn | Courtesy photo / M.G. Rawls

One of Rawls’s characters is a Tongva man and I ask what compelled her to write about the tribe. She responds, “I first learned about the Tongva, an indigenous people that inhabited the area thousands of years before the Europeans settlers, through docent training at the Pasadena Museum of History. Their descendants exist today and their language continues to be taught. I love history, especially local history and wanted to learn more, so in researching the Tongva, I discovered that they believe in a spiritual connection between themselves, animals, and the land. That is fascinating to me, given the little canyon where I live. There is so much more I want to learn; I hope to do further research on this.”

The book includes real events that transpired in Pasadena and I ask if she investigated major events that made the news to build around and if there were places she wanted to include beforehand.

“I did both,” discloses Rawls. “It was fun to put the pieces together as I wrote the story. Having been an attorney, I worked to make my fantasy story as logical as possible. For example, there was a small discovery of gold in Southern California in 1842 before the major discovery in Northern California in 1848 at Sutter’s Sawmill in Coloma. I found that idea fascinating and built a small subplot around it. Also, one of the largest solar storms to hit the earth, known as the Carrington event, occurred in 1859. It was so bright, it was reported that gold prospectors got up thinking it was morning. That event is an important part of my books, but written in a way that I hope readers will remember. As for local places, between the three books, I think I will have written about every place of interest in the Pasadena area from the Cawston Ostrich Farm in South Pasadena (closed in 1935) to Pasadena City College and the Huntington Library in San Marino.

“Why did you chose to make it a fantasy story and why did you give your characters extraordinary powers?” I inquire. “Every writer is different of course,” Rawls states. “But for me, writing fantasy allowed me to expand my love of history in a creative manner. I wanted to include local history, but also have the flexibility to invent when needed. Wrapping local history with fantasy is my sneaky way of making history interesting and memorable to younger readers.

“I forgot to mention that I’m also a volunteer in the Junior Docent program at the Museum, training seventh and eighth graders in tours of the historic Fenyes mansion. So I’ve had some experience seeing what works and doesn’t work in retaining information.”

Illustration by J.J. Dunn | Courtesy photo / M.G. Rawls

Then I inquire how she decided on who her protagonists were going to be, whether training young people had any bearing on her choice, and if she thought the Z Generation had more compelling life challenges to overcome.

Rawls says, “In this first book, I knew it was going to be a young female. In that regard, I guess you do write what you know, since I was once 19. Though I want to stress this is a fictional story. I don’t know that training the junior docents influenced me other than hearing what interests them – like the stuffed owl and marmoset monkey cage in the Mansion’s studio. You may see these in Henry’s Hopes. I think young or old we all have life challenges to overcome, though the young may have the additional burden of not knowing where they’re headed, having so much of their life in front of them.”

“Why did you give them extraordinary powers?” I ask. “That’s an easy one,” declares Rawls. “In Hannah’s case, she is a 19-year-old girl who’s had a tough life, with no real family, and an evil stepfather. She suffers from nightmares and real life demons that she cannot get rid of. But there is hope as she enters this magical place called Pasadena Hollow.”

Curious about her process, I inquire, “Did you already have all the components planned out before you set out to write the books or did you make them up as you went along? Did you base some of your characters on people you know or have met or are they purely imagined?”

Replies Rawls, “Essentially, what I did is title my chapters and then write the story around the names of the chapters. I have no idea if this is how it’s supposed to be done. But it was important to me to get chapter names I was happy with. All three books are the same, chapter headings first and no outline. My characters are fictional! Even if there was a connection with a real person, living or deceased, I don’t know that I would say who it was.”

Asked what was the most difficult hurdle to overcome as she wrote, Rawls confesses, “Probably myself. I didn’t even tell my husband I’d written a book, until I handed him a near final draft. He took it in good stride and was very supportive, but he read it so fast I went back and lengthened it!”       

Illustration by J.J. Dunn | Courtesy photo / M.G. Rawls

“Where did the name ‘sorts’ for these fantasy characters come from?” I query. And Rawls says, “It’s from the phrase ‘It takes all sorts,’ that I’ve been fascinated with forever. I couldn’t figure if the phrase was positive or negative, so I’ve used it for both and included it in my prologue. I don’t know the origin – maybe one of your savvy readers does.

“I’ve even taken to sometimes calling the creatures we see on a daily basis, ‘Sorts.’ You know, the grasshopper that clings to the screen door, the cricket that chirps inside the house or apartment, but you cannot locate, even the friendly jumping spider with the inquisitive eyes and red body I found in my house and relocated outside. Even if we don’t live near the forest, I think we’ve all wondered about these everyday creatures. – what they’re thinking and who they really are…”

‘Hannah’s Fires’ is the first installment in a planned trilogy. I ask her how far the characters’ arcs go and if the books will span several years as they grow older. Rawls replies, “In book two, ‘The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow: Tony’s Tales,’ the characters only age a few months, but you learn more about their back stories and personalities. And this second book takes a deep look, literally, as to what lives or rather lurks deep under Pasadena. I met with a Caltech geologist and despite my insistent prodding, he assures me that absolutely nothing like I imagined lives under Pasadena. But who knows? Haven’t we only gone down about seven miles? As you can probably tell, I’m a big fan of Jules Verne, having read ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth.’

“The third book, ‘Henry’s Hopes,’ continues the same time period, but just might have a brief flash forward at the end. ‘Tony’s Tales’ is nearing final edits and will appear first as an e-book without illustrations. I have also completed the first draft on ‘Henry’s Hopes,’ which should be online by late next year.”

‘The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow’ is aimed at readers from middle-school age to adults. Rawls asserts, “There is no reason why adults can’t enjoy fantasy or, in my case, enjoy fantasy writing. I want my readers to be able to escape, even if only for a brief period.”

Readers, young and old, will be treated to beautiful full-color drawings that begin each chapter in the ebook and a colored edition of the paperback, which is now an available option (order here). Rawls enthuses, “I want to give a shout out to the  illustrator, JJ Dunn. JJ has been a friend since our children were in preschool, but I never knew she could draw until she gave me a picture for Christmas a couple of years ago. Her pictures are amazing! I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.”

Having been a Pasadena resident close to four decades, I was fascinated to discover its history through Rawls’s book. It gave me such a thrill that some of the landmarks where the events happen are places I frequent and know very well. I had fun figuring out what a fictional location’s real name is and trying to guess who a character is based on. It’s almost like an insider’s view of Pasadena and its residents. And that’s fantastic!