“East Bay Murders,” by Tanya Chalupa. Independently published, 2020. Paperback, 246 pp., ISBN: 9781710996470, $15.99.
In her third book and first work of fiction, Tanya Chalupa once again focuses on the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento County. “Because of the work I did in legislation and running federally funded programs, I know Northern California, almost like the back of my hand, although now I rotate between Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia,” the author notes.
It was while she was working in Albany, Calif., Police Department with Lt. Bill “Elvis” Palmini, that DNA conclusively confirmed Charles Junior Jackson as the killer in the shocking Albany Vila murder case. Ms. Chalupa accompanied Lt. Palmini, who at the time was the investigating officer, to meet with Alameda County Senior Deputy D.A. Rock Harmon, regarding the case. During the course of her writing, Mr. Harmon provided Ms. Chalupa with guidance on the workings of the prosecutor’s office.
In her new book, “East Bay Murders,” young Assistant D.A. Jack Franko – whose personality is partial based on Rock Harmon and Ms. Chalupa’s late father, Olexij Keis – is frustrated that the police departments in the San Francisco East Bay were not connecting the dots to a serial killer. His trap to expose the vicious slayer backfires when police accuse Franko of the murders. Franko must prove his innocence and catch the brutal predator before he kills again. This is the first time that the hero in a crime thriller is a Ukrainian American millennial.
Ms. Chalupa was the force behind California’s Child Seat Restraint Law and other prevention legislation for babies and small children, She moved into the crime genre when the murder of a homeless veteran in Albany led to the capture of Robert Silveria Jr., known as the “Box Car Serial Killer,” exposing the existence of the railroad gang Freight Train Riders of America (FTRA). Ms. Chalupa collaborated with Lt. Palmini on the book “Murder on the Rails” and again on “A Rookie Cop Vs. The West Coast Mafia,” based on a high-profile case Lt. Palmini had when he was a detective in Sausalito.