For years the author believed that 'Santa Barbara Malice' was lost in a computer crash. He was delighted to discover, during a recent cleaning, a disk of the novel resting safely in a seldom-visited corner of his home office Though written before the author had conceived of the Kerrigan/Seagrove series, this book now serves as a natural prequel to those five novels, since its mystery unfolds at the American Film Manufacturing Studio in Santa Barbara...