Overview: Purple

It is a dark night in 1968 as two men drag a lifeless body to a granite marker, high above a burning greenhouse in the distance. After placing a flower inside the jacket pocket of the body, Kyle and Frank high-five each other as they erase their tracks, convinced they have secured the evidence to finger Derrick, the greenhouse owner, for the death.

The next day, Derrick rescues a purple bud from the rubble, tells his friend it is a rare orchid he found on a trip to South America, and asks him to keep it safe. It is the early days after the summer of love has passed and organized growing has begun. Unfortunately, so has Nixon’s war on drugs—a serious mission with feds, marshals, sheriffs, and locals who are all too serious about busting California growers. While time moves forward and propels three men onto a dangerous journey, power, murder, and intrigue overshadow the northern coastal counties as the underground marijuana scene develops into something no one ever imagined.

Purple tells the gripping tale of the underground marijuana scene as it develops in 1968 and eventually transforms into a major money-making operation that changes the landscape of America.

About the Mark

Mark Peard earned a BS in agricultural economics from the University of California, Davis. Now retired, he resides with his wife and three Tibetan terriers in Huntington Beach, California. Purple is his first novel.