California Fever is a light and breezy "caper" mystery by John J. Jacobsen. Released 5th July 2022 by Blackstone, it's 160 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
This is a fun and very light mystery(ish) story set in southern California and featuring lots of surfer culture and appealingly off-kilter characters. Dolphin Smoote just wants to catch waves and earn money without having to work for it. He has a love interest who mere presence renders him tongue-tied and flustered. The secondary characters are variously adorable, silly, and questionable.
In a lot of good ways it reminded me of a more grown-up episode of Scooby-Doo. There's a lot of whimsy and humor, and if the writing isn't terribly polished, at least it suits the narrative very well.
Three and a half stars. It's a standalone and a fast read. It would be a good choice for a pick-up-and-put-down commute or break read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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