Oaks from Acorns Grow

Book by Richard Opper

Reviewed by Pennell Paugh

November 4, 2025 (San Diego) -- San Diego resident Richard G. Opper is releasing the last book in his Oakheart Trilogy, Oaks from Acorns Grow. It's written in deep point of view of each player in the story, including the criminals. Mona Oakheart goes to Guam to find her leading porn star, Tina. 

Upon Mona’s arrival, Tina is murdered by a judge who took advantage of her when she was a minor. In the midst of events, Mona falls in love with a female court psychiatrist. Upon Gary’s arrival in Guam, Mona ends her relationship with the former Navy and Harbor Police officer.

Mona decides to go back to school, hoping to help other women from exploitation. Unfortunately, danger is close at hand, as a group of rapists terrorizes the island of Guam. Meanwhile, Gary returns to San Diego to face the Tong, a criminal organization that aims to kidnap the war orphans for whom his father is caring.

As Mona confronts personal tragedy, she becomes aware of an unexpected miracle that will bind her to Gary for the rest of their lives.

The book, like the others in the Oakheart Trilogy, is written in an unusual style that is fast-paced and a pleasure to read.

To get a sense of Opper’s writing style, we are providing an excerpt from the novel:

Mona, on Guam, where it is a day ahead, November 23

Saying goodbye to Gary was hard. I wanted to cry and hug him as he left, but it seemed wrong, like I was dragging it out. A clean break was what was needed. Tough love. It hurt him and me both, but it wasn’t a question. Meeting Paulette hit me in new ways that were magnetic and irresistible. I wanted to stay here on Guam with her, but there were those who didn’t want me here. Long story, but some cops told me that Henry wanted me gone. Henry, nickname for Henrietta Diaz, until recently hadn’t known that her only daughter, Tina, was the biggest star in the X-rated movies I made.

My film studio is in San Diego and when Tina left Guam for a scholarship to USC, she supplemented her income as a part-time actress for me. Tina hadn’t shared her source of income with her mom, who, by the way, I learned was in law enforcement on Guam. When she learned about Tina’s job-on-the-side, Henry made it clear to me that she didn’t like it. I felt this was unfair to Tina and me, both. Now that Tina has been shot dead, it was more important to me than ever that her mom understand that Tina’s work in my movies did not make her a tramp or a floozy. She had been a talented and spirited young woman. My plan was to talk to Henry, Mrs. Diaz, and I was determined to do it even though Paulette was trying to talk me out of it.

“Look,” said Paulette as we sat in her living room, “Henry is a good woman, a good cop, but she just watched her only daughter be murdered, and then had to kill the man who did it. A man whom she’d known for years and years, maybe respected even. And then on top of that, she suddenly learns her daughter had been doing porn? Her whole world has just been turned upside down; you’ve got to give her time to deal with that.” Henry, or Mrs. Diaz to me, was the head of the investigators for the Department of Law, at the Attorney General’s Office on Guam. She worked with Paulette on a child endangerment case and it led to her shooting the man who shot Tina. He was a judge.

Former professional photographer and TV-show host, Richard G. Opper later chose law school and went to UCLA where he met his wife, Ann Poppe. They have two grown children.

After graduating they opened a law partnership in Santa Cruz, but they were soon lured away to work for the Attorney General’s Office for the Territory of Guam. Their children were born on Guam, where the family enjoyed their sailboat and being part of the local community. Richard later became the Attorney General for the Territory.  On his leaving the office, he was awarded membership in the Ancient Order of the Chamorri, one of the highest civilian honors the Government of Guam can bestow.

After leaving the island he landed in San Diego, where he established a career in environmental law and practiced the power of storytelling in jury trials. Richard was a frequent lecturer on the topic of brownfield redevelopment, and the US EPA sent him to Europe several times to describe cutting edge ideas to our European allies.

Opper is founding director of Progresso Fronterizo (Foundation for Border Progress), an organization focusing on environmental and health conditions along the US-Mexico border. For many years he was a board member for the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego.

Opper has published articles in the San Diego Union Tribune and professional journals. Oaks From Acorns Grow is his third novel.