California Novels: The Match Game Quiz

Answer: Sue Grafton

Sue Grafton published "A is for Alibi", the first of her alphabet murder mysteries, in 1982. The series was based on the adventures of private investigator Kinsey Millhone, who lived in Santa Teresa, which is actually Santa Barbara. Grafton used the name Santa Teresa in homage to mystery writer Ross Macdonald, who had also renamed Santa Barbara as Santa Teresa.

The alphabet series ended with "Y is for Yesterday", as Grafton passed away in her beloved Santa Barbara in December, 2017.

Answer: Jack Kerouac

Beat generation writer Jack Kerouac published his novel "Big Sur" in 1962. It was based somewhat on his own life: unsure how to deal with emerging success, a writer retreated to the isolated beauty of Big Sur, a rugged Central Coast area where sea meets mountains.

Answer: John Steinbeck

"Cannery Row" is one of many books John Steinbeck set in California. Although "Of Mice and Men" and "The Grapes of Wrath" are considered Steinbeck's best works, "Cannery Row" is lighter in tone, following the lives of a group of eccentric people living in the Monterey Bay area.

Answer: Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick was a prolific science fiction writer; he wrote "The Man in the High Castle", an alternative history in which Germany won World War II, in 1962. The novel had several plotlines, one of which was based in Japan-occupied San Francisco.

Answer: Scott O'Dell

"Island of the Blue Dolphins" was published in 1960. It was loosely based on the true story of Juana Maria, a Nicoleņo Native American who lived alone for 18 years after the rest of her family and fellow villagers sailed to the mainland. It was set on the small San Nicolas Island, which is located about 50 miles southwest of Los Angeles.

Answer: Karen Joy Fowler

Karen Joy Fowler had already written a few books before she published "The Jane Austen Book Club" in 2004. The story followed six members of a Sacramento-area book club, and showed how their own stories paralleled those in six of Austen's works. Fowler was born in Indiana, but has lived in California since she was 11 years old.

Answer: James M. Cain

"Mildred Pierce" was a rather grim story by James M. Cain set in Los Angeles in the Great Depression. The story follows Mildred, a middle-class housewife desperate to keep social standing despite her family's plummeting finances. Cain's first novel was "The Postman Always Rings Twice", which earned instant acclaim when he published it in 1934.

Answer: Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland named a generation when he published "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture" in 1991. Narrated by characters who were born between the early 1960s and the early 1980s, "Generation X" was set in a desert valley in southern California.

Answer: Raymond Chandler

When Raymond Chandler published "The Big Sleep" in 1939, he debuted Philip Marlowe, a hardboiled private detective who could navigate the glitzy as well as the gritty side of Los Angeles. "The Big Sleep" depicts a wealthy man, his adult daughters, and a complex murder.

Answer: Janet Fitch

Janet Fitch published "White Oleander" in 1999. The story follows Astrid, daughter of the beautiful but vengeful Ingrid, living in southern California. As the warm Santa Ana winds blow through the area, Astrid navigates life with and without her mother.