A mystery novel set in postwar Los Angeles — built around the forced internment and property dispossession of Japanese Americans during World War II — arrives at Vroman’s Bookstore on Saturday afternoon when author Shaina Steinberg discusses and signs “Echoes of Infamy.”
Steinberg will appear in conversation with executive producer Tracey Nyberg at the Colorado Boulevard bookstore at 3 p.m. on May 30. The event is free, though a purchase of the book from Vroman’s is appreciated, according to the bookstore’s event listing.
“Echoes of Infamy,” published May 26 by Kensington, is the third entry in Steinberg’s Bishop & Gallagher Mystery series. According to the publisher’s description, protagonist Evelyn Bishop — now president of her father’s company, Bishop Aeronautics — is approached by Billy Takemura, a Japanese American soldier who served in the decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Takemura tells her she is building on stolen land. Most of his family, according to the publisher, were forcibly interned at Manzanar.
The novel follows the series’ fictional detectives through an investigation involving real estate dealings, murder, and the aftereffects of wartime internment, according to the book’s publisher listing.
Steinberg is a Los Angeles-based film and television writer whose credits include “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Everwood,” “Cold Case,” “Bionic Woman,” and “Spartacus,” according to her publisher biography. Originally from Chicago, she graduated from Vassar College and holds a master’s degree from New York University, according to her official website.
The first book in the series, “Under the Paper Moon,” was published in April 2024. The second, “An Unquiet Peace,” followed in April 2025. CrimeReads described the second novel as “a deeply felt and researched look at the period and the city of Los Angeles.”
Nyberg is an executive producer whose credits include the Golden Globe-nominated Apple limited series “Lessons in Chemistry,” as well as “Ready or Not” and “Ambulance,” according to Deadline and IMDb. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy as co-executive producer of “Lessons in Chemistry,” according to the Television Academy.
Vroman’s Bookstore, founded in 1894, hosts more than 400 free community events annually, according to previous Pasadena Now reporting.
Shaina Steinberg, in conversation with Tracey Nyberg, discusses and signs “Echoes of Infamy,” Saturday, May 30, 2026, 3 p.m. Free. Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. For more, call (626) 449-5320 or visit vromansbookstore.com/upcoming-
