Mark Thiessen/NGS
Former National Geographic editor Paul Martin has written a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction. His latest is Summer of Love, a mystery set in San Francisco in 1967, a bold new era of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Graduating from UC Berkeley just as the summer begins, twins Bobby and Jack Doyle forge different career paths. Bobby becomes a San Francisco music journalist, while Jack heads off to Vietnam. Over the summer, both brothers experience death firsthand, Jack on the battlefield and Bobby in drug-infested Haight-Ashbury. Bobby’s traumas become as threatening as Jack’s daily perils when he falls under suspicion in the murder investigations of two women he’d grown close to.
Paul’s previous mysteries include Dance of the Millions, a tale of voodoo-inspired killings set in post–WWI Cuba, when soaring sugar prices created overnight millionaires and Americans flocked to the island to escape Prohibition. In Killin’ Floor Blues, a serial killer stalks Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, and other blues icons during the Great Depression. Paul’s other novels are Lost in Saigon, a story that grew out of his service in Vietnam, and Far Haven, a time-travel thriller set in a dystopian future America and plague-ridden 14th-century England. Paul is also the author of a collection of poetry, Strange World.
Paul’s nonfiction includes a trio of biographical collections profiling a hundred fascinating but little-known men and women. Secret Heroes portrays some of the most inspiring unsung Americans. Villains, Scoundrels, and Rogues depicts a startling roster of American ne’er-do-wells. American Trailblazers chronicles individuals who performed some unique original feat that’s been overlooked. The San Francisco Book Review says of Paul’s writing, “Author Paul Martin doesn’t know the meaning of the word boring.”
Contact: paul@paulmartinbooks.com
