It’s the turbulent 1970s, a time of social upheaval. The generation gap has never seemed so wide and perilous, especially for veteran Santa Monica homicide detective Al Krug and his new partner, university-educated ex-surfer Casey Kellog, the youngest detective on the force. A woman’s corpse is found floating in the bay with a law firm’s business card, sealed in plastic, strung around her neck. Krug and Kellog have to solve the bizarre and gruesome murder… if they don’t kill each other first. This thriller was the basis for the pilot of the TV series The Streets of San Francisco and it is a cracker. A good all round thriller

A Drowned Girl and the Attorney Suspect

Detective Sargent Krug and his young partner, Casey Kellogg, of the Santa Monica Police Department, are assigned the case of a young girl found in the bay, but it's not a simple drowning. The autopsy reveals that she was severely beaten before being dumped in the bay and there are needle marks on her arms. Suspicion falls on a young attorney, David Farr. He had befriended the girl and spent a weekend with her.

Krug likes Farr for the killer and sets out to prove it, but Kellogg isn't so convinced. He goes along with his partner, but the circumstances and perhaps the fact the he identifies with Farr, make him question his partner's decisions.

If you enjoy police procedurals, this is a good story with plenty of twists including a missing twin brother and an uncle who has been seen around the girl's apartment, but can't be located. I found it easy to guess what was going on and it made me wonder how the cops could have missed obvious clues. The answer is in the characters. Krug wants Farr to be guilty. I found that aspect of the characters difficult. Krug seems too hard, although he is a good cop and could be right, and Kellogg is too easily swayed.

I reviewed this book for Net Galley.

Went back in time and envisioned Michael Douglas and Karl Malden as Casey Kellogg and Al Krug. Enjoyed this book that was the basis of the TV series, The Streets of San Francisco.

This detective novel has it all: the jaded old veteran and the educated young rookie, detailed descriptions of the LA area that are like pictures, interesting and weird characters, and a plot full of twists and turns. It doesn't take long to get caught up in the story, but you keep getting more and more engrossed until you can't set the book down. In the end, all the pieces tie together to provide a satisfying but thought-provoking solution. The descriptions were spot-on, and brought me back to the 60s when Synanon was still active at the Hot l Monica ,and Venice was turning dark. In addition to an exciting story, this book is like a travelogue movie in carrying the reader into the prime time of LA and Hollywood. It is well worth more than one read.

A brilliant police procedure novel. it pits the hard boiled older detective against the younger educated surfer detective . To blend the two makes this novel perfection as they work against each other. A highly enjoyable read and I look forward to more by this author. Thank you for the advance copy.

A nice period piece When the body of a young woman is found floating in the bay off Santa Monica, it’s all in the day’s work for veteran detective Al Krug. For his young new partner Casey Kellogg, though, it’s an opportunity to show Al and the other old-timers that a “college boy cop” has what it takes to be a good detective. The only clue to the woman’s identity is a local attorney’s business card in a waterproof case around her neck. Attorney David Farr identifies the woman as someone he had dated casually but when it turns out that the woman had been murdered, Farr finds that he is the prime suspect. As Al and Casey pursue their investigation through the seesaw environments of lush southern California setting, rampant development, and desolate drug culture, Farr is working equally diligently to find the killer to make sure the police do not decide that he is the guilty party. Odd-couple detective partners are a popular hook on which to hang a mystery series; the interplay between the disparate partners can be fun, but only if there is something of interest in both characters. Casey is a promising character---a police detective who still lives with his parents and has to prove himself both to his fellow cops and to his parents, who cannot be convinced that law enforcement is an appropriate career for someone with a college degree. His old-school partner Al, however, is less engaging. To me this passage sums Al up perfectly: “Casey momentarily loathed him for this and all the other bully-boy gestures which bolstered his conceit; for his constant grumbling; for the sordidness of his view of life.” Krug is uniformly hard-headed and closed-minded and does not reveal any redeeming qualities. Perhaps he is shown to better advantage in the later books, but Al gives me no special reason to want to read more about him.
Fortunately, the book itself does have redeeming qualities. Historical mysteries are also a popular subgenre, and a number recently have been written set in the 60s and 70s. Often these are marred by historical inaccuracies. As an “accidental” historical mystery by virtue of its being written in 1972, Poor Poor Ophelia is an accurate and fascinating portrayal of southern California during its flower-child heyday, showing both the good and bad sides of the time and the culture. It is enjoyable in the little details that the author probably considered mundane at the time but that make the picture of the era complete to today’s reader, such as the yellow phone in Casey’s kitchen.
The most effective aspect of the book, however, was the interplay between Al and Casey on the one hand and young lawyer David Farr on the other. David takes actions that seem very appropriate to him to try to clear himself of suspicion in Holly’s murder, but it is those very actions that make him more suspect to the police. If this situation intrigues you, you will enjoy Poor Poor Ophelia.

Page turner! I look forward to more from Carolyn Weston!

Having loved The Streets of San Francisco and being a new mom in the time this was set in (and living in the San Francisco area), there was much to reminisce in this book. The characters are perfectly written, sympathetic and alive. What more could a person want in a book? This one needs to be read by everyone!

Book Review:
Poor Poor Ophelia by Carolyn Weston A Summary:
Traditionalist veteran cop Lt. Mike Stone is partnered with Inspector Steve Keller, a young, inexperienced college-educated go-getter in the homicide division of the San Francisco Police Department. The two enjoy a bantering relationship while they hunt down the bad guys.. Except that this isn’t a summary of the book but of the TV series that was created from the book! First aired in 1972. Yes 1972. This another book that has been taken and re-issued by Brash as a digital book, and yet despite it having been written some 40+ years ago has stayed the test of time and you wouldn't necessarily have realised just how old it was until you looked up the author’s bio.
You might remember the somewhat tinny them song if you heard it (and are old enough of course!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgPZ81xA_Ao to listen to it and then do look at the actors too... you must surely recognise that rather pitted and jowly face of Karl Malden and the young Michael Douglas.
Just look at that hair! [insert photo]
It ran until 1977, was filmed actually in San Francisco (that makes a change but close to Hollywood of course), there was even a TV movie made, but no episode covered the storyline of Poor Poor Ophelia that I can work out. So in this book story there is a lawyer who gets reluctantly involved with the police investigation of a drowned girl to whom he gave a laminated business card, which she was found clutching. It was a very suspicious death as the pathologist Deacon remarked - ‘Deacon was famous for preliminary reports full of what he called ‘details’, and the card being one of these famous details.
The girl lived I a bedsit with a very nosy landlord -‘It’s a crime of something to keep an eye on your property?’ - perhaps a voyeur? And yet the landlord didn’t ask for any proof of identity when a man claiming to be the dead girl’s uncle - a man he had never seen before - came and collected her post after her disappearance - more than once.
The cop looking for her murderer was ‘Depressed by the idea of another air-tight compartment in a society hellbent in separating itself into rival camps...tribalism’ when looking at her set of apartments for singles only.
I liked this book a lot and will give 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

A well-crafted who done it taking readers up and down the slippery slope of veteran know it all detective and his junior partner. In true old cop style the focus quickly lands on one suspect and with true old cop tunnel vision there are no other candidates to investigate just tail ‘em and nail ‘em. End of story. Enter young partner and his “what if” theories. An excellent story told in a refreshing style, no super heroes leaping tall buildings, no descriptive sexual scenes and even minimal profanity. Just how does this author expect to sell books? Read “Poor Poor Ophelia” and it is likely Carolyn Weston can be added to your favorite authors list. Easily five stars and recommendable.

Do you remember watching “The Streets of San Francisco” with Karl Malden and Michael Douglas? If so, this book should bring back those memories.

As I read it, I put Karl Malden’s face on Krug and Michael Douglas’s face on Casey’s. Once I had those things in place, the reading went quickly.

This is about a partnership between Casey who is trying to fit in because he is a young detective with a college degree and his partner who is an old generation come up the hard way. They are assigned to the case of a young girl who has been found dead.

Krug wants to close the case and move on but Casey feels there is more to it than a simple drowning. A card is found on her and points them to a high priced lawyer. How is he involved in this?

Between the drowning victim and Casey trying to prove himself as a detective, this is a story that will hold your attention.