Southern California, May 1970, after Kent State. An economics professor is killed in a campus bombing. The FBI arrests a known radical and closes the case. The victim was collateral damage until detectives Jimmy Sommes and Carol Loomis investigate the closed case and discover a tangled web of secrets and deceit.
BASELINE ROAD IS AN AWARD WINNER
Baseline Road received a Silver Medal in 2023 in the Crime Fiction Category from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association as part of its long-running and highly regarded CIPA EVVY book award competition.
Praise for Baseline Road
“Bombs, babes, and burning rubber. Buckle up! It’s 1972, and that’s cordite you smell with the patchouli oil and pot smoke. With this delightful detective boogie, Davidson hits all the right notes, sex, thugs, and rock and roll!”
Ed Davis, author of The Last Professional
“There is an unmistakable vibrancy in how Orlando Davidson writes in capturing those tumultuous times.”
Garrett Hongo, author of The Perfect Sound
“Cops and crooks, babes, bombers, and bikers--all the idiosyncratic denizens of California in the Seventies come to life in this delight of a novel. The music of the time provides a rich, nostalgic accompaniment to a plot that winds and twists its way through highways and byways to a satisfying conclusion.”
Vicki Lane, author of And The Crows Took Their Eyes and of the Elizabeth Goodweather Mysteries
“With tight, well-paced plotting, Davidson transports the reader to Baseline Road and Southern California of the 1970s. It’s a worthwhile trip! Historical facts and figures are expertly woven into a twisty-turny ode to a culture and landscape filled with well-drawn characters who are flawed enough to be believable and interesting enough to keep the reader engaged well past bedtime.”
Tena Frank, Author of Final Rights
“Orlando Davidson is a gifted writer, and his first novel Baseline Road is riveting, complex and intriguing. It’s a book full of compelling action and irresistible tension, and at the same time is grounded in empathy and compassion for its characters, including its hired killer. In that way Baseline Road is a rare thing – a moving crime novel with emotional depth and real heart.”
Tommy Hays, author of The Pleasure Was Mine
It's official. "North of Foothill," the new Jimmy Sommes crime novel, will be released by Artemesia Publishing on March 10, 2026. 
Join Orlando for a special advance reading in Claremont, CA on October 11th, 2025!
Event flyer
Saturday, October 11, 2:00 PM
Claremont Renwick Library
Meeting Room.
Orlando Davidson, former Claremont resident and CMC alum is coming to the Claremont Helen Renwick Library to introduce his new book, “North of Foothill” which is set in our neighboring cities. The narrator is again Police Detective Jimmy Sommes. When shots ring out from behind the stage of a Cucamonga music club on a spring night in 1974, Jimmy, off-duty, who is just there to hear some country rock, suddenly finds himself heading toward danger. With his cop buddy, Carol, they run down the leads until they get to the bottom of it.
Davidson will speak about his book and read some from the manuscript.
The book will be released in March, 2026. It can be pre-ordered through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. His first book, "Baseline Road” is available to check out from the library, and for purchase online as well.
Hosted by Lanore Pearlman, Chair
On the Same Page Committee
Friends of the Claremont Helen Renwick Library
Website: claremontlibrary.org
Facebook: Friends of the Claremont Library
