\u201cThey don\u2019t remember this stuff from fifth grade,\u201d Felde said.<\/p>\n
Worse, a lot of people didn\u2019t seem to care.<\/p>\n
So Felde wondered: What if her insights and expertise were aimed at a younger audience? <\/p>\n
You’re reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter <\/p>\n
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By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n With her career in radio winding down, Felde set off in a new direction, writing a novel for young adults that combined sleuthing with civics; a blend of \u201cNancy Drew<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe West Wing<\/a>,\u201d as Felde\u2019s website described the result.<\/p>\n Set in Washington, the book\u2019s main character was Fina Mendoza, a 10-year-old girl modeled after someone whom Felde, a Southern California native, mentored years ago while living and reporting in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was fierce, smart, quiet, driven, even persuading her non-English-speaking mother to help her transfer to a better high school where she graduated with honors,\u201d Felde told an interviewer when the book was published in 2019. In creating Fina Mendoza, \u201cI imagined what [Felde\u2019s mentee] must have been like when she was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n For Mendoza\u2019s father, or \u201cPapa,\u201d Felde envisioned someone she had gotten to know over the years covering California\u2019s congressional delegation. Someone genial and soft-spoken who, lately, has been in the news quite a bit.<\/a><\/p>\n Xavier Becerra.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a widower,\u201d Felde said of the fictional Arturo Mendoza, a Democratic congressman representing Los Angeles, as Becerra did for nearly a quarter of a century. \u201cXavier, obviously, is not. But I met his daughters, I met his wife. And so that image … I could see him being the father.\u201d<\/p>\n She did not, Felde confessed, see Becerra as a California governor-in-waiting<\/a>.<\/p>\n When she conceived Arturo Mendoza, Felde said, \u201cnobody knew who [Becerra] was\u201d \u2014 which is only a slight exaggeration. Even now, many Californians are just becoming familiar with the Democrat, who is heavily favored to beat Republican Steve Hilton<\/a> in November, given the state\u2019s strong Democratic tilt.<\/p>\n A five-part series<\/p>\n That first novel about Fina and her exploits on Capitol Hill has expanded into a multi-volume series, published in English and Spanish, featuring the young detective and her roman \u00e0 clef Papa. The fourth installment comes out next month. Felde is currently working on the fifth and, she expects, final volume.<\/p>\n Collectively, the works do not purport to offer \u201cThe Xavier Becerra Story.\u201d Rather, each centers on a mystery \u2014 a bird that poops on the president during his State of the Union speech; a culprit placing snakes in the gym bags of lawmakers; a series of break-ins, fires and vandalism in the Montecito Heights neighborhood <\/a>of Los Angeles, where Fina is home for the summer. The protagonist unravels each knot and, along the way, delivers readers a goodly dose of Government 101. <\/p>\n Felde has written four books in the Fina Mendoza Mystery Series and is working on the fifth and, she believes, final volume.<\/p>\n (Gina Ferazzi\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Unlike Becerra, Papa continues serving in the House. His real-life model left Congress in January 2017 after Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him California attorney general,<\/a> replacing Kamala Harris upon her departure for the U.S. Senate.<\/a> Becerra was elected to the job the following year, served in the Biden administration as Health and Human Services secretary<\/a> and finished atop the field<\/a> in California\u2019s crowded June 2 gubernatorial primary.<\/a> <\/p>\n Speaking via Zoom from her home office in Baldwin Hills, Felde ventured a few thoughts on how Becerra would do as governor. (Which, of course, is also a mystery; at this point one can only guess.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a big state with a lot of problems,\u201d Felde said with a small shake of her head. \u201cI think he\u2019ll have a good time fighting the current administration. And I think, because he does have contacts both in Sacramento and in Washington … that can help because that\u2019s where money\u2019s coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n The great divide<\/p>\n Returning to Fina Mendoza, Felde said part of her intent in writing the series was closing the yawning physical and psychic gaps that exists between California and Washington. <\/p>\n \u201cWe think we are the center of the universe because we are isolated in a lot of ways from the rest of the country,\u201d Felde said of her fellow Californians. In Washington, \u201cthey think the same thing, but they\u2019re the ones with the money and the power…. There is a dependency there.\u201d<\/p>\n For that reason alone, she suggested, people should pay closer attention to what\u2019s happening back East, notwithstanding the distance and the sometimes confounding, oftentimes arcane ways and means of the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our government,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you want to change the world, it\u2019s not just City Hall. It\u2019s not just whoever is making the HOA rules. It\u2019s on Capitol Hill. It\u2019s the White House. It\u2019s the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n Apart from the Fina Mendoza novels, Felde has written several other books and plays related to government and history, set in and around Washington. She also hosts several podcasts, including a book club for kids.<\/p>\n What does Becerra think of his artistic rendering?<\/p>\n Felde\u2019s husband caught up with the gubernatorial hopeful a few months ago outside a candidates forum in Santa Monica. He presented Becerra with a copy of the first book in the series, \u201cWelcome to Washington Fina Mendoza.\u201d Becerra\u2019s eyes brightened at the mention of Felde and he sent his warm regards.<\/p>\n Otherwise, she has yet to hear back.<\/p>\n What else you should be reading:<\/p>\n The must-read: Politician behind \u2018top two\u2019 primary has second thoughts<\/a> ![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782382631_230_.jpeg\")
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