Coronado Times

Scooby Doo Halloween Mystery
2025-10-24 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Solve the Mystery of the Library Ghost with Scooby Doo and the Gang! A ghost has trapped the Mystery Gang inside the library’s books — can you crack the clues and set them free? Wander through the stacks, uncover hidden hints, and match each character to their story at this special after hours library event. Recommended for ages 5+
This program is made possible by the Friends of the Coronado Public Library.

Write Your Story: Networking and Marketing for Introverts
2025-11-12 18:30 - 20:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
The Coronado Public Library and the San Diego Writers Festival will host a series of writing workshops this fall. Each focused on a different topic, writers both new and experienced will find new strategies to hone their craft. Writers who attend a workshop will have the opportunity to have the entry fee waived if they choose to participate in Acorn Publishing Debut Author contest (details available here.)

This month, attendees will learn tips to help get the word out on their work. From first to final draft, a writer works with a very select few individuals. All that changes as you near publication, and beyond. As a writer you now must market your work, and yourself. That’s a tough job. It can be even tougher when you’re an introvert. In this workshop you’ll learn your introvert type, and the natural abilities that come with that type. We’ll talk about how to use those hidden skills to grow your network and readership in a way that feels natural and comfortable. Extroverts welcome!
This event will take place via Zoom. Register below to receive the Zoom link for this event.

Dennis K. Crosby is an award-winning author, speaker, and workshop leader with an MFA in Creative Writing. Since 2020 he has published three urban fantasy novels and fifteen short stories found in various anthologies including Weird Tales Magazine #370. He’s been a panelist and moderator at WonderCon, Comic-Con International, Nebula, and StokerCon 2024 where he also served as Co-Chair. In March 2025 he was awarded the Jonathan Maberry Inspiring Teens Award from the Creative Writing Club at Canyon Crest Academy. For more about Dennis, including interviews and podcast episodes in which he is featured, visit www.denniskcrosby.com.

Musical Storytime Takeover with Nightingale Music
2025-11-18 11:00 - 11:30 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Enjoy a special storytime takeover by Nightingale Music! We’ll play with lollipop drums, rainbow scarves, tambourines, maracas and more. Marvin the Monkey will come by and teach us the major scale and we’ll learn to stomp and dance like the elephants in the jungle. We’ll pop bubbles to the beat and have a guitar time sing-a-long. For ages 0-5 and their favorite adult.
Nightingale Music classes bring out your child’s natural ability for music and creates a relaxed, playful environment for learning, so don’t miss the fun Tuesday, November 18 at 11 am.
Toddler storytime will resume as normal after this fun takeover.

Holiday book and gift sale
2025-11-22 10:00 - 15:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
FALL FUNDRAISER 🍂
Holiday Books & Gift Sale
Find pre-loved books for children and adults, plus coffee table books, DVDs, holiday cards, Christmas books, and unique gift items — perfect for thoughtful, sustainable holiday shopping. All proceeds support Library programs — visit CoronadoFOL.org to learn more about how we help our beloved Coronado Public Library.
Family and Member Corner! Enjoy face painting and fun activities for young readers while you browse. The Friends of the Coronado Public Library are also hosting a special book signing with Eric Wolfinger in celebration of his latest work, The Blue Food Cookbook (book signing 12-1 pm).
Credit and debit cards preferred. Please bring your own bags.
Event will be canceled in the event of rain.

"Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking" with Pyet Despain
2025-11-22 15:00 - 16:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Join us for an inspiring afternoon with Pyet DeSpain, winner of Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef and author of the debut cookbook Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking. Pyet will share how her heritage infuses every recipe with tradition, resilience, and deep respect for the earth, weaving together stories, flavors, and ancestral wisdom. DeSpain won’t be the only award winning chef in attendance at this event as she will be in conversation with Masterchef winner Claudia Sandoval!
This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served, subject to availability. Limited preferred seating is available with purchase of Rooted in Fire: A Celebration of Native American and Mexican Cooking through Adventure’s by the Book. Please visit adventuresbythebook.com/calendar-event/despain-pyet-11-22-25/ for more information.

Best of the Best Book Club: "There, There" by Tommy Orange
2025-11-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
The Coronado Public Library’s Best of the Best Book Club meets regularly on the fourth Wednesday of each month to discuss books that have won major awards.
For our October meeting, we will discuss the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award winner There, There by Tommy Orange, a wondrous and shattering novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.
Place this title on hold via our online catalog, or check out the e-book through the CloudLibrary app.
About There, There
Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle’s death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. They converge and collide on one fateful day at the Big Oakland Powwow and together this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American — grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism
A book with “so much jangling energy and brings so much news from a distinct corner of American life that it’s a revelation” (The New York Times). It is fierce, funny, suspenseful, and impossible to put down — full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with urgency and force. There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.

Inside the Hanoi Hilton: The Story of POW Doug Hegdahl
2025-12-03 11:00 - 12:00 | Zoom, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
The Coronado Public Library and Historical Association invites you to a virtual event on Wednesday, Dec. 3 as Marc Leepson, the author of the best-selling book, The Unlikely War Hero: A Vietnam War POW’s Story of Courage and Resilience in the Hanoi Hilton, discusses the amazing Vietnam War story of Doug Hegdahl, the youngest and lowest-ranking POW captured in North Vietnam and held in Hanoi.
This event will take place via Zoom. Register through the “Register Now” button below to receive the Zoom link for this event.
Register Now
“What a strange, fascinating, and ultimately powerful account of one man’s endurance of life as a POW during the American war in Vietnam . . . This book, I believe, will stand the test of time as one of the finest nonfiction narratives to emerge from the Vietnam War.” —Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried

Journalist and historian Marc Leepson is the author of eleven books, including four biographies: What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, A Life; Lafayette: Idealist General; The Ballad of the Green Beret; and The Unlikely War Hero. A former staff writer for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., he written for many newspapers and magazines, and the Encyclopedia Britannic, and has been interviewed many times on radio and television, including on The Today Show, Discovery Channel, The History Channel, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and The BBC NewsHour. He is Senior Writer, Arts Editor and columnist for The VVA Veteran, the magazine published by Vietnam Veterans of America, and taught U.S. history at Laurel Ridge Community College in Warrenton, Va. from 2008-15.
Marc Leepson graduated from George Washington University in 1967. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1967-69, including a year in the Vietnam War, he received his honorable discharge and went on to earn a Master’s Degree in history from George Washington in 1971. He lives in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Santa Storytime
2025-12-12 11:00 - 12:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Bring your littles ones for a special Santa Storytime! Join Santa for a story followed by a photo meet and greet opportunity with the big guy himself.

Mystery Book Club: "Playing for the Ashes"
2025-12-15 14:00 - 15:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
The Coronado Public Library’s Mystery Book club meets regularly on the third Monday of each month. Receive reminder emails about our meeting by registering. Registration is encouraged but not required.

This month we will be discussing Playing for the Ashes by Elizabeth George. Check out the book in print from the Coronado Library catalog by clicking here, or ebook and e-audiobook format by checking the catalogs of your Libby and CloudLibrary apps.

Best of the Best Book Club: "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers
2025-12-17 11:00 - 12:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
The Coronado Public Library’s Best of the Best Book Club meets regularly on the fourth Wednesday of each month to discuss books that have won major awards. Please note the different date this month due to the holiday.
For our December meeting, we will discuss the 2022 Hugo Award winner A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, a novel that asks us: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
Place this title on hold via our online catalog, or check out the e-book through the CloudLibrary app.

About A Psalm for the Wild-Built
It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They’re going to need to ask it a lot.

Poetry for the People
2026-01-07 11:00 - 12:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
This year’s course will feature poems by state poets laureate. The responsibility of a State Poet Laureate is essentially the same as the U.S Poets Laureate, “…to make public appearances at poetry readings or literary events and to promote awareness of poetry.” 46 states and the District of Columbia have a State Poet Laureate, most appointed for a one or two-year term.
Those participating in Poetry For The People XXlll will read selections from these State Poet Laureates and, most importantly, are encouraged to bring to the discussions their own insights, observations and perceptions. Class members’ contributions are a vital part of the class experience.

Chuck Kamar received his bachelor’s from Boston State and his master’s from Boston University. He taught for 34 years in the Newton Public Schools, the last 20 of which were at Newton North High School. In 1998 he won the Paul E. Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Register to receive reminder emails for this series. Registration is encouraged, but not required.

The Hive of Five: Historical fiction author event
2026-01-08 18:30 - 19:30 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
One incredible night, five New York Times bestselling historical fiction authors.

Kate Quinn (The Astral Library), Stephanie Dray (Becoming Madam Secretary), Kristina McMorris (The Girls of Good Fortune), Allison Pataki (It Girl), and Madeline Martin (The Secret Book Society) will come together to share the research, revelations, and hidden histories that bring their novels to life, offering readers a rare glimpse into the past through their collective expertise. After their discussion, a Q&A and book signing will follow.
This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served, subject to availability. Limited preferred seating is available with purchase of the newest release of one of the authors through Adventures by the Book. Please visit https://adventuresbythebook.com/calendar-event/history-hive-1-8-26/ for more information.

Kate Quinn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction whose work spans ancient Rome, the Italian Renaissance, and most recently the 20th century with hits like The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. A native of Southern California with degrees in Classical Voice from Boston University, she now lives in Maryland with her husband and rescue dogs. Her upcoming novel, The Astral Library (February 2026), offers a fantastical adventure inviting readers into a world where books become portals to new lives and limitless possibilities.

Stephanie Dray is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author known for richly researched historical novels such as The Women of Chateau Lafayette, My Dear Hamilton, and America’s First Daughter. Her award-winning work on the often-overlooked Founding Mothers has been translated into eight languages. Based in Maryland with her husband, cats, and a home full of history books, she recently released Becoming Madam Secretary, about trailblazing labor secretary Frances Perkins, and will soon publish A Founding Mother, an intimate portrait of Abigail Adams timed to the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Kristina McMorris is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of ten historical works, including the million-copy bestseller Sold on a Monday and the international bestseller The Ways We Hide, a top Target pick of 2022. A recipient of more than twenty national awards and a former television host who began her career at age nine, she now divides her time between San Diego and Oregon, where she’s raising two collegiate sons. Her latest novel, The Girls of Good Fortune, explores family, identity, and buried histories tied to Portland’s mysterious Shanghai Tunnels.

Allison Pataki is a New York Times bestselling author of numerous historical novels—including Finding Margaret Fuller, The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post, and The Queen’s Fortune—as well as a memoir and children’s books, with her work translated into more than 24 languages. A former news writer and producer, she has contributed to major media outlets and appeared on national television programs. A Yale graduate and certified yoga instructor, she lives in New York with her family. Her forthcoming novel, It Girl (March 2026), chronicles the dramatic rise of America’s original “It Girl.”

Madeline Martin is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of historical fiction and romance, including The Booklover’s Library, The Keeper of Hidden Books, and The Librarian Spy, with her novels translated into more than 25 languages. Living in Florida with her family and two spoiled cats, she credits her love of history to her upbringing as an Army brat in Germany. Her newest release, The Secret Book Society, a USA Today bestseller, transports readers to Victorian London for a tale of a forbidden book club, dangerous secrets, and brave women defying convention.

From Plate to Page: An evening with Jessica Secrest
2026-01-13 19:00 - 20:00 | Coronado Performing Arts Center, 650 D Avenue, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Coronado Public Library, in partnership with Warwick’s Bookstore, welcomes @applesauceandadhd Jessica Secrest as she discusses her new cookbook OF COURSE IT’S GOOD! on Tuesday, January 13.
This event is a fundraiser for the Friends of the Coronado Public Library and a paid ticket is required to enter. Ticket options are:

$10 entry only
$31.60 for admission for one person and one copy of OF COURSE IT’S GOOD
$39.83 for admission for two people and one copy of OF COURSE IT’S GOOD
Check-in starts/doors open at 6:15 pm. Please print out your tickets or have the QR code available on your phone.
Seating is first-come, first served.
“With Book” ticketholders will receive a paperback copy of OF COURSE IT’S GOOD at check-in.
Additional books will be available for purchase at this event.
The Performing Arts Center is directly behind the Coronado Public Library. You can view a parking map HERE. The two lots marked “school parking lots (for select events only)” will be available.
Purchase tickets online HERE.

About the Author
Jessica Secrest is a mom, home chef, and the creator of the popular social media page @applesauceandadhd.

About OF COURSE IT’S GOOD: None of the Nonsense, All of the Flavor
Prepare delicious meals with this no-frills, all-flavor recipe collection from Jessica Secrest, the wildly popular home chef known for her hostile humor and affordable recipes. Her long-awaited debut cookbook has an array of mouthwatering meals that focus on low-effort ingredients and techniques — think pre-shredded cheese, tater tots galore, and your handy-dandy slow cooker — so you’ll have an endless source of recipes to feed your family without wasting time or money.
Jessica’s signature style is present throughout each page, loudly guiding you in the kitchen and reminding you that tasty cooking doesn’t always need to be done with a smile. Recipes include:
– The BEST Baked Mac and Cheese
– Taco Potato Tot Casserole
– Egg Roll in a Bowl
– Cowboy BBQ Burgers
– Teriyaki Pork
– Fried Pickle Quesadillas
– Sloppy Joe Fries
– Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip
Whether you are looking to tackle weeknight dinner, Sunday breakfast, or an out-of-nowhere dessert craving, you’ll have Jessica in your corner each step of the way, aggressively reminding you that no matter what you create, there’s no doubt it’ll be good.

Mystery Book Club: M is for Malice
2026-01-26 14:00 - 15:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
The Coronado Public Library’s Mystery Book club will meet regularly on the third Monday of each month. Due to the holiday this month, we will be meeting on the fourth Monday. Receive reminder emails about our meeting by registering below. Registration is encouraged but not required.
We will be discussing M is for Malice by Sue Grafton. Check out the book in print or ebook format from the Coronado Library Catalog by clicking here.

An evening with Oscar nominee and author John Sayles
2026-01-27 19:00 - 20:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Be one of the first to hear acclaimed filmmaker and two-time Oscar nominee John Sayles discuss his latest novel, Crucible. This newest historical novel is a complex and sweeping story about Henry Ford—the Elon Musk of his day—and his attempt to rule not only an automotive empire but the rambunctious city of Detroit. It is an epic tale ranging from the 1920s through the second World War, featuring violent labor disputes, misbegotten jungle expeditions, a tragic race riot, and the Gestapo tactics of Ford’s private army.
Sayles will be in conversation with Coronado Island Film Festival Executive Director Merridee Book, discussing the inspirations behind the book and how the novel’s characters create the tapestry of differing points of view that John Sayles has become famous for.
A book-signing will follow. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served, subject to availability. Limited preferred seating is available with purchase of Crucible through Warwick’s bookstore. Please visit www.warwicks.com/sayles-2026-reserved-seat or call the store at 858-454-0347 for more information.

John Sayles is a much-celebrated film director who has made 18 movies, beginning in 1980 when his debut Return of the Secaucus Seven was released. Among the other movies he is known for directing—and often writing as well—are Lianna, Brother from Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, City of Hope, Sunshine State, Passion Fish, and Lone Star, the last two of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay. He also has written screenplays for other directors, including the iconic 1980s horror movies The Howling and Alligator. Sayles also directed three of Bruce Springsteen’s most famed music videos for the songs Born in the USA, Glory Days and I’m on Fire.
As an author, Sayles has written numerous novels and short stories since 1975, when his first novel, Pride of the Bimbos, appeared. His second novel, Union Dues, was nominated for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Subsequent books include At the Anarchist’s Convention, Los Gusanos, Dillinger in Hollywood, A Moment in the Sun, and Yellow Earth. Sayles has been honored by, or been guest speaker for, such respected organizations as the American Historical Association, the Modern Language Association, and the American Studies Association. His screenplay for the film Sonora, released in 2021, won the Ariel Award, Mexico’s equivalent to the Oscar, for Best Adapted Screenplay. Sayles divides his time between Los Angeles and Connecticut.
About the Book
Already the gateway for illegal Canadian liquor during Prohibition, the Motor City becomes a crucible for American class conflict during the Great Depression, with an army of laid off Ford workers drifting into the ranks of the burgeoning union movement—Henry Ford’s worst nightmare. To keep the hundreds of thousands still employed by him in thrall, the man who was formerly ‘America’s favorite tycoon’ recruits black laborers migrating from the deep South to serve as ‘strike insurance’, and gives Harry Bennett, pugnacious as he is diminutive, free reign over the legion of barroom brawlers and ex-cons who make up the company’s ‘Security Department’.
The Model T mogul has also bought a sizable chunk of Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest, vowing to grow his own rubber for tires, but stubbornly refusing to include a botanist in his troop of would-be jungle tamers. As a series of biological plagues descend on the Fordlandia plantation, the racial melting pot he has created in Detroit begins to boil over, and not even the Sage of Dearborn can control the forces that have been unleashed.
Merridee Book is the CEO + Artistic Director of the Coronado Island Film Festival. Before that, she spent three years as the Vice President of Development at the San Diego International Film Festival. She has held key positions in the arts and entertainment industry, and the non-profit sector for 30 years, working with bestselling authors, artists, musicians, filmmakers, major studios and record labels. These relationships culminated in producing and hosting an inspirational television program, DeeperLiving. She has held several board director positions including the Coronado School of the Arts and she currently sits on the board of the well-respected Patrons of the Prado, a non-profit that raises funds for ten beneficiaries in Balboa Park, the largest urban park in the U.S.

Best of the Best Book Club: "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan
2026-01-28 11:00 - 12:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
The Coronado Public Library’s Best of the Best Book Club meets regularly on the fourth Wednesday of each month to discuss books that have won major awards.
For our January meeting, we will discuss the 2014 Booker Prize Winner The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, a magisterial novel of love and war that traces the life of one man from World War II to the present.
Place this title on hold via our online catalog, or check out the e-book through the CloudLibrary app.
About The Narrow Road to the Deep North
August, 1943: Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. His life, in a brutal Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma Death Railway, is a daily struggle to save the men under his command. Until he receives a letter that will change him forever.
A savagely beautiful novel about the many forms of good and evil, of truth and transcendence, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.

Secrets before shelf date: A pre-pub launch with Kaira Rouda on "We Were Never Friends'
2026-01-28 18:00 - 19:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Join the Library and Adventures by the Book for a special author event and book launch featuring thriller author Kaira Rouda and her new book We Were Never Friends.
Five former Theta Gamma Mu sorority sisters reunite at Roxy Gentry’s luxurious Palm Springs estate for what’s supposed to be a celebratory engagement weekend, but old grudges and long-buried secrets quickly surface. The glamorous setting echoes a Spring Break tragedy from 25 years ago, and as tensions rise, the weekend spirals into a dangerous reckoning. Darkly funny, deliciously dramatic, and dripping with suspense, this is a reunion you’ll never forget. Dive into the twisty world of We Were Never Friends, where sisterhood is forever, friendships are… complicated, and the past never stays buried.
This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served, subject to availability. Limited preferred seating is available with purchase of We Were Never Friends through Adventures by the Book.
Please visit adventuresbythebook.com/calendar-event/kaira-rouda-01-28-26/or more information.

About the Author
Kaira Rouda is an award-winning USA Today, Amazon #1, and International Bestselling Author of contemporary fiction that explores what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Three of her novels have been named Amazon Editor’s Picks for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. The Next Wife was named a Suspense Magazine’s Best Book of 2021 Award, and a 2022 Silver Falchion for Best Suspense Novel and a 2022 Silver Falchion first runner-up for Best Book of the Year. To date, her novels have been translated into a dozen languages.
A former magazine editor and society columnist, Kaira won the Stevie Award for Women in Business for creating the first female-focused residential real estate brand, Real Living, and growing the brand to more than 22 states before its sale to Berkshire Hathaway. Her first book, Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs led to a national speaking tour where she inspired thousands.
About the Book
Sisters? Forever. Friends? NEVER. Who knew a reunion weekend could be so deadly?
Meet the sorority sisters of Theta Gamma Mu:

Roxy Callahan Gentry, the ruthless former sorority president and current hostess who has painstakingly choreographed every detail of this weekend—even matching the cocktails to her couture—to prove that she remains their undisputed queen
Amelia Dell, the widow drenched in old money and alcohol, with her big pot-stirring spoon and uninvited boy-toy in tow
Jamie Vale, the double-legacy pledge, straight-A student with no sparkle, now a top cardiologist with a picture-perfect family—and a well-guarded bad habit
Beth Harrison, the scholarship student who never quite fit in and was only admitted because her best friend Sunny insisted that the two were a package deal
Sunny Spencer, the carefree and beloved friend to all, or so it seemed—until she wasn’t

They’ve been summoned to Roxy’s luxurious Palm Springs vacation home to celebrate the engagement of her son to Beth’s daughter. But the refurbished 1920s estate is eerily reminiscent of the hotel where tragedy struck during Spring Break twenty-five years ago. Long-simmering tensions and shocking secrets begin bubbling to the surface like bodies—because while the weekend was supposed to be about celebrating the future, it’s not so easy to bury the past…

Ink & intrigue: "Hooked" with Caitlin Rother
2026-02-05 19:00 | Coronado Public Library, 640 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA, 92118, United States
Join us for an evening with Caitlin Rother, bestselling author and investigative journalist, as she explores the twists and turns of her latest thriller, Hooked, set right here in San Diego. Drawing on her background in true-crime reporting — including her acclaimed Death on Ocean Boulevard, set in Coronado — Rother brings real-world tension and insight to her fiction. Hear how investigative journalism fuels her suspenseful storytelling and what it takes to keep readers guessing until the final page.
Books will be available for sale at the event and a book signing will follow the talk.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Investigative reporter Katrina Chopin is back home in San Diego on a mission (or two). The first is personal: reheating the cold case of her parents’ murder and investigating her brother’s reported suicide. The second involves a new spate of deaths with alleged causes that just don’t smell right. She and Detective Ken Goode need each other’s help for both. But she has to keep the sexy surfer at arm’s length, because dating him is off limits. For now.
Teaming up, they make coordinated progress down each path. Digging deeper into La Jolla’s corrupt network of elites, they uncover a pattern of lies, depravity, and greed. And with every new discovery, Katrina is pulled closer to danger…and to Goode.
Sharing sexy phone calls and sunset drinks isn’t exactly following the rules, but fully crossing that line could jeopardize the case. As they start to connect the dots, they realize they must risk everything to bring down the shadowy cabal that kills to keep its secrets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caitlin Rother has written or co-authored 16 books, ranging from true crime to thrillers and memoir. A New York Times-bestselling author and investigative journalist, Rother worked nearly 20 years for daily newspapers. Writing books full-time since 2006, she draws from decades of watchdog reporting on topics from addiction to suicide, mental illness, murder, government, political corruption and the criminal justice system. A popular speaker, she has appeared more than 250 times on TV, radio, and podcasts as a crime expert. A former writing instructor of 10 years, she coaches a limited number of aspiring author clients. In her spare time, she goes ocean swimming, sings and plays keyboards in a jazzy, bluesy trio called In the Lounge. Explore the photo galleries and learn about her latest titles, backlist, videos, and podcasts!
