Criminal Code

 Available on Amazon

   When the elite legal firms of Beverly Hills need problems erased for their most select clients, not argued in court or boardrooms, they contract downward to lesser law offices—ethically compromised “ambulance chasers” with no qualms about getting their hands dirty. Shadowy intermediaries are summoned like genies and the best of these is Tag, a veteran fixer with a brutal past, a dark personal code, and a clear warning to clients: vengeance comes at a cost they may not be able to afford in the end. But in Los Angeles, the rich are used to getting what they want, making Tag a very busy and rich man.

   Contracted for a devastating act of retribution against Walter Greene, a Hollywood mogul with a dark legacy of sexual abuse, Tag penetrates Greene’s guarded world to exact the revenge his client sought, winning a battle but starting a war. Far from learning his lesson, Greene enlists his own fixer. Morgan is competent, detached, and even more ruthless. But instead of two champions from mythology facing off, like David and Goliath, or Achilles and Hector, Tag and Morgan don’t see themselves as enemies but friendly competitors in an illicit market that’s booming.

   What follows is a shadowy war of revenge and spiraling violence, well outside the boundaries of the law and society.

Recipe Accident

   File under "waste not, want not."

  Here’s a recipe that happened by accident. I had a few spare vegetables lying around: three carrots, an onion, one zucchini, and a quarter head of cabbage—I had zero garlic in the house. I cut them up and put them in salted water with pimentón dulce. I turned the heat way down, then went to my office to work.

   I set the stopwatch on my phone so I could keep on eye on the time. I was so into what I was doing that I let it cook for a bit over an hour when I was thinking that twenty minutes should have been sufficient. I was surprised that none of the vegetables were mushy after all this time, but the flame was super low. I zipped this up with my stick blender.

    I was bowled over by how good this simple broth came out. Although the ingredients to my mistake aren't the same, I could say this dish was based loosely on a simple dish here called hervido valenciano, only because I was talking about this with a friend the day before.