I was a guest recently on the Cozy Mystery Party’s Facebook Live Chat, where I took questions from viewers and chatted about my new novel FALLEN STAR, all of my other books, my writing processing, co-authoring with Janet Evanovich, my past TV shows, a possible “Eve Ronin” TV series, and so much more. You can also get a peek at my messy office.
eve ronin
VIDEO: I’m Interviewed about FALLEN STAR
Here’s author Christopher Farnsworth’s two-part interview with me at the Calabasas library to celebrate the launch of my new novel FALLEN STAR, the 6th “Eve Ronin” adventure. We discuss the book, my writing process, and so much more.
The Fake Italian Village in Calabasas
VIDEO: Here is The Commons, the fake Italian village depicted in FALLEN STAR, the new “Eve Ronin” crime novel.
FALLEN STAR Signed Books
Fallen Star, the sixth Eve Ronin novel, is coming out on October 14. That’s just two weeks away.
You can preorder it now in hardcover, paperback, ebook or audio from Amazon, or in hardcover and paperback from Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, or your favorite bookseller.
But if you want signed copies of Fallen Star, you need to contact Debbie Mitsch at the Mystery Ink bookstore (mysteryink@hotmail.com) before Oct. 21st to get one.
Why? Because I am only doing two in-person events, at least for the near future, and they are both being hosted by Mystery Ink.
The first event is the Oct 21st launch party at 6 p.m. the Calabasas Library, where I will be “in conversation” with Christopher Farnsworth, the New York Times bestselling author of Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series…and we’ll be signing our books afterwards.
And then, on Oct 25th, at 10 am, I’m having an Orange County launch party, talk and signing at Mystery Ink’s new Huntington Beach home at Studio 14 in Old World Village.
Why only two events? Because I have no time for more…
I’m busy working as a writer/co-executive producer on You’re Killing Me, a new mystery TV series starring Brooke Shields that’s shooting right now in Nova Scotia (watch for it on AMC or Acorn in early 2026)… and I’m writing Split Screen, the 7th Eve Ronin novel, coming out this time next year…and I’m deeply involved in Eve Ronin, the TV series that’s being developed by a great writer/showrunner and an amazing team of producers, which includes our star Madison Lintz, who we all know from her decade on Bosch.
There’s also a TV series version of my novel Calico in the works from some incredible writers & producers… which I hope to be able to tell you more about very soon.
Oh, and my novel Murder By Design, the first book in my new “Edison Bixby” series of whodunits, is now available for pre-order and will be out in May. More about that soon, too…
Okay, now I’ve got to get back to writing….or they might not feed me.
CBR says “Eve Ronin” Series Could be the new “Bosch”
The CBR site, which covers pop culture television, just posted a new article arguing that Eve Ronin could be the new Bosch… and goes into more detail about my books and Madison Lintz’s casting as the lead. They say, in part:
The first novel in the Eve Ronin Series is called Lost Hills. The critically praised book even received a flattering blurb written by none other than Bosch‘s best-selling author, Michael Connelly. Of the novel, Connelly said, “Lost Hills is Lee Goldberg at his best. Inspired by the real-world grit and glitz of LA County crime, this book takes no prisoners. And neither does Eve Ronin. Take a ride with her, and you’ll find yourself with a heroine for the ages. And you’ll be left hoping for more.”
Ronin will need to prove she deserves her detective’s shield while grappling with the resentment of her colleagues. Her first case sees her investigating a missing mother and her two children.The fast-paced, dark, and gritty novel is praised for capturing the feel of California and depicting realistic police procedure. Much like Titus Welliver’s Bosch, Ronin is described as a flawed and complex character doggedly pursuing her investigation. While details are still sparse on Eve Ronin, it’s shaping up to be the perfect Bosch replacement series for fans still reeling from Legacy’s cancellation.
I hope they are right!
Madison Lintz to star as EVE RONIN
I’ve been sitting on this news for a while now… but it’s finally out. Variety just broke the story. Madison Lintz is attached to star and produce a TV adaptation of my “Eve Ronin” novels. Here are more details:
Actress Madison Lintz, renowned for her ten-year run on Bosch, has officially signed on to star in and executive produce Eve Ronin, the television adaptation of #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg’s widely-acclaimed series of crime novels from Thomas & Mercer/Amazon Publishing.
This project marks a pivotal moment in Lintz’s career as she steps into the leading role on screen while also taking on a key position behind the camera. Her experience portraying police officer Maddie Bosch on the Amazon Prime TV series Bosch and Bosch: Legacy uniquely positions her for this new challenge.
“I am beyond thrilled to bring Eve Ronin to life,” Lintz says. “From the moment I picked up Lee’s books, I knew this was a character and a story I needed to be a part of. Eve’s determination, complexity, and resilience make her a dream role, and I am honored to take on this challenge on both sides of the camera.”
The Eve Ronin series follows the youngest homicide detective in the history of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Known for her tenacity and grit, Ronin tackles high-stakes cases while battling institutional resistance and her own personal demons. There have been five books in the highly-acclaimed series to date, selling over one million copies. The sixth, Fallen Star, comes out in October 2025. Hidden in Smoke, an Eve Ronin crossover with Goldberg’s bestselling “Sharpe & Walker” series, was released in April.
“Madison is the embodiment of Eve Ronin,” Goldberg says. “She brings both the raw intensity and vulnerability that define the character. Her passion for the project, coupled with her talent, ensures that the series will stay true to the heart of the books while taking Eve’s story in bold new directions.”
In addition to Lintz, the executive producing team includes industry veterans Craig Dorfman, SAG Award-winning actress Lorraine Toussaint (Orange Is the New Black, Selma, The Equalizer), as well as Derek Dudley and Shelby Stone of ID8 Multimedia, known for their critically acclaimed work on Showtime’s long-running, hit series The Chi and Goldberg (Mystery 101, Monk, Diagnosis Murder), who is presently a co-executive producer on Allie & Andi, the new Brooke Shields mystery series for AMC/Acorn.
“Lee’s books have earned widespread critical praise and a dedicated fanbase of over two million readers,” says Shelby Stone. “Madison’s work over the years on Bosch has been extraordinary, combining heart-felt vulnerability and relentless determination. We believe that combining these two talents will make Eve Ronin a book-to-TV adaptation in the same league as Will Trent, Reacher, and Slow Horses.”
Lintz is represented by Greene & Associates and Link. Goldberg is repped by The Stein Agency and the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
Eve Ronin returns…and Edison Bixby is coming
I know I’ve been very quiet lately… but that’s because I have been so busy!
Edison Bixby is coming
Today I delivered my new novel, Edison Bixby, to my publisher, a couple of weeks before my deadline. The novel is about a ridiculously wealthy (and amazingly attractive) LAPD homicide detective, an expert on how the “built world” influences behavior, who suffers a career-ending injury… and now solves baffling murders with the help of a struggling actor. It’s a comedic whodunit, closer in tone to my sixteen Monk novels than the various police procedurals and the action-adventure novels I’ve been writing for the last decade or so.
It’s not that I don’t love writing those books – I do and there will be more of them – but I was itching to write my own take on the traditional whodunit, to create an extraordinarily clever detective who uses his unusual skills, and unique perspective on the world, to solve crimes that nobody else can.
I guess you could call Edison Bixby a twisted mash-up of Columbo, Monk, Burke’s Law, Nero Wolfe, and Sherlock Holmes. Whatever it is, it was blast to write. The downside, though, was that it took an enormous amount of research. My author’s note at the end of the book reads more like the bibliography for a thesis than a thank-you and over-view of my research. But at least now I have all the information I need to keep on writing more Bixby mysteries… assuming enough of you like the book when it comes out next summer.
Hidden in Smoke is here
In the meantime, Hidden in Smoke, the third Sharpe & Walker novel (about a team of arson investigators) and the second cross-over with my long-running Eve Ronin series (about a relentless young homicide detective), just came out a few weeks ago. It has been selling great, and has scored some of the best reader reviews I’ve ever had, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there will be another Sharpe & Walker novel in my future and yours.
Eve Ronin is coming back
And coming this October is Fallen Star, the sixth Eve Ronin novel, and a cross-over with the Sharpe & Walker series. I am very excited about the book, because it pulls together strands from the previous Ronin novels into a new mystery that imperils both Eve’s career and her life. The book stands alone, but will pack a stronger punch of you’ve read Bone Canyon (Eve #2), and Movieland (Eve #4). So you might want to read those two novels first…if you haven’t already. There’s are two surprise cameos in the book for those of you familiar with my backlist…
Speaking of Eve Ronin, there is some big TV news about her that I have been keeping to myself and have been itching to share. I still can’t give you any specific details. But I will say this much – an actress you know and love is attached to play Eve, a terrific showrunner is developing the series, and I have high hopes things will come together soon.
I’m Returning to TV…
Also on the TV front, a big studio behind some of your favorite crime shows and a great team of writers and producers are developing a series version of my genre-bending novel Calico…and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. They have some fantastic ideas for expanding on the novel and for using some material I cut from the original manuscript (as well as incorporating some of my ideas for the sequel).
And speaking of TV shows, I’m presently hard-at-work for my old friend Robin Bernheim, with whom I co-created the hit Hallmark series Mystery 101, as a co-exec producer and writer on a presently-untitled new mystery series starring Brooke Shields for AMC/Acorn. Not only do I get to work with Robin on this delightful show, but also with my good buddy Phoef Sutton, the Emmy-Award winning writer/producer of Cheers and Boston Legal, among many other series. And, like me, Phoef co-authored books with my friend Janet Evanovich.
Phoef and I are drawing heavily on our mystery writing and co-authoring experiences for this series, which is about a hugely successful author who reluctantly teams up with a young woman, an inexperienced “true crime” podcaster, to write her next crime novel…and they end up solving murders together. I think of it as mash-up of Murder, She Wrote and Hacks…with a touch of Remington Steele and Lucille Ball thrown in. Casting is underway on the six-episode first season, which starts shooting soon…so watch for news.
What’s Next?
And in the midst of all that, while I’m waiting to hear what my publisher wants me to write next (will it be Eve Ronin #7, Sharpe & Walker #4, or Edison Bixby #2? I don’t know), I am back to work on a standalone crime novel set in Baker, CA.
I’ve been researching my “Baker” novel off-and-on for years, but made a big effort back in December 2024 and January 2025, reading a ton of books and articles, and spending days out in the Mojave interviewing sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, teachers, and residents. I was a quarter of the way into writing the book when I got the contract for Edison Bixby…and then got hired on Robin’s show. So I had to set the manuscript aside. But now that Bixby is in, and the scripts for the show are nearly complete, I’ve opened up my research binders and am slowly picking up where I left off…
So that’s the latest from me and my desk… and again, I apologize for being so quiet lately (aside from my relentless self-promotion, of course)… but the good news is it means you’ll be getting a lot more books and TV shows from me over the next twelve months or so.
CALICO is out… and I’m EVERYWHERE!
My new thriller CALICO, a genre mash-up that (to my relief) is getting fantastic reviews, is out today. But that’s not all. I’m all ove the Internet, writing essays about the book and doing interviews to explain myself…and my decision to write this seemingly sharp departure from my usual work.
Today, in CrimeReads, I out myself as a closeted wesstern writer.
I decided to do it by writing a gritty western set in 1883 in the Mojave desert mining town of Calico, which is now a cheesy roadside attraction off the I-15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It’s actually a notion I’ve had in the back of my mind for years…maybe even decades.
But there have been a thousand westerns. What could I bring to the genre that nobody else had? How could I make it my own?
The answer was obvious: I’d use the novel to reconcile my creative, split personality. And I’d do that by combining a seemingly traditional western with a present-day crime novel… a seemingly straight-forward police procedural set in the Mojave in 2019.
Notice the repetition of the word seemingly in the previous paragraph.
That’s because, to truly make it mine, I’d have to acknowledge the tropes of both genres…and then ruthlessly subvert them. That’s my brand, or so I am told, exemplified by my “Ian Ludlow” trilogy of spy novels (True Fiction, Killer Thriller, and Fake Truth)
What would connect the two storylines?
The answer was easy.
They would share the same corpse.
And I visited my friends at Rogue Women Writers to talk about how I wrote the book:
When you read a contemporary police procedural or a period western, you go into them with certain expectations about the stories, the characters, and the themes you’re going to find. Those expectations are what defines those very different genres. While some of those tropes are necessary, many of them are tired, ridiculous cliches. I set out with my thriller Calico to honor the tropes of those two genres while twisting them in new ways and bringing them together in a single, propulsive thriller.
And over at The Dossier, I was grilled about how I work.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Music/silence/ocean-front veranda where sea nymphs emerge from the water to serve you chilled Bollinger and Oreos?)
GOLDBERG: Sadly, no sea nymphs. Just my dog laying on my office couch, loudly licking his ass or barking in a dream.
I do my best writing between 8 p.m and 2 a.m. in my home office. I like to listen to instrumental TV and movie soundtracks while I work (and to drown out the canine farting). If I am writing action, I might listen to Goldfinger (or other Bond scores), The Bourne Identity, or Mission Impossible (mostly Lalo Schifrin’s original TV soundtracks, and a couple of the features). If I am writing “procedural” scenes, I might listen to Jon Burlingame’s excellent collection of Quinn Martin TV series soundtracks (Streets of San Francisco, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, etc), or Jerry Goldsmith’s Police Story, or Morton Steven’s Hawaii Five-O, for example. I have a collection of hundreds of soundtracks to choose from.
I wish I could munch on Oreos and potato chips while I write, but these days it’s Keto Bars and roasted almonds… washed down with Diet Coke.
I hope you enjoy all of that…but, most of all, I hope you will grab a copy of CALICO. It’s a book I’ve wanted to write for decades and I’m so excited to finally have it out there in the world.
Malibu Burning is Now Available for Pre-Order
My new thriller Malibu Burning, is now available for pre-order and will be out in September. It’s a standalone novel, but it’s set in the same “universe” as my Eve Ronin series. In fact, it takes place at the same time as Lost Hills. Here’s the story:
Hell comes to Southern California every October. It rides in on searing Santa Ana winds that blast at near hurricane force, igniting voracious wildfires. Master thief Danny Cole longs for the flames. A tsunami of fire is exactly what he needs to pull off a daring crime and avenge a fallen friend.
As the most devastating firestorms in Los Angeles’ history scorch the hills of Malibu, relentless arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his wild card of a new partner, Andrew Walker, a former US marshal, suspect that someone set the massive blazes intentionally, a terrifying means to an unknown end.
While the flames rage out of control, Danny pursues his brilliant scheme, unaware that Sharpe and Walker are closing in. But when they all collide in a canyon of fire, everything changes, pitting them against an unexpected enemy within an inescapable inferno.
I’m fortunate that the book has earned some early praise from some fantastic authors.
“Malibu Burning is a blistering thrill ride full of Southern California thieves, cops, and firefighters, all facing high stakes and imminent danger. Superbly researched and told, fast-paced, and downright fun, this is Lee Goldberg at his best!” —Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Gray Man series
“By turns tense and rambunctious, wildly entertaining, and breakneck-paced, Lee Goldberg’s splendid Malibu Burning is pure storytelling pleasure from beginning to end.” —Megan Abbott, Edgar Award–, Anthony Award–, Thriller Award–, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning author of The Turnout
“Malibu Burning is classic Lee Goldberg at the top of his game: a fast-paced, funny, and deeply satisfying page-turner.” —Jess Lourey, Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Quarry Girls
“An inventive, twisty, and funny caper from one of crime writing’s true pros. Elmore Leonard and Donald Westlake would’ve loved this wild heist.” —Ace Atkins, New York Times bestselling author of Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby and The Heathens
“This is a book I couldn’t put down. Lee Goldberg is a master when it comes to building tension and writing heart-pounding action scenes. Malibu Burning is a roundhouse kick of a thriller, a true nail-biting race against time.” —Simon Gervais, former RCMP counterterrorism officer and author of The Last Protector and Robert Ludlum’s The Blackbriar Genesis
If Malibu Burning does well, it could be the start of a new series. This novel will be followed in November by Calico, another standalone thriller, and then the fifth Eve Ronin novel in January 2024.
MOVIELAND is here!
My new novel MOVIELAND is entirely a work of fiction, but it was inspired by a series of actual shootings in and around Malibu Creek State Park that culminated in the murder of a man camping in a tent with his two young children. I’ll tell you more about that in a moment. But first, here’s the plot:
For decades Malibu Creek State Park was the spectacular natural setting where Hollywood fantasies were made. But when a female camper is gunned down, it becomes a real-life killing ground. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone are assigned the case…which Duncan fears is the latest in a series of sniper attacks that began long before Eve came to Lost Hills.
Seven victims over fourteen months…and top officials still refuse to see a connection. Eve and Duncan are stonewalled, threatened, and ordered to keep quiet. But Eve won’t back down. She’s no stranger to intimidation or corruption—she’s had a target on her back from day one at Lost Hills station.Despite finding no evidentiary links between the shootings, Eve and Duncan follow their instincts into the shadows of Malibu Creek, where it’s not enough to expose the secrets and break the conspiracy of silence. They also have to make it out alive.
I’ve been thinking about this book for a long time. I live in Calabasas, and I was keenly aware of the shootings taking place in and around Malibu Creek State Park. In fact, I attended the August 19, 2018 community meeting at King Gillette Ranch where local politicians, state park officials, and detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department briefed residents about the shootings. The authorities stated that the killing and the various shootings reported in the area over the years were totally unrelated, which nobody in the audience seemed to believe, including me. I took copious notes. When the meeting was over, I knew that I had another case for Eve Ronin.
I continued to follow the real-life investigation, which was rife with controversy and, in a bizarre and troubling twist, led to lawsuits being filed against the LASD by some of the detectives involved in the case and who spoke at the meeting. I won’t go into the details here. You can Google them for yourself, but it makes for some very interesting reading.
My fictional resolution to the mystery is very different from how the real case turned out, though there are still many unanswered questions about the investigation, which have sparked numerous conspiracy theories and this book, too.
In October 2018, a homeless man living in the park was arrested for the deadly shootings, which the LASD conceded were all related, a belated admission that surprised no one. The alleged shooter was only recently declared mentally competent to stand trial and is awaiting his day in court. This all happened against the backdrop of a huge, and ever-widening, corruption scandal involving Los Angeles city and county politicians that is still playing out today with new, shocking revelations and ongoing trials. I was also inspired by those scandals in MOVIELAND as well.
I hope you enjoy the book!