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Gabrych, Andersen, and Brad Rader (ill.).

Fogtown. Titan Books, 2010.

Gagnon, Michelle.

The Gatekeeper. MIRA Books, 2009.

Summary: From the moment sixteen-year-old Madison Grant is abducted, an unthinkable terrorist plot is set in motion—pitting Special Agent Kelly Jones against her most powerful adversary yet. The kidnapper’s ransom demands aren’t monetary...they come at a cost that no American can afford to pay. As Kelly’s fiancé, Jake Riley, races to find Madison, Kelly is assigned to another disturbing case: the murder and dismemberment of a senator. At first the two cases don’t appear to be related. But as Kelly navigates her way through the darkest communities of America—from skinheads to biker gangs to border militias—she discovers a horrible truth. A shadowy figure who calls himself The Gatekeeper is uniting hate groups, opening the door to the worst homegrown attack in American history.

Gailey, Sarah.

Magic for Liars. Tom Doherty Associates 2019.

Summary: Ivy Gamble was born without magic and never wanted it. Ivy Gamble is perfectly happy with her life -- or at least, she's perfectly fine. She doesn't in any way wish she was like Tabitha, her estranged, gifted twin sister. Ivy Gamble is a liar. When a gruesome murder is discovered at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages [somewhere near Sunol, California], where her estranged twin sister teaches Theoretical Magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister -- without losing herself.

Gallagher, Diana G.

Beware What You Wish. Pocket Pulse, 2001. [based on the television series Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge]

Dark Vengeance. Simon Pulse, 2002. [based on the television series Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge]

Something Wiccan This Way Comes. Simon Pulse, 2003. [based on the television series Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge]

Mist and Stone. Simon Pulse, 2003. [based on the television series Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge]

Trickery Treat. Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2008. [based on the television series Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge]

Gamble, Geoffrey P.

Breakfast With a Cereal Killer. Decent Exposure Press, 1996.

Gangcuangco, Ireneo D.

Beyond Golden Gate Bridge. Creative Arts Book Company, 2000.

Summary: San Francisco, or the so-called "Baghdad by the Bay," is haunted by suicides—nine hundred and ten at last count, according to Inspector Theodore Vidal. And that is far too many for his taste. Aside from the suicides on the bridge, Vidal begins to investigate other suicides that have occurred around the country—from Michigan to Oregon. These supposed suicides, however, are tainted by the means of death. The deceased—or are they victims?—all leave traces of strange chemical compounds in death’s wake. The plot thickens when Vidal and his sidekick, Adele Whitney, begin investigating a certain group of doctors...

Gann, Ernest K.

Fiddler's Green. William Sloane Associates, 1950.

The High and the Mighty. William Sloane Associates, 1953.

Of Good and Evil. Simon & Schuster, 1963.

Gannett, Lewis.

Gehenna. HarperPrism, 1997.

Summary: Criminal profiler Frank Black believed the face of evil was a human face—until the investigation of grisly murders in San Francisco introduces him to a world where evil may be an entity of greater power than he ever imagined. The discovery of several pounds of human ashes—the remains of murder victims burned alive—leads Frank and the Millennium Group to uncover a cult awaiting Armageddon. Frank’s search for the cult leader brings him face-to-face with a man whose power is so baffling, whose influence is so pervasive, that he tests Frank’s understanding of the nature of evil.

Gannold, John.

The Night of the Fox. Hale, 1974.

Gardiner, Meg.

The Dirty Secrets Club. Dutton, 2008.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Jo Beckett | find it |

Summary: An ongoing string of high-profile and very public murder-suicides has San Francisco even more rattled than a string of recent earthquakes: A flamboyant fashion designer burns to death, clutching the body of his murdered lover. A superstar 49er jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. And most shocking of all, a U.S. attorney launches her BMW off a highway overpass, killing herself and three others. Enter forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, hired by the SFPD to cut open not the victim’s body but the victim’s life. Jo’s job is to complete the psychological autopsy, shedding light on the circumstances of any equivocal death. Soon she makes a shocking discovery: All the suicides belonged to something called the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of A-listers with nothing but money and plenty to hide. As the deaths continue, Jo delves into the disturbing motives behind this shadowy group—until she receives a letter containing a dark secret Jo thought she’d left deep in her past, and ending with the most chilling words of all: "Welcome to the Dirty Secrets Club."

The Memory Collector. Dutton, 2009.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Jo Beckett | find it |

The Liar's Lullaby. Dutton, 2010.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Jo Beckett | find it |

The Nightmare Thief. Dutton, 2011.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Jo Beckett | find it |

UNSUB. Dutton, 2017.

| setting: San Francisco Bay Area | series character: Caitlin Hendrix | find it |

Summary: Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB -- what the FBI calls an unknown subject in a criminal investigation -- the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case. The Prophet's cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack's failure to solve the series of ritualized murders--eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh -- was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career. Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father's failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession. Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father's warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father's mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?

Gardner, Erle Stanley. [see also Fair, A. A.]

Murder Up My Sleeve. William Morrow and Company, 1937.

Summary: In San Francisco’s Chinatown, Jacob Mandra, a notorious bail-bond broker and ladies’ man, has been killed by a steel-tipped dart from a Chinese sleeve gun. The District Attorney pulls Terry Clane in for questioning. Clane, formerly a lawyer and currently a “mysterious adventurer,” has recently returned from an extended stay in China where he studied at a Chinese monastery and collected a large number of Chinese curios, including a sleeve gun. The police start rounding up all of Clane’s acquaintances in an attempt to learn more about him. During the course of their investigation, they discover that Clane’s sleeve gun is missing. In order to keep himself and his friends out of jail, Clane begins an investigation of his own. He discovers a blackmail racket—engineered by Mandra—where innocent people are framed for hit-and-run drunk driving accidents. He also discovers Mandra’s secret widow, Juanita, an exotic dancer who has grown very tired of his infidelities.

The Case of the Substitute Face. William Morrow and Company, 1938.

The Case of the Backward Mule. William Morrow and Company, 1946.

Summary: Terry Clane, an expert in the ways of the Orient, returns to San Francisco after another extended stay in China and is promptly picked up by the police. His former girlfriend, Cynthia Renton, is being sought for questioning. Her fiancé, Edward Harold, who has been convicted of murder of businessman Horace Farnsworth and sentenced to the gas chamber at San Quentin, has just escaped police custody and is a fugitive. Clane, with the help of several Chinese friends, turns amateur sleuth in order to protect Cynthia and help Harold, who he believes is innocent and stands a good chance of having his conviction overturned on appeal. With the police following him, Clane uncovers another murder and leads them on a chase through the dark alleyways and secret passages of Chinatown before he solves the mystery.

Garfield, Brian. [see Westlake, Donald E.]

Garlington, Philip.

Aces and Eights. M. Evans and Company, Inc., 1975.

Garner, Deborah.

A Flair for Truffles. Cranberry Cove Press, 2019.

Summary: Sadie Kramer's friendly offer to deliver three boxes of gourmet Valentine truffles for her neighbor's chocolate shop, Cioccolato, backfires when she arrives to find the intended recipient deceased. Even more intriguing is the fact that the elegant heart-shaped gifts were ordered by three different men. With the help of one detective and the hindrance of another, Sadie will search San Francisco from the prestigious financial district to a low-life bar, to iconic Fisherman's Wharf, looking for clues. With the help of her trusted sidekick Yorkie, Coco, will Sadie manage to find out "whodunnit" before the killer finds a way to stop her?

Gates, H. L.

Murder in the Fog. The Macaulay Company, 1932.

The Laughing Peril. The Macaulay Company, 1933.

Gay, Myra.

Little Jade Lady. Arcadia House, 1948.

Gebhard, Patricia.

Motives for Murder. Creative Arts Book Company, 2000.

Summary: When Lucy enters the classroom of the widely popular Martin Metzger, a charismatic lecturer in the English department at the University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1970s, the course of her life is forever changed. She falls in love with Martin at first sight, opening herself to his world of gurus, experimentation with mind-altering drugs, exploration of the sources of creativity, and adventurous trips to Baja California and Wyoming. She also becomes the mother of three of Martin’s children and his emotional linchpin. So, when one of Martin’s enemies kills Martin and manages to cleverly frame Lucy for the murder, Lucy sets out to solve the crime. And when Lucy finds she must pay the price for her freedom, the life she built with Martin, and how her life has changed, it’s not the price she had expected to pay.

Geiger, Lee.

Pearls of Asia: A Love Story. CreateSpace, 2011.

Summary: A San Francisco anchorwoman is found murdered in her Nob Hill home, and detective Mac Fleet is assigned his to the case. The investigation leads to Pearls of Asia, a restaurant staffed by Asian transsexual waitresses. Mac discovers a lifestyle full of drama, humor and high heels. As the case heats up, so does Mac’s romantic interest in the primary murder suspect, whose beauty and personality compel him to cross the line between personal impulses and professional responsibilities. Ultimately, the detective is moved to make a decision he never dreamed of.

Geni, Abby.

The Lightkeepers. Counterpoint Press, 2016.

| setting: Farallon Islands | find it |

Summary: In The Lightkeepers, we follow Miranda, a nature photographer who travels to the Farallon Islands, an exotic and dangerous archipelago off the coast of California, for a one-year residency capturing the landscape. Her only companions are the scientists studying there, odd and quirky refugees from the mainland living in rustic conditions; they document the fish populations around the island, the bold trio of sharks called the Sisters that hunt the surrounding waters, and the overwhelming bird population who, at times, create the need to wear hard hats as protection from their attacks. Shortly after her arrival, Miranda is assaulted by one of the inhabitants of the islands. A few days later, her assailant is found dead, perhaps the result of an accident. As the novel unfolds, Miranda gives witness to the natural wonders of this special place as she grapples with what has happened to her and deepens her connection (and her suspicions) to her companions, while falling under the thrall of the legends of the place nicknamed "the Islands of the Dead." And when more violence occurs, each member of this strange community falls under suspicion.

Gerber, Daryl Wood.

Day of Secrets. Self-published, 2017.

| setting: San Francisco Bay Area | tpo | find it |

Summary: A mother he thought he’d lost. A father he never knew. An enemy that wants them dead. At the age of five, Chase Day became an orphan. For thirty-one years, after a rebellious youth, he did his best to turn his life around and build a normal life -- first as a Naval officer and then as a history professor at a boutique Bay Area college. Now, all that changes when he finds his mother, whom he thought had perished in a fire, dying from a gunshot wound. In her last breath, she urges him to find and protect the father he never knew. Where has his father been? Why has he never made contact? Can Chase discover why his family is a target before an unknown enemy destroys him?

A Deadly Éclair. Crooked Lane Books, 2017.

| setting: Napa Valley | series character: Mimi Rousseau (French Bistro Mystery 1) | find it |

Summary: It's always been Mimi Rousseau's dream to open her own bistro, but it seems beyond her grasp since she's been chased back home to Nouvelle Vie in Napa Valley by her late husband's tremendous debt. Until her best friend Jorianne James introduces her to entrepreneur Bryan Baker who invests in promising prospects. Now, working the bistro and inn until she's able to pay it off and call it her own, Mimi is throwing the inn's first wedding ever. The wedding will be the talk of the town, as famous talk show host Angelica Edmonton, daughter of Bryan's half-brother, Edison, has chosen the inn as her perfect venue. Anxious, Mimi is sure things are going to turn south, especially when Edison gets drunk and rowdy at the out-of-towners’ dinner, but by the evening, things begin to look up again. That is until six AM rolls around, and Bryan is found dead at the bistro with an éclair stuffed in his mouth. And the fingers point at Mimi, whose entire loan is forgiven in Bryan's will. Now it's up to Mimi to clear her name and get to the bottom of things before the killer turns up the heat again.

Gessner, Peter.

The Big Hello and the Long Goodbye. Hilliard & Harris, 2007.

Summary: Walker is a middle-aged, transplanted New Yorker working as a private investigator in San Francisco. He’s got a rent-controlled apartment on Telegraph Hill with a million-dollar view, a British racing green 1956 MG, a high-maintenance girlfriend, and a lovesick Indonesian fighting fish. He’s also got two cases. The first is seemingly hopeless: a 15-year old Palestinian-American boy is in jail after shooting his sister in an apparent honor killing after she began dating a flashy Hispanic man. The boy's defense lawyer, who routinely throws cases Walker’s way, hires him to turn up any mitigating circumstances that could help his client. In his other case, Walker is hired by David Singleton, a successful high-tech entrepreneur, to find his brother, Allan, an eccentric, reclusive mathematics genius. David is afraid that Allan is planning to sabotage an upcoming public speech by the CEO of a local denim manufacturer. The cases converge when Walker starts to get some unlikely help from a beautiful Israeli nurse-turned-drug-addict-turned-stripper. This is the first novel by Peter Gessner, a licensed private investigator based in San Francisco (who also shares several other characteristics with his fictional protagonist).

Gibson, Walter B. [see Grant, Maxwell]

Gibson, William.

Virtual Light. Bantam Books, 1993.

| setting: San Francisco (2005) | Hubin | find it |

Summary: 2005: The millennium has come and gone and California has been divided into the uneasy sister-states of NoCal and SoCal. In San Francisco, Golden Gate Park has been renamed Skywalker Park, the Bay Bridge (irreparably damaged in the “Little Grande”) is now used for housing, and all of the homicide cops are Russians. Chevette Washington, a bicycle messenger who lives on the bridge, impulsively steals a pair of sunglasses from an “asshole” at a party that she crashes while “pulling a tag.” But these are no ordinary shades. What you can see through these high-tech specs can make you rich—or get you killed. When the asshole turns up dead, the cops bring in a bounty hunter to track down the thief—and, presumably, the killer. Berry Rydell, a former armed-response rent-a-cop from Los Angeles, is working as the bounty hunter’s driver when they catch up to Chevette. Rydell doesn’t like the way things are going down so he snatches Chevette, and the glasses, and they make a run for it—trying to prevent the virtual reality seen in the sunglasses from becoming actual reality.

All Tomorrow's Parties. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999.

Gilder, Joshua.

Ghost Image. Simon & Schuster, 2002.

Summary: The last thing plastic surgeon Jackson Maebry expects when he goes into the emergency room is to find his lover, Allie Sorosh, beaten and burned almost beyond recognition. Keeping his relationship with her a secret, he and the other doctors work to put her back together. But when the police investigation leads to him, the truth can no longer be suppressed.

Gillette, Paul J.

The Chinese Godfather. Fawcett Gold Medal, 1980.

Gilmartin, Katie.

Blackmail, My Love. Cleis Press, 2014.

| setting: San Francisco (1951) | tpo | find it |

Gilmer, J. Lance.

Hell Has No Exit. Holloway House Publishing Company, 1976.

Hell is Forever. Holloway House Publishing Company, 1977.

Ginsberg, Debra.

Blind Submission. Shaye Areheart Books, 2006.

| setting: San Francisco | find it |

Summary: Angel Robinson loves books, loves reading, loves anything to do with the written word. But when Blue Moon Books, the Bay Area bookstore where she has worked since college, is squeezed out of business, Angel is forced to find a new job. She lucks into a position as the assistant to the world-renowned literary agent Lucy Fiamma. Angel soon learns that working for Lucy is no picnic. The agent has a blockbuster ego to match her blockbuster success and Angel must juggle both her boss’s prima donna demands and the strange quirks of her authors. But Angel soon becomes indispensible to the agency and develops a keen understanding of big projects and the writers who create them. What she doesn’t realize is just how far one of them will go to get published. One day, a chapter from a mysterious manuscript by an anonymous author arrives at the office. Set in a New York literary agency, the novel, titled Blind Submission, centers on the ambitious assistant to a successful literary agent. Angel is pulled in by the plot but her initial curiosity soon turns to panic. As the story unfolds, with chapters e-mailed in one by one, it becomes clear that the mystery author is writing the story of Angel’s own life, including secrets she thought were deeply hidden. Someone is watching her, even plotting against her. Could it be her backstabbing co-worker, her jealous boyfriend, or her seductive new client? When the novel’s plot turns to murder, Angel knows that if she doesn’t discover the author’s identity before the final chapter is written, more than just her career will be cut short.

Girard, Bernard.

Cool Jade. Dell Publishing Company, 1975.

Girard, Danielle.

Savage Art. Onyx, 2000.

Summary: They called him Leonardo—a master skilled in the art of murder. One year ago Cincinnati was his canvas. A scalpel was his tool. And women were his works—in-progress. FBI profiler Casey McKinley was one of them, a victim of his twisted genius. She has the scars—and the nightmares—to prove it. For Casey, a new city means a new life far from the one she left behind. In San Francisco she finally feels safe. Until a series of eerily familiar slayings plunge her back into Leonardo’s game. Now she must catch this clever killer before he can unveil his ultimate masterpiece. Only this time she'll play by a different set of rules—hers.

Ruthless Game. Onyx, 2001.

Summary: As though stumbling out of a nightmare, [Berkeley, California] rookie cop Alex Kincaid awakens in her car dazed and confused. She’s on an unfamiliar street, outside an unfamiliar home with no recollection of how she got there, no memory of the night before. Then the nightmare becomes reality. Her first call of the day takes her to the same street, to the same house, where a man has been brutally killed. Alex thinks he is a perfect stranger—until she finds herself the main suspect in the murder. And now, as she races to clear her name, she’s haunted by memories of a horrific thirty-year-old crime—a crime that links her to the dead man...and marks her as the killer’s next target.

Chasing Darkness. Onyx, 2002.

Summary: Ex-FBI agent Cody O’Brien lives a quiet life in [Oakland]. Self-sufficient and content, she provides a good home for herself and her eight-year-old son, Ryan. But all of that is shattered when Ryan is kidnapped in broad daylight... Cody’s greatest fear is knowing the true motive behind the abduction. For her entire life is a life—one so easily exposed, and so very dangerous. A woman of hard-earned courage, she escaped the killers responsible for her husband’s murder—and she learned to start over. Failed by the Witness Protection Program, she trusts only herself to save her son. Now she’s on the run again—and heading blindly toward a past that wants only one thing from her: cold-blooded revenge.

Cold Silence. Onyx, 2002.

Summary: Ex-FBI agent Cody O’Brien lives a quiet life in Oakland. Self-sufficient and content, she provides a good home for herself and her eight-year-old son, Ryan. But all of that is shattered when Ryan is kidnapped in broad daylight... Cody’s greatest fear is knowing the true motive behind the abduction. For her entire life is a life—one so easily exposed, and so very dangerous. A woman of hard-earned courage, she escaped the killers responsible for her husband’s murder—and she learned to start over. Failed by the Witness Protection Program, she trusts only herself to save her son. Now she’s on the run again—and heading blindly toward a past that wants only one thing from her: cold-blooded revenge.

The Rookie Club. Signet, 2006.

Summary: Fifteen years ago in a San Francisco bar, the Rookie Club was founded—a tight-knit band of female cops, each struggling for respect from their male peers. Jamie Vail was one of them. So was Natasha Devlin, the woman Jamie caught in bed with her husband. When Natasha Devlin is murdered, Jamie wants nothing to do with the investigation. A seasoned inspector in the Sex Crimes Department, she’s facing her own terrifying case—female officers brutalized by a serial rapist who leaves no clues to his identity. Members of the Rookie Club are under attack and a sick game turns into a deadly vendetta. When the primary suspect holds the key to Devlin’s murder, Jamie must confront her past and hunt a killer who could be one of their own. Jamie is trapped between two brutal cases and time is running out before she becomes the killer's ultimate prize.

Exhume. Thomas & Mercer, 2016.

Summary: Dr. Annabelle Schwartzman has finally found a place to belong. As the medical examiner for the San Francisco Police Department, working alongside homicide detective Hal Harris, she uncovers the tales the dead can't tell about their final moments. It is a job that gives her purpose -- and a safe haven from her former life at the hands of an abusive husband. Although it's been seven years since she escaped that ordeal, she still checks over her shoulder to make sure no one is behind her. Schwartzman's latest case is deeply troubling: the victim bears an eerie resemblance to herself. What's more, a shocking piece of evidence suggests that the killer's business is far from over -- and that Schwartzman may be in danger.

Excise. Thomas & Mercer, 2017.

Summary: Medical examiner Dr. Annabelle Schwartzman was not meant to be idle, which is why she's back at a murder scene even while reeling from recent chemotherapy treatments. Having undergone a double mastectomy, all she wants to do is dive back into her medical examiner job. It's a gruesome world, yet Schwartzman takes comfort in its science and precision. But the crime she's dealing with brings her right back to the cancer ward: the victim is her own oncologist, dead from ingesting the very chemical used to fight her disease. Now, Schwartzman and homicide inspector Hal Harris must figure out why and stop the culprit before he can act again. For Schwartzman, the case becomes even more personal. Her abusive ex, Spencer, who's in prison and seemingly out of the picture, is never far from Annabelle's mind. But to solve the mystery behind the death of the doctor who saved her life, she's got to put aside everything else.

Expose. Thomas & Mercer, 2018.

Summary: With her vindictive ex-husband out of prison, San Francisco medical examiner Annabelle Schwartzman is trying harder than ever to move on with her life -- by focusing on her job to speak for the victims who can't. Summoned to a homicide in Golden Gate Park, she realizes that she'd seen the victim just hours before, alive and well in a parked Jeep with a small boy. Now, the woman has been stabbed to death and stripped of her burka, and the child is nowhere to be found. When an African American student is found dead, bearing knife wounds identical to those of the woman in the park, the press jumps on them as hate crimes. If only they were so easy to explain. There is a connection -- but Schwartzman believes it's something even worse. Her fears are confirmed with the discovery of the next victim. Now, to stop a vicious killer whose work has only just begun, Schwartzman and Detective Hal Harris must untangle the twisted thread that links it all to the missing boy and a crime buried in the past.

Girdner, Jaqueline. [see also Daniels, Claire]

Adjusted to Death. Diamond Books, 1991.

Summary: Not only is Kate Jasper’s marriage going to hell, but so is her back. Since there is not much she can do about her love life she decides a trip to the chiropractor can solve at least one of her problems. Arriving early to the clinic she finds the waiting room crowded with patients. When the chiropractor Maggie asks Kate to tell Scott Younger it will be another 10 minutes or so, Kate doesn’t find an impatient client but instead a very dead one. So who in the crowded waiting room or staff could have killed Mr. Younger? Maggie the chiropractor, the no-nonsense receptionist Renee, Eileen Garza the assistant, “on time” Ted, Wayne (the one Kate has dubbed “The Beast”), Valerie Davis a follower of Guru Illumananda, Devi Moore, who knew the victim from their college days, or her daughter Tanya? (AEB)

The Last Resort. Diamond Books, 1991.

Summary: Suzanne Sorenson, a young top attorney, is dating the gorgeous and successful Craig Jasper and is planning to be part of the crowd at the Bay-to-Breakers. Only she won’t make the race this year. Enter Kate Jasper. Within minutes of receiving her divorce decree the telephone rings. It is ex-husband Craig, calling not to discuss their divorce but to ask for her help. Suzanne is dead and the Delores Police Department has him pegged as their top suspect. Kate flies down to Spa Santé to get to the bottom of yet another murder. The spa is still trying to get on its feet, run by Fran and Bradley Beaumont with their teenage son Paul and handyman Avery Haskell. Staying at the spa are rock promoter Jack and his girlfriend Nikki, wheelchair-bound Don, pop psychologist Ruth Ziegler, and conspiracy theorist Terry. The remote location makes it unlikely that anyone outside of the spa has done the nasty deed. Suzanne was not well-liked by the other guests, but since when did being a bitch become a motive for murder? (AEB)

Murder Most Mellow. Diamond Books, 1992.

Summary: In total California style Kate holds a meeting of her human potential group in her hot tub, trying to come to terms with her recent break-up with boyfriend Wayne, who will not stop mentioning the “m” word (marriage, that is). The group consists of attorney Peter Stromberg, the robot whiz Sarah Quinn, vegan restaurateur Tony Olberti and Linda Zatara, whom no one really knows anything about. Sarah claims to be immortal but is proved wrong a few days later. After Kate receives a phone call from Sarah, insisting she needs to discuss something important about someone in their group, Kate arrives at Sarah’s house only to find that Sarah is soaking in the Jacuzzi with one of her robots. An accident, perhaps; suicide, maybe; murder, most likely. With the help of her physic friend Barbara, Kate knows she will find who ended Sarah’s potential. (AEB)

Fat-Free and Fatal. Diamond Books, 1993.

Summary: Kate has mother-in-common-law problems. Her sweetie Wayne’s mother Vesta is staying with them and Kate just wishes she could send Vesta back to the mental institution she came from. So Kate’s friend Barbara suggests a vegan cooking class at the Good Thyme Cafe in San Ricardo to get her out of the house. The food is fabulous and Kate is finally starting to feel more relaxed then she has in weeks. Only the good feeling doesn’t last long when she and Barbara stumble onto the body of the owner and cook of Good Thyme and the police suspect Barbara of choking her with a salad spinner. (AEB)

Tea-Totally Dead. Berkley Prime Crime, 1994.

A Stiff Critique. Berkley Prime Crime, 1995.

Most Likely To Die. Berkley Prime Crime, 1996.

| setting: Marin County; Gravendale (fictional town in Sonoma County); San Francisco | series character: Kate Jasper | find it |

Summary: It is time for Gravendale High School’s 25th reunion and Kate Jasper’s old gang decides a Saturday afternoon picnic is just not long enough to catch up on old times. The cast of characters include: Charlie Hirsch, author of six children’s books; Jack Kanick, owner of an auto repair shop in Gravendale; Mark Meyers, veterinarian; Natalie Nusser, owner of a computer software company; Pam Ortega, librarian of a non-profit organization; salesman extraordinaire Sid Semling; Elaine Semling Timmons, head secretary; and attorney Becky Burchell Vogel. Everyone seems to be just the same as they were back in ‘68. Pam and Charlie act like they want to pick up right where they left off; wild women Becky; and the prankster Sid. At the party Kate brings one of her pinball machines, only Sid has rigged it to say insulting messages whenever someone plays it. Only it seems he has rigged it to do something a little more... (AEB)

A Cry For Self-Help. Berkley Prime Crime, 1997.

| setting: Marin County | series character: Kate Jasper | find it |

Death Hits the Fan. Berkley Prime Crime, 1998.

| setting: Marin County; San Francisco | series character: Kate Jasper | find it |

Summary: Four audience members, three murder-mystery/fantasy authors, two bookstore employees and one parrot. The book reading gets off to a slow start when Kate, almost falling asleep herself, notices that one of the authors, S.X. (Shayla) Greenfree, is slumped over in her chair asleep ... the eternal sleep, that is. Up to this point Kate and her sweetie Wayne were only trying to figure out how to get rid of their tango instructor, Raoul, who continues to profess his love to Kate everyday and won’t leave her alone, her house guest Ingrid, who won’t leave their house or the skunks who can’t seem to chase either Raoul or Ingrid off. Kate knows she cannot leave the solving of Greenfree’s murder to Leprechauns. (AEB)

Murder on the Astral plane. Berkley Prime Crime, 1999.

| setting: Marin County | series character: Kate Jasper | find it |

Summary: Kate is starting to feel like she should not be in rooms with small groups of people as someone always ends up dead. Turning to her friend Barbara for some spiritual guidance, Barbara’s solution is a soiree with her other psychic friends. Only Kate realizes, too late, that she is yet again in a room full of people. Someone ends up dead and Kate can’t understand why, in a room full of psychics, not one of them appears to know who done it. With Wayne laid up with the flu it is up to Kate and Barbara to come to the bottom of this one. (AEB)

Murder, My Deer. Berkley Prime Crime, 2000.

| setting: “Abierto” (Marin County) | series character: Kate Jasper | find it |

Summary: Deer have been eating Kate’s roses and it has to stop. So, of course, she and her new husband Wayne join the “Deer-Abused Support Group” run by former actress and owner of Eldora Nurseries, Avis Eldora. One of the members, Dr. Searle Sandstrom, thinks the best solution for getting rid of the deer is to just shoot them all. Of course this does not go over well in Marin County, California. When he gets hit over the head with a deer statue he just shrugs it off as nothing, only later he is attacked again with the same deer statue, only this time for keeps. It is evident someone from the group had it in for the doctor or perhaps someone from the Animal Rights Group that has been stalking Kate. When the Abierto police show up with a Captain a few roses short of a dozen, it is obvious that it is up to Kate to solve this mystery instead of honeymooning. (AEB)

A Sensitive Kind of Murder. Berkley Prime Crime, 2002.

Glatzer, Hal.

Too Dead To Swing. Perseverance Press, 2002.

Summary: In the spring of 1940, The Ultra Belles—an all-female swing band—are on a tour of California, traveling from Los Angeles to gigs to Santa Cruz, Oakland, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, and San Francisco by train. Katy Green joins the band to replace the regular violinist, who has met with an accident on the Santa Monica pier. When members of the group start dying under suspicious circumstances, Katy has to deflect suspicion off herself long enough to unmask a killer.

Goda, Dee. [Leslie Scalapino]

Orchid Jetsam: A Detective Novel Series. Tuumba Press, 2001.

Summary: Subtitled "A Detective Novel Series," Orchid Jetsam includes two closely related mysteries, "Orchid Jetsam" and "Clear Land" (the latter dedicated to the great Japanese film actor, Toshiro Mifune). In the first, San Francisco homicide detective, Grace Abe—inhabited by the ghost of a U.S. Marine who had been an undercover assassin—runs as "someone else" within her own frame in public spaces where people are out becoming ill in crowds. The epidemic, which at first appears as much psychic as physical, is caused by hemlock spread in food and in the public transit system. Grace and her engaging partners, officers Andrew Chen and Cloe O'Brien, investigate a series of related killings that are ravaging the city. A killer wears a dog’s head. In the second, another series of killings begins, in which the victim’s intestines are left lying on the outside of their frames. Detective Abe, resembling a combination of Sherlock Holmes and a wild comic book character caught in virtual reality, is addicted to a drug whose effect is a clear elation as she’s running. Throughout the book we see San Francisco at present, seeing it as if we were in a space running. Seeing through Grace’s eyes? One’s eyes reading see as if one is running, which transforms the place.

Goins, John.

A Portrait in the Tenderloin. Ithuriel’s Spear, 2013.

| setting: San Francisco (Tenderloin) | tpo | find it |

The Coptic Cross. Ithuriel's Spear, 2016.

| setting: San Francisco | tpo | find it |

Summary: When an old flame from Eritrea shows up at Reporter Bill Haywood's door in San Francisco, he reluctantly agrees to let her stay with him. But there is no room in his life for a former paramour with a jealous husband. Haywood would prefer weeding the garden behind his apartment, studying haiku, and smoking an occasional bowl of hashish when he isn't working for the small, community paper that pays his salary. The murder of a shady jazz musician, Ayana's disappearance, and the unwelcome visit by the cops shocks Haywood out of his complacency. A precious family heirloom must be recovered before Haywood can return to the peaceful life he once knew...

Gold, Herbert.

Slave Trade. Arbor House, 1979.

She Took My Arm As If She Loved Me. St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

Gold, Glen David.

Carter Beats the Devil. Hyperion, 2001.

| setting: San Francisco; Oakland (1923) | find it |

Summary: The epic tale of Charles J. Carter, aka “Carter the Great,” a world-famous magician and master illusionist. In 1923, with President Warren G. Harding in attendance, Carter performs his act at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco. A native of San Francisco, this show is a homecoming for Carter and features a daring illusion called “Carter Beats the Devil.” The illusion requires the assistance of an audience member, in this case the president himself (much to the chagrin of the secret service agents assigned to protect him). The illusion—which includes the violent dismemberment of the president by a scimitar-wielding Devil, his remains devoured by a lion, and a miraculous reanimation—is a success. But hours after the show, the president is dead and Carter himself has vanished. Is Carter responsible for the president’s death? Has he murdered him? Has someone else murdered the president? Or is a strange coincidence? Based on the real-life Charles Joseph Carter (1874-1936) and the mysterious circumstances surrounding Harding’s death, this fictionalized account is packed with mind-bending illusions, daring escapes, personal tragedy, rival magicians who will stop at nothing to exact revenge, danger, and redemption.

Goldberg, Lee. [see also Conrad, Hy]

Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse. Signet, 2006.

Summary: Adrian Monk, San Francisco’s favorite obsessive-compulsive detective, is “hired” by the 12-year old daughter of his assistant, Natalie Teeger, to investigate the murder of Sparky, a firehouse dalmatian. The dog had been killed while the firefighters were responding to a fatal house fire. Monk soon discovers that the fire is arson and had been set to cover up a murder. Using his surreal powers of observation and deduction, Monk uncovers the murderer and brings him to justice with the help of a couple of uniquely San Francisco weapons—Boudin Bakery clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. Based on the USA Network television show, Monk, written by one of the screenwriters.

Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu. Signet, 2007.

Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants. Signet, 2007.

Mr. Monk in Outer Space. Obsidian, 2007.

Mr. Monk Goes to Germany. Obsidian, 2008.

Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop. Obsidian, 2009.

Summary: When obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk is let go after the latest round of budget cuts, he will not stop investigating, even without pay, especially when Captain Leland Stottlemeyer is framed for the murder of another cop.

Mr. Monk in Trouble. Obsidian, 2009.

| setting: San Francisco; “Trouble” (a fictional town in the California gold country) | series character: Adrian Monk (9) | based on the television series Monk, created by Andy Breckman | find it |

Summary: Ever since a 1962 unsolved train robbery made it famous, the people have made their way to the little town of Trouble in California’s gold country. Some people come to see the Gold Rush Museum, but most come search for the booty that the train robbers supposedly dumped off the Golden Rail Express in the botched heist. When the museum watchman, a retired SFPD cop is murdered, Monk and his assistant, Natalie, are sent to investigate. Monk quickly becomes obsessed with the unsolved robbery—and discovers that Trouble’s gold-rush-era assayer was a quirky fellow named Artemis Monk. But that might not be the only thing that ties the past to the present, and if Monk isn’t careful, he’ll learn how the town of Trouble can live up to its name.

Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out. Obsidian, 2010.

Summary: Monk’s been swindled out of his savings but now it’s payback time, in the latest original mystery featuring everyone’s favorite OCD detective. In the midst of a financial crisis, the SFPD fires Adrian Monk as a consultant. Monk figures he can live off his savings for a while. Then Natalie learns that Monk invested his money some time ago with Bob Sebes, the charismatic leader of Reinier Investments, who’s just been arrested on charges of orchestrating a massive $100 million fraud. All of Sebes’ clients, including Monk, are completely wiped out financially. When the key witness in the government’s case against Sebes is killed, Monk is convinced that Sebes did it, but the man has been under house arrest with a horde of paparazzi in front of his building 24/7. Monk may be broke, but he’s got plenty of time on his hands to solve this latest mystery.

Mr. Monk on the Road. Obsidian, 2011.

| setting: San Francisco (Potrero Hill) | series character: Adrian Monk (11) | find it |

Summary: With his job secure and his wife's murder finally solved, Adrian Monk is feeling strangely...satisfied. He'd like his agoraphobic brother Ambrose to feel the same way, so Monk puts a secret ingredient in Ambrose's birthday cake: sleeping pills. When Ambrose wakes up, he's in a motorhome on the open road with Monk determined to show him the outside world. But Ambrose isn't the only one struggling to let go. As little crimes pop up along the highway, Monk can't resist getting involved. Now it's up to Monk to stop a murderer from turning their road trip into a highway to hell.

Mr. Monk on the Couch. Obsidian, 2011.

Mr. Monk is a Mess. Obsidian, 2012.

Mr. Monk Gets Even. Obsidian, 2012.

Golden, Bruce.

Better Than Chocolate. Zumaya Otherworlds, 2007.

Goldin, Sandy.

The Vanity Murders. Vantage Press, 2000.

Summary: Inspector Jeremy Smith of the San Francisco homicide detail has a knack for puzzles. He will need this skill when he seeks to discover the murderer of Janie Cho, a quiet, well-respected nurse without any enemies. There are few clues to help Smith achieve the sense of justice he always seeks. Was it a stranger, a neighbor, the boyfriend, the best friend to whom he is strongly attracted? In unraveling this puzzle, Smith calls on his communication skills and his talent for understanding people. What he finds becomes a lesson on human nature and taking responsibility for one’s choices.

A Friend in Need. Infinity Publishing, 2002.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Jeremy Smith | tpo |

Summary: Peter Marconi was the "quintessential" friend in need. He was also gay. Was this why he was killed? The San Francisco media focused on this fact, causing pain to his family and partner. Yet, for Inspector Jeremy Smith and Assistant Inspector Fred Wong, there were also the disapproving brother-in-law, the missing brother, Tommy, and the problems between them and older brother William. Finally, there were the missing dog and the mysterious animal dealer. Smith is aided with this lead by his girlfriend, Marie Broussard. She, like the victim, was passionate about animals. The case would change all of their lives.

Two Sides of a Coin. Infinity Publishing, 2006.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Jeremy Smith | tpo |

Summary: Returning home after a week's vacation in Paris, San Francisco homicide detective Jeremy Smith is faced with a missing friend, her dead spouse and a colleague under suspicion. Meanwhile, his fiancé continues on from Paris to visit friends in England, where she is forced to face a similar challenge -- a missing friend and her missing spouse -- without having Smith's police connections to help her. Both encounter issues involving betrayal, abuse, lack of self-esteem, the strength that comes from self-knowledge and, as always, choice. This time, however, the choices they face include their own, both past and future.

Goldsborough, F.

The Crimson Spell. Pocket Pulse, 2000. [based on the television series Charmed, created by Constance M. Burge]

Goldsmith, Gene.

Layout For a Corpse. M.S. Mill Co., 1949.

Goldstein, Paul.

A Patent Lie. Doubleday, 2008.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Michael Seeley | find it |

Summary: Michael Seeley’s legal career has gone downhill from big-time law in New York City to a struggling solo practice in Buffalo when his brother, a successful executive in a Silicon Valley biotech company, arrives to lure Michael to come to San Francisco and take over the bet-the-company patent infringement litigation against a giant, international drug conglomerate. The attorney who had been handling the case just jumped in front of a train, and the trial, which cannot be postponed, is only days away. Against his better judgment, Michael takes the case and begins to penetrate the darkness at its heart as he investigates the circumstances of his predecessor’s death and the patent he has been hired to litigate. His investigation leads him into peril both outside and inside the San Francisco courtroom around which the drama swirls.

Goodis, David.

Dark Passage. Julian Messner, 1946.

Summary: Vincent Parry, sentenced to life in San Quentin for the murder of his wife, escapes in order to prove his innocence by discovering the real murderer himself. Along the road outside the prison, Irene Janney, a young woman who has followed the entire case and believes in his innocence, picks Parry up and smuggles him into San Francisco. In a desperate attempt to hide his identity from the police long enough to figure out who framed him, Parry visits an underworld plastic surgeon and alters his appearance. This novel was the source for the classic 1947 film of the same name starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Of Tender Sin. Gold Medal Books, 1952.

Gordon, Dan.

Murder in the First. St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 1995.

Summary: Alcatraz. The prison fortress off the coast of San Francisco. No man had gotten out alive before his time was up, until a 20-year-old petty thief named Willie Moore broke out. Recaptured, then thrown into a pitch-black hellhole for three agonizing years, Willie is driven to near-madness by a sadistic warden, and finally, to a brutal killing. Now, up on first-degree murder charges, he must wrestle with his nightmares and forge an alliance with Henry Davidson, the embattled lawyer who will risk losing his career and the woman he loves in a desperate bid to save Willie from the gas chamber. Together, Willie and Henry will dare the most impossible act of all: get Willie off on a savage crime that the system drove him to commit—and put Alcatraz itself on trial. Novelization of the 1995 film starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, and Gary Oldman, directed by Marc Rocco. Based on the screenplay by Dan Gordon.

Gordon, Nadia. [Julianne Balmain]

Sharpshooter. Chronicle Books, 2002.

Death by the Glass. Chronicle Books, 2003.

Murder Alfresco. Chronicle Books, 2005.

| setting: Napa Valley | series character: Sunny McCoskey | find it |

Summary: Returning from a party late one night, chef Sunny McCoskey is the first to discover the body of a murdered woman left outside a local winery, and she may even have witnessed the killer driving away. Thrust into the center of a crime that has rattled the tranquil Napa Valley, Sunny pursues her own investigation, a journey that takes her from Northern California’s wine country to the insular houseboat community along the San Francisco Bay. Uncovering a tangle of secret liaisons, Sunny closes in on the murderer, who responds with one more desperate act.

Lethal Vintage. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2009.

| setting: Napa Valley | series character: Sunny McCoskey | find it |

Gordon, William C.

The Chinese Jars. Bay Tree Publishing, 2011.

Summary: In San Francisco in 1960, Samuel Hamilton, ad salesman and aspiring newspaper reporter, investigates the suspicious death of Reginald Rockwood III, who has been run over by a bus. Hamilton knows Rockwood, who is supposedly a millionaire, from the bar that they both frequent. The investigation takes Hamilton to Chinatown, where he encounters the mysterious and powerful Mr. Song, a Chinese Albino, whose herb store holds the key to Rockwood’s death. Editor’s note: Gordon’s first novel has taken an unusual path to publication. Originally written in English, it was translated into Spanish and published first in Spain under the title Duelo en Chinatown (Barcelona, 2006). This edition represents the first appearance of the English original.

King of the Bottom. Bay Tree Publishing, 2012.

Summary: On a cold and gloomy morning the mutilated body of Armand Hagopian, a prosperous Armenian businessman is found hanging from the gate of his toxic dump. The implacable finger of the law points to the decedent’s illegal Mexican workers, but crime reporter Samuel Hamilton, with the nose of a bloodhound and inexhaustible tenacity decides to investigate the death on his own. Samuel, with the help of Janak Marachak, the attorney for the accused, uncovers a sordid world of ancient revenge and violence.” Editor’s note: Originally published in Spanish under the title El Rey de Los Bajos Fondos (Barcelona, 2008).

The Ugly Dwarf. Bay Tree Publishing, 2012.

Summary: Samuel Hamilton gets a tip from Melba that Excalibur has discovered a human thigh in a tipped over trash can in China Camp, an inlet to the San Francisco Bay. It’s wrapped in a piece of a burlap sack with the letter M on it. Along with his cohort, Inspector Bruno Bernardi of Homicide, Hamilton begins to follow the clues that will eventually lead him to connect the thigh to a disappeared young man and he will solve the crime. In the process he comes across the despicable and pathetic character of Dusty Schwartz, the dwarf preacher, and his dominatrix associate, who prey on the Latin Community in the Mission District. But they’re not the only crooked ones. There are lawyers, union officials, bureaucrats and cops who make it all possible. In addition the reader gets a bird’s eye view of what life was like in the underbelly of San Francisco beatnik and gay communities in the early 1960’s.” Editor’s note: Originally published in Portuguese under the title O Anão (Brazil, 2010).

Fractured Lives. Bay Tree Publishing, 2012.

The Halls of Power. Bay Tree Publishing, 2014.

Unfinished. Bay Tree Publishing, 2015.

Summary: Sixth in a series of noir mysteries featuring San Francisco newspaper reporter Samuel Hamilton, Unfinished confronts the question, how much hurt can be repaired when betrayal, kidnapping, and violence touch a person's life? The story opens with the kidnapping of a young boy--the third such kidnapping within a short period--only now it's the son of Emma Sheridan, a French émigré, widow of a Vietnam veteran, and someone to whom Samuel owes a huge emotional debt. This time it's personal. While Samuel engages in his usual relentless job of pursuing the kidnapper, the narrative illuminates the lives and experiences of an exotic cast of characters, Emma Sheridan, whose life has been a series of losses, Emma's eccentric but resourceful son Alain, the wise and compassionate Argentinean therapist Ana Cejas, and then there are the suspects and perpetrators, driven by their own perverse needs.

Gore, Steven.

Final Target. Poisoned Pen Press, 2010.

Summary: From San Francisco to London to Kiev, investigator Graham Gage is in a race against the FBI and Ukraine gangsters to solve an intricate stock swindle and arms deal in time to clear his friend’s name. Gage peels away the layers of the collapse of SatTek Industries in San Jose to find a plot that morphs into something bigger, something that will put the American military in the Middle East at risk.

Act of Deceipt. Harper, 2011.

Summary: Mt. Shasta is far from the San Francisco sidewalk on which Harlan Donnally’s life nearly ended in a crossfire—but all too close to a decades-old secret that will force him into another. The former detective swore he’d never play anyone’s postman. But a dying friend’s plea takes Donnally bearing a letter alive with tragedy toward a sister long dead—the victim of the bizarre criminality of a counterculture that had lost its way. Stunned to learn that her killer was never prosecuted, Donnally soon finds himself in battle against a broken justice system and on a trail of evil into a dangerous borderland in which the falsely pious and the wealthy abuse the young and the poor. And though each step takes him farther down a perilous path that wrenches him between his inner demons and his mission to redeem a brother’s love, he won’t stop until he knows the truth. For Donnally made a promise to a dead man, and he’ll keep it—or die trying.

Power Blind. Harper, 2012.

Summary: In Washington, Senator Landon Meyer—leading presidential candidate and pivotal voice in a divided senate—imposes his choices to fill two Supreme Court vacancies on the President. In San Francisco, Charlie Palmer—a specialist in burying the crimes of the political and financial elite—lies paralyzed by a gunshot. Linking the two is the senator’s all-too-cunning brother—a federal judge secretly managing his campaign. An hour before his death, Palmer reaches out to private investigator Graham Gage, a man he’s both feared and admired, but his words remain choked in his throat. A funeral-day burglary of Palmer’s office and a wife’s plea for the truth about her husband’s misdeeds plunge Gage into a morass of murder, corporate cover-ups, and corrupted justice that masks a political money-laundering scheme threatening to destroy not only our democracy, but all that is dear to Gage...

A Criminal Defense. Harper, 2013.

Night is the Hunter. William Morrow, 2015.

White Ghost. William Morrow, 2016.

Summary: Graham Gage has been diagnosed with a treatable, but ultimately incurable, form of cancer. Rather than immediately pursuing treatment though he first must fulfill a debt to an old friend who saved his life and career when he was police detective many years ago. Her troubled teenage son managed to get roped into a multimillion dollar microchip robbery. Plagued by his symptoms, Gage's pursuit to untangle the web of lies surrounding the deal takes him to Hong Kong, Thailand, and China. He discovers that the robbery was key to a chips-for-heroin barter deal set up by the mafia. He not only traces the conspiracy back to the US-based Asian organized crime figure behind it, but puts in motion a plan he hopes will break down the insulation between the figurehead and the crime. As Gage returns to the US to finally get treatment, he's drawn back into a deadly confrontation with the godfather.

Gores, Joe.

A Time of Predators. Random House, 1969.

Dead skip. Random House, 1972.

Summary: San Francisco’s Daniel Kearny Associates (DKA) agency specializes in automobile repossessions. After picking up a ’72 Mercury Montego, repo man Bart Heslip ends up in the hospital with a cracked skull. The doctors give him seventy-two hours to live; Kearny gives Heslip’s partner Larry Ballard the same amount of time to find out who attacked Bart. Ballard’s investigation leads him all around San Francisco and the East Bay—and straight into murder. The first “DKA File” novel.

Final Notice. Random House, 1973.

Interface. M. Evans & Company, Inc., 1974.

Hammett. Putnam, 1975.

| setting: San Francisco (1928) | Hubin; Herron; MRJ; 1001 Midnights, p. 308-309 | find it |

Summary: It’s 1928 and Dashiell Hammett is supposed to be revising The Dain Curse for his publisher. He lives in a small apartment at 891 Post Street, drinks too much, and has developed an attachment to a beautiful young woman named Goodie Osborne. An old colleague, Vic Atkinson, from the Pinks (Pinkerton Detective Agency) shows up and asks Dash to join him in the PI game again. Atkinson has been brought to San Francisco by a reform committee dedicated to cleaning up graft in the city. Hammett refuses—he’s a writer now, not an op anymore. When Atkinson is murdered, Hammett feels obligated to find the killer. So, he gets the committee to authorize him to continue the investigation—which brings him up against bootleggers, gangsters, white slavers, corrupt cops, and a young Chinese prostitute who is not what she appears, as he tries to clean up a wide open city that no one really wants cleaned up.

Gone, No Forwarding. Random House, 1978.

Come Morning. Mysterious Press, 1986.

32 Cadillacs. Mysterious Press, 1992.

Mostly Murder. Eugene, Or.: Mystery Scene Press/Author’s Choice Monthly/Pulphouse Publishing, Inc., 1992.

Summary: A collection of eight short stories, including the first appearance of the DKA File Series and an introduction by the author. Contains: “File #1: The Mayfield Case;”* “The Second Coming;”** “Plot It Yourself;” “Raptor;” “Watch For It;” *** “The Andrech Samples;” “Killer Man;” and, “Goodbye, Pops” (winner of the Edgar for the Best Short Story of the Year, 1969). Setting: *San Francisco; **San Quentin Prison; ***Berkeley

Dead Man. Mysterious Press, 1993.

Menaced Assassin. Mysterious Press, 1994.

Summary: In San Francisco a policeman hunts a killer stalking a college professor who knows too much. As the professor lectures on violence and evolution, the novel becomes a study of violence, theory and practice.

Contract Null & Void. Mysterious Press, 1996.

Cases. Mysterious Press, 1999.

Summary: One man’s account of the way he became a private eye in 1950s San Francisco. He is Pierce Duncan, a graduate of Notre Dame University and his quest to find himself includes a stint on a chain gang.

Stakeout on Page Street and Other DKA Files. Norfolk, Va.: Crippen & Landru Publishers, 2000.

Summary: A compilation of short stories featuring Daniel Kearney & Associates (DKA), a San Francisco private investigation firm specializing in automobile repossessions and skip tracing. This volume collects the original DKA File stories (all but one published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, 1967-1989) in book form for the first time. Includes: “File #1: Find the Girl” (EQMM Dec. 1967; a.k.a. “The Mayfair Case”); “File #2: Stakeout on Page Street” (EQMM Jan. 1968); “File #3: The Three Halves” (EQMM July 1968; a.k.a. “The Pedretti Case”); “File #4: Lincoln Sedan Deadline” (EQMM Sept. 1968); “File #5: Be Nice to Me” (EQMM June 1969; a.k.a. “The Maria Navarro Case”); “File #6: Beyond the Shadow” (EQMM Jan. 1972); “File #7: O Black and Unknown Bard” (EQMM Jan. 1972); “File #8: The O’Bannon Blarney File” (Men and Malice, ed. by Dean Dickensheet, 1973); “File #9: Full Moon Madness” (EQMM Feb. 1984); “File #10: The Maimed and the Halt” (EQMM Jan. 1976); “File #11: Jump Her Lively, Boys” (EQMM July 1984); “File #12: Do Not Go Gentle” (EQMM Mar. 1989). Includes new introductions to each story by Gores. The cloth edition of this volume also includes a separate pamphlet, File #9: Double-Header, a DKA File story that was rejected by EQMM because it dealt with two separate repos in the same story.

Cons, Scams & Grifts. Mysterious Press, 2001.

Summary: In Southern California, Ephrem Poteet—inside a bear costume—performs a dance routine while also pick-pocketing his audience. However, someone must have hated his act because the gypsy performer is murdered. The police and the Muchwaya Nation of Gypsies believe that the victim’s wife Yana killed him after an ugly incident in San Francisco, but she seems to have vanished. In San Francisco, the Dan Kearney Associates (DKA) are very busy in a street war with the owners of cars that need repossessing. In spite of the workload, the employer of this sleaze group Dan Kearney agrees to help the Muchwaya Nation locate Yana.

No Crib For His Bed: A DKA Files Story. Norfolk, Va.: Crippen & Landru Publishers, 2004.

Summary: A limited edition story published in an edition of 355 copies as a gift for friends of Crippen & Landru Publishers.

Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

| setting: San Francisco (1921-1928) | series character: Sam Spade | find it |

Summary: This novel begins with private investigator Sam Spade wrapping up the Flitcraft case in the Pacific Northwest and ends with a beautiful girl named Wonderly being shooed in to Spade’s San Francisco office. In the middle, the narrative spans the years 1921 to 1928 and tells three separate— but interconnected—episodes in Spade’s career. In 1921, Spade has resigned from his position as an operative of the Continental Detective Agency and is setting up a one-man shop in San Francisco. The first thing he does is hire a young Greek girl named Effie Perine to be his secretary. Hired by the wealthy Charles Hendrickson Barber—president of Golden Gate Trust—to find his son, who has romantic ideas about sailing the South Seas, Spade starts his search on the docks, looking for ships getting ready to sail for Hawaii that young Barber could stow away on. He quickly stumbles upon a case of stolen gold sovereigns that have gone missing from the San Anselmo. He is able to recover the missing boy and part of the missing gold, but in so doing he makes an enemy of Lt. Dundy of the San Francisco Homicide Detail as the mastermind behind the theft—a shadow man named St. Clair McPhee—escapes. In 1925, Spade is hired by an insurance man to investigate the death of Collin Eberhard (another banker), whose mysterious death has been ruled accidental by the coroner’s jury. But, before the insurance company pays off the widow, they want to be absolutely certain that Eberhard did not, in fact, commit suicide. The case brings him into contact with another shady character named Devlin St. James and ends with a tragic death. In 1928, Spade is offered a job investigating a series of thefts on the waterfront. Needing a partner who is not already known by all of the local longshoremen, he offers a partnership to Miles Archer, an operative with the Burns Agency that Spade has known for many years. Archer, who married the girl that Spade left behind when he went off to fight in World War I, is a son of a bitch, always trying to claim “booze, bribes, and biddies” as expenses —but he’s also a very good private eye. While Archer is working nights undercover on the docks, Spade and Miles’ wife, Iva, are doing some nighttime undercover work of their own. Another case, involving a beautiful young Chinese “paper daughter” named Mai-lin Choi searching for the truth about her father, brings Spade full circle in the San Anselmo case as he finally gets his man. A worthy predecessor to Mr. Hammett’s iconic tale of the Black Bird.

Gosling, Paula.

A Running Duck. Macmillan, 1978.

Fair Game. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1978.

Goulart, Ron. [see also Robeson, Kenneth]

After Things Fell Apart. Ace Publishing Corporation, 1970. (Ace SF Special [1] 00950)

Summary: In the last years of the 20th century, the United States of America no longer exists. California has been divided into two separate political entities. Southern California is controlled by the Chinese Commandos; various warring factions are struggling for control of northern California. The San Francisco Enclave controls the Bay Area. When a group of militant females led by the mysterious Lady Day begins assassinating prominent men, the S.F. Enclave Intelligence and Investigation Office calls in Jim Haley, an operative with the Private Inquiry Office, to put an end to the killings. Haley’s investigation takes him from the city across what is left of the Golden Gate Bridge to wide-open Marin County, where he tracks down Penny Deacon, a former Lady Day member. The trail then leads down the Peninsula to Monterey County. Along the way, Haley meets a vast assortment of eccentric characters, some human and some not so human.

Ghost Breaker. Ace Books, 1971. (Ace Double 11182)

Summary: The adventures of Max Kearny, an amateur occult investigator who works for a San Francisco ad agency. Issued with the author’s Clockwork’s Pirates.

Gould, Judith.

Second Love. Dutton, 1997.

Grabien, Deborah.

Still Life With Devils. Drollerie Press, 2007.

Summary: It’s mid-October in San Francisco and a serial killer the police have named Captain Nemo has just claimed his sixth pregnant victim. As tensions rise, two people work desperately to find the killer before he claims number seven. Homicide chief and single father Cassius Chant is desperate. Whoever Nemo is, he’s left no evidence beyond an ever-lengthening line of dead women. Finally, a witness to the sixth murder comes forward. Involving his artist sister Leontyne is the last thing Cassy wants to do, but with a possible eyewitness and the staff artist out sick, he has no choice. Only when Leo draws the killer’s face does Cassy begin to believe he will finally unravel the twisted threads of this case. While Cassy pursues leads that may lead to justice, Leo knows she can find and face this demon alone. She's drawn that face before and she has a gift that transcends her artistic skill. Leo can walk into the worlds she’s created on canvas. This time she’s going to do it to find a killer.

Rock & Roll Never Forgets. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Minotaur Books, 2009.

Summary: Rock guitarist John “JP” Kinkaid—an ex-pat Brit—is back home in San Francisco after completing a world tour with his band, Blacklight. He is keeping busy by sitting in on rehearsal sessions with a local group, the Bombardiers, as they break in a new front man, Vinny Fabiano, and get ready to record a new CD. JP is also working hard at keeping his multiple sclerosis at bay and staying out of the way as his long-time girlfriend, Bree Godwin, plans their wedding. Although Vinny is generally regarded as a pain in the ass by his new bandmates, he does have some genuine talent and the sessions are going well. That is, until Vinny gets his head caved in by one of his own flashy guitars, a beautiful custom-made axe hand-crafted by a local luthier (what JP really cannot figure out is, who would willfully damage such a fine guitar by killing someone with it?). San Francisco Homicide inspector, Patrick Ormand (recently transferred from New York, where he had a previous encounter with JP and Blacklight), arrives to take over the investigation and the Bombardiers go in search of yet another new singer. This, at least, is one problem that JP can solve: he calls up Malcolm “Mac” Sharpe, lead singer of Blacklight, in London and asks him to fill in. Just when things are getting good and “groiny” (Bree’s description of JP’s guitar sound), there is another murder. This time it is a guitar technician (and Vinny’s cousin), and Vinny’s most valuable guitar, one that JP needed to be able to recreate Vinny’sound, is missing. It seems as if someone really does not want the Bombardiers to finish this record.

Graceland. Plus One Press, 2011.

Book of Days. Plus One Press, 2011.

Uncle John's Band. Plus One Press, 2012.

Dead Flowers. Plus One Press, 2012.

Summary: When the Fog City Geezers sign a recording contract with Fluorescent Records, band founder JP Kinkaid makes an unusual decision: to record a live show as their first CD. Climbing into a tour bus named Magic with the band and his wife, Bree, he’s expecting no more than the usual glitches and problems that happen when any band hits the road. What he’s not expecting is a sudden series of interpersonal crises. Every one of those crises is linked to Fluorescent’s signing of longtime thorn in JP’s side, the disruptive and unpleasant bassist, Bergen Sandoval. By the night of the label’s CD release party at an exclusive Hollywood nightclub, tensions within the Fluorescent artist family have reached breaking point. When Bergen dies in the club’s bathroom of an apparent coke overdose, Blacklight security chief and retired homicide detective Patrick Ormand suspects the white powder contains more than just cocaine—and things suddenly look bad for one member of the band family.

Grace, Margaret. [Camille Minichino]

Murder in Miniature. Berkley Prime Crime, 2008.

Mayhem in Miniature. Berkley Prime Crime, 2008.

Malice in Miniature. Berkley Prime Crime, 2009.

Mourning in Miniature. Berkley Prime Crime, 2009.

Monster in Miniature. Berkley Prime Crime, 2010.

Mix-Up in Miniature. Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Company, 2012.

Madness in Miniature. Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Company, 2014.

Summary: The grand opening of a giant chain crafts store is both good and bad news for miniaturist Gerry Porter. But when the big event is accompanied by an earthquake and a murder in the store, there's plenty of opportunity for Gerry and her computer-gifted granddaughter Maddie to help the police investigate. Did the New Yorkers bring crime to quiet Lincoln Point, or are the town’s dispossessed small-business people responsible? From querying suspects to drawing up alibi charts, Gerry applies her insights to various issues of personal relations—but can she solve her own with her BFF, Henry Baker?

Matrimony in Miniature. Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Company, 2016.

Summary: When murder happens in the small town of Lincoln Point, California, there aren't many degrees of separation between the victim and retired teacher Gerry Porter. How can she stay away from the investigation when the crime scene is the venue for her marriage to Henry Baker? But this time, nephew Detective Skip Gowen tries to discourage Gerry's and granddaughter Maddie's efforts to solve "The Case." He couldn't live with himself if the murderer learns of their efforts and comes after them.

Grae, Camarin.

Slick. The Naiad Press, Inc., 1990.

Summary: A lesbian group is hosting a conference in San Francisco, at which the centerpiece will be the great and profoundly symbolic statue of the Winged Dancer. Given every assurance of secure passage, the South American home of the priceless golden statue has allowed its transport to America. But despite every precaution, the Winged Dancer is stolen. Held for ransom by a woman who calls herself Slick. Who is Slick? How did she manage to steal this sublime symbol to women? Where has she hidden it? The women must find her. Yet she mocks their every attempt to discover her...

Graedon, Joe. [see Ferguson, Tom]

Grafton, Sue.

“K” is for Killer. Henry Holt and Company, 1994.

| setting: “Santa Teresa,” San Francisco | series character: Kinsey Millhone | find it |

Graham, Chris Scott.

Winery Peak. Ramble House, 2009.

| setting: Napa Valley | tpo | find it |

Summary: When people living around the abandoned, water-filled quarry next to bucolic Winery Peak in Napa Valley start getting ill a wine-maker and a lawyer look into it -- and find more than they bargained for.

Graham, Will. [William Simon]

Street Heat. CreateSpace, 2011.

Summary: A former detective confronts the serial killer who got away....and the woman who broke his heart. In 1985, Peterson Chace was the lead investigator for the Moonstone Murderer Case, a serial killer that held the City by the Bay hostage to fear. Moonstone eluded capture and escaped justice in a brutal confrontation on the Golden Gate Bridge, leading Chace into a breakdown and forcing his resignation from the police department. Three years later, with a new career as a mystery novelist, Chace is drawn back in to the world he left when Moonstone reappears, slaughtering seemingly random victims and holding the city in a grip of terror. As the case progresses, Chace finds himself dealing with Mayor Sarah Westin, an ADA in the original case and the one woman in his life Chace finds haunting his memory. In a shattering climax deep in the darkness of San Francisco, Chace confronts his demons once and for all, and learns that sometimes the second chance is the one that counts...

Gran, Sara.

Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

| setting: San Francisco; Marin County | series character: Claire DeWitt (2) | find it |

Summary: When Paul Casablancas, Claire DeWitt’s musician ex-boyfriend, is found dead in his Mission District home, the police are convinced it’s a simple robbery. But Claire knows nothing is ever simple. With the help of her new assistant, Claude, Claire follows the clues, finding hints to Paul’s fate in her other cases—especially that of a missing girl in the gritty 1980s East Village and a modern-day miniature horse theft in Marin.

The Infinite Blacktop. Atria Books, 2018.

| setting: Oakland; Brooklyn | series character: Claire DeWitt (3) | find it |

Summary: As a young girl growing up in Brooklyn, Claire and her two best friends, Tracy and Kelly, fell under the spell of the book Detection by legendary French detective Jacques Silette. The three solved many cases together -- until the day Tracy vanished without a trace. Later, in her twenties, Claire is in Los Angeles trying to get her PI license by taking on a cold case that has stumped the LAPD. She hunts for the real story behind the death of a painter ten years earlier, whose successful and widely admired artist girlfriend had died a few months before him. Today, Claire is on her way to Las Vegas from San Francisco when she's almost killed by a homicidal driver. As these three narratives converge, some mysteries are solved and others continue to haunt.

Grant, Cathryn.

The Demise of the Soccer Moms. D2C Perspectives, 2011.

| setting: San Francisco Peninsula | tpo | find it |

Grant, Linda.

Random Access Murder. Avon Books, 1988.

Summary: San Francisco private investigator Catherine Sayler specializes in corporate security, investigating white-collar crimes. When her lover Peter Harman—an ex-hippie and another PI, of the decidedly more blue-collar type—is arrested for the murder of a beautiful secretary in Palo Alto, Catherine is convinced he has been framed. Peter had been tailing the husband of an old friend, trying to figure out if he was cheating on her. The dead woman was one of the husband’s mistresses; the husband is the head of a computer company. In order to prove Peter’s innocence, Catherine has to discover the real killer. With the reluctant assistance of her ex-husband Dan Walker—a homicide cop with the SFPD—Catherine and her staff pick up the trail, which leads her to the familiar territory of the high-tech computer industry, corporate secrets, and blackmail. It also leads her to the less familiar territory of hired thugs and killers. Catherine, who holds a black belt in aikido, finds that she needs all of her skills in order to discover the truth and stay in one piece.

Blind Trust. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1990.

Summary: When her biggest client files for bankruptcy, San Francisco private eye Catherine Sayler is in danger of losing her agency. In order to keep the lights on and her employees employed, Catherine takes a job she ordinarily would have refused: a missing person case. Bank executive Daniel Martin asks her to locate James Mendoza, a computer security expert whom he suspects is planning to take advantage of a flaw in the bank’s computer system to embezzle five million dollars—and she only has fourteen days in which to find him. Mendoza has mysteriously vanished, leaving his pregnant wife behind. With the help of her “squeeze” Peter Harman, himself a free-lance PI, Catherine follows the trail to Mendoza’s tule fog-bound hometown of Modesto, in California’s San Joaquin Valley. There she meets several of Mendoza’s Vietnam War buddies, a tight-knit group who shares secrets from the war. When it becomes obvious that there is someone following her and Peter, and that he is professional, Catherine has to decide very quickly who she can trust—and convince them to trust her—or they will end up very dead.

Love Nor Money. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991.

A Woman's Place. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1994.

Summary: In San Francisco, a computer firm hires PI Catherine Sayler to discover who has been sending pornographic e-mail messages to female staffers. When they appear in her own mail, Catherine fears the worst: there’s a murdering sadist on the loose and she may be his next victim.

Lethal Genes. Scribner, 1996.

Vampire Bytes. Scribner, 1998.

Summary: PI Catherine Sayler of San Francisco hunts for the killer of a computer programmer of role-playing vampire games. He was found with two bite marks, his body drained of blood. Suspects range from a competing computer company to a minister campaigning against such games.

Grant, M. C. [Grant McKenzie]

Angel With a Bullet. Midnight Ink, 2012.

Devil With a Bun. Midnight Ink, 2013.

Beauty With a Bomb. Midnight Ink, 2014.

Grant, Maxwell. [Walter B. Gibson]

Green Eyes: From The Shadow's Private Annals. Pyramid Books, 1977. (Shadow #13)

Summary: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? A man is murdered on the Mountain Limited, brutally stabbed in the chest. His dying words: “Green eyes.” Cleve Branch, a Federal investigator, arrives in San Francisco to investigate the activities of the Wu-Fan, a secret, sinister Chinese agency headquartered in Chinatown. Also arriving in San Francisco is the mysterious Henry Arnaud—one of the aliases of The Shadow, the “dread avenger of evil.” The murdered man, Stephen Laird, had been an agent of Wu-Fan and the investigations converge in a bloody shootout aboard a Chinese junk on San Francisco Bay. Originally published in the October 1, 1932 (Vol. 3, no. 3) issue of The Shadow Magazine.

Green, Kate.

Night Angel. Delacorte Press, 1989.

Greenleaf, Stephen.

Grave Error. The Dial Press, 1979.

Summary: John Marshall Tanner is 50 years old and has been a private investigator in San Francisco for twelve years. He is an ex-lawyer and doesn’t do divorce cases. He reluctantly takes the case when Jacqueline Nelson comes in to his office asking him to find out why her husband, Roland—a famous consumer advocate—has been acting mysteriously, disappearing for several days at a time and drawing large sums of cash out of his business account. Tanner is about to drop the case when it takes a sudden, very personal turn—one of his best friends, another PI named Harry Spring, is found murdered in a small San Joaquin Valley town while working for the Nelsons’ daughter, Claire. As Tanner tries to figure out who killed Spring and why, he finds himself on a trail of long-buried secrets, frustrated passions, and revenge.

Death Bed: A Detective Story. The Dial Press, 1980.

State's Evidence. The Dial Press, 1982.

Fatal Obsession. The Dial Press, 1983.

Beyond Blame. Villard Books, 1986, c1985.

Toll Call. Villard Books, 1987.

Impact. William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1989.

Book Case. William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1991.

Blood Type. William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1992.

False Conception. Otto Penzler Books, 1994.

Summary: San Francisco private eye John Marshall Tanner checks out a surrogate mother for a tycoon and his wife. After a thorough investigation—including in her bed—he gives her full marks. She takes the money and disappears. Now Tanner must find her.

Flesh Wounds. Scribner, 1996.

Summary: San Francisco PI John Marshall Tanner, in Seattle on the trail of a man’s missing daughter, probes the world of computer pornography. The girl is a model who abandoned traditional modeling for the thrills that this new industry offers.

Past Tense. Scribner, 1997.

Summary: In San Francisco, a policeman with an unimpeachable record draws his revolver in open court and shoots the accused, on trial for abusing a young girl. Why? The policeman isn’t talking and soon after being jailed he escapes. That is when his buddy, investigator John Marshall Tanner decides he must find him, if only to save him from himself.

Strawberry Sunday. Scribner, 1999.

Summary: Private investigator John Marshall Tanner, of San Francisco, investigates the death of a woman labor activist. The victim was involved in organizing strawberry pickers and one of the suspects is a wealthy strawberry grower.

Ellipsis. Scribner, 2000.

Summary: After the death of his police officer friend two years ago, Bay Area private investigator John Marshall Tanner is dating Assistant District Attorney Jill Cappanella. He also seeks cases to pay off his bills. Best-selling and wealthy author Chandelier Wells is receiving threatening letters stating “If you don’t stop it you will die.” Chandelier may not know what the letters want halted, but she takes the warning seriously and hires Marsh to act as her bodyguard. Initially, Marsh thinks the person terrorizing the author is a die-hard lunatic of a fan, trying to get a rise out of Chandelier. He changes his mind when a bomb explodes in her car killing two people and injuring Chandelier. The MO seems like that of a pro. Marsh suspects someone close or formerly close to the writer as hired a hit man. As he steps closer to the truth, Marsh places himself and his loved ones in life threatening danger.

Greenwald, Nancy.

Ladycat. Crown Publishers, 1980.

Gregory, Jackson.

Ladyfingers. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920.

| setting: San Francisco; Piedmont; "Lockworth" (Northern California) | Baird & Greenwood 961; Herron; Hubin | find it |

Summary: San Francisco has its very own Raffles, and his name is Ladyfingers. Robert Ashe, 21, is a debonair gentleman and an “expert on Life, Lyric Poetry and Burglar Proof Safes!” Known to the police and the underworld, alike, as Ladyfingers, Ashe is a master thief and pickpocket, able to crack any safe and get away with the goods. But, his girlfriend Polly Le Brun (daughter of the local crime boss, Joe Le Brun) and the corrupt Lieutenant Ambrose of the San Francisco Police Department decide to set him up. Polly convinces Ashe to make a play for an extremely valuable diamond belonging to Mrs. Rachel Stetheril, who is in Piedmont visiting relatives. Even though Ambrose and the cops are waiting for him, Ashe manages to slip away—without the diamond—and seeks refuge in a nearby home, which turns out to belong to Mrs. Stetheril’s grand-niece, Evelyn Daly. Passing himself off as an amateur detective on the trail of Ladyfingers, he soon makes the acquaintance of Justin Haddon, Mrs. Stetheril’s attorney, who immediately recognizes him. Instead of turning him in to the police, however, Haddon offers to make Ashe his private secretary—if he keeps his mouth shut. Haddon has plans of his own that require the services of a safe-cracker. The action then shifts to “Lockworth Valley” (some distance from San Francisco, but still within a brief train ride away), where Ashe—calling himself Mr. Steele—is quickly made private secretary to Mrs. Stetheril herself. The remainder of the story takes place in and around the Stetheril mansion in Lockworth. Ashe meets and falls in love with a local girl named Enid Camden and begins to regret his earlier career choices. But, escaping his past isn’t as easy as eluding the police. Haddon and Lt. Ambrose have other plans for him and an innocent girl’s opinion, family secrets, and a bogus murder charge mean that redemption can only come at a high price.

A Case for Mr. Paul Savoy. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1933.

Summary: Amateur sleuth Paul Savoy passes through the Golden Gate on his yacht after a tour of the South Pacific and is reminded of the beauty and mystery of San Francisco. Before he can settle in for the evening, however, he is met by a policeman, Detective Gateway, with whom he has some unpleasant history but who now needs his help in unraveling a seemingly impossible mystery. Some eleven days before, the body of a nude man with two bullet holes in his side showed up in a taxicab at the Ferry Building. The taxi driver has no idea how or when it got there, no one has come forward to identify the body despite extensive publicity, and there are no clues. As Detective Gateway is leaving the house, Janice Landreth, the pretty young daughter of an old friend of Mr. Savoy, sneaks in. Janice is trying to make a name for herself as a newshound and wants in on the collaboration she has sniffed out between Savoy and Gateway. By dint of pure reasoning, Savoy begins to pick away at the puzzle as Gateway’s people and Janice do the legwork to find facts to intersect with his hypotheses. The trail leads to the penthouse above a Chinatown gambling house and to a mansion in the wilds of Burlingame, both of which are populated by several members of society bound together by business or family ties, but certainly not by affection. Ultimately, the power of Savoy’s reasoning is too great for the culprit as he figures out who the corpse is, where he was killed, and, finally, why. With those tasks checked off, the killer’s identity is revealed, but not before more people are put in danger and more mysteries arise that must be solved. Love and justice will out. (PB)

The Emerald Murder Trap: The Third Case of Mr. Paul Savoy. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934.

| setting: San Francisco; Northern California | series character: Paul Savoy | find it |

Summary: In San Francisco, Paul Savoy investigates the case of a rare emerald, looted from the wrappings of an Egyptian mummy, that leads to a remote Northern California mansion -- and murder.

Griffin, Annie. [Sally Chapman]

A Very Eligible Corpse. Berkley Prime Crime, 1998.

Date With the Perfect Dead Man. Berkley Prime Crime, 1999.

Love and the Single Corpse. Berkley Prime Crime, 2000.

Tall, Dead, and Handsome. Berkley Prime Crime, 2001.

Summary: Just north of San Francisco in Marin County, Hill Creek is a weird combination of chic and New Age. Though everyone is wealthy, harmony does not exist. Renowned womanizer Mayor Alex Postman supports having Signatech establish facilities in the town in order to provide new jobs and money, but Hannah Malloy believes the firm will spoil the small town atmosphere. Hannah plans to run for mayor against Alex unless he changes his position. At a fund-raiser, Hannah intends to plead with Alex, but before she can, someone kills him. Another mayoral candidate is found dead in the back of Hannah’s truck. The police look at Hannah as the prime suspect in both homicides. With the help of her sister Kiki Goldstein, Hannah begins her own investigation in order to clear her name before they throw the book at her.

Grimwood, Jon Courtenay.

9Tail Fox. Gollancz, 2005; Night Shade Books, 2007.

Summary: Bobby Zha is a sergeant in the San Francisco Police Department. His years on the force have made him numb to the world, and the people around him, including his wife and daughter. His sudden and unexplained murder leaves his family reeling, and the SFPD bewildered. But nobody is more bewildered than Sergeant Zha, when a nine-tailed celestial fox comes to him at the moment of his death, and tells him he has one chance to put things right. Now he’s trying to solve his own murder; trying to understand why he has been resurrected in another man’s body; and trying to repair the shattered pieces of his family’s life. But his time seems to be running out...

Gross, Andrew. [see Patterson, James]

Gross, Leonard.

Strangers at the Gate. Random House, 1995.

Summary: A thriller on the invasion of the West Coast by Hong Kong gangsters fleeing the colony’s planned takeover by China. When a San Francisco TV reporter investigating the gangs is murdered, Captain Zachary Tobias of the San Francisco Police Department travels to Hong Kong on the trail of the killers and is nearly killed himself.

Grossbach, Robert.

The Cheap Detective. Warner Books, 1978.

Guild, Nicholas.

Blood Ties. Forge, 2015.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Ellen Ridley | find it |

Gulli, Andrew, and Lamia Gulli, eds.

No Rest for the Dead. Simon & Schuster, 2011.

| setting: San Francisco | find it |

Gummere, Mark.

The Damage. Self-published, 2013.

Summary: Eighteen-year-old Diane Berger is missing from her wealthy parents’ San Francisco home and Lucky Lucas goes hunting. Lucas finds the girl in the hedonistic haven of Southern California’s Venice Beach, but not before stumbling upon a corpse in the crash pad where she’s been staying. What began as a simple favor for a friend spins out of control and has Lucas caught in a world damaged by corporate crime, marital infidelities, blackmail, and murder.

Dragon Hand. Self-published, 2013.

Summary: Retired cop Robert ‘Lucky’ Lucas’ relaxation is put on hold when his girlfriend Mona’s eighteen-year-old son is critically wounded on the streets of San Francisco in a drive-by shooting. When no arrests are made and there are no suspects, a frustrated Mona asks Lucky to ‘get the people who hurt my son.’ Lucas quickly finds himself an undesirable visitor in the secretive and insulated world of organized crime in San Francisco’s historic Chinatown—a world where extortion, murder, and prostitution are part of daily life and where family secrets reach all the way back to mainland China.

Nola’s Future. Self-published, 2014.

Summary: Young women who make bad choices seem to find a friend in ex-cop Robert ‘Lucky’ Lucas so when a new college grad looks to him for help in ending an abusive relationship with an older man Lucky’s instincts and skills come out of retirement. A college campus is revealed as not only a place for education and discovery, but one where sexual exploitation, deceit, and murder have become part of the curriculum. Meanwhile, close friend and San Francisco P.I. Jesse Santos, kills a bail jumper in self-defense and becomes a target of the dead man’s family. Lucky discovers that maneuvering through the academic world can be as dangerous as tracking criminals on the streets and he is once again at the center of unexpected trouble with unforeseeable results.

Scar Tissue. Self-published, 2015.

Summary: Ex-Con Ray Rhodes’ claim he was framed on weapons and drug charges is only the beginning when former cop Lucky Lucas is reluctantly dragged into an investigation as a family favor. Lucas quickly finds himself in a world thick with crooked cops, Chinese assassins, and a broken family with a disturbing and dangerous history that leads to blackmail and murder. A fast moving crime novel set in the alleys, hourly motels, and streets of San Francisco not frequented by tourists or safe for anyone.

When the Past Comes Calling. Self-published, 2015.

Summary: You can run but you can’t hide. Mississippi transplant Danny Mosley’s ex-lover, Kalinda Jones, tracks him down in San Francisco triggering a dangerous, violent and wildly unpredictable set of events. When Jones is found murdered shortly after visiting with Mosley, he quickly becomes the police’s number one suspect. Robert “Lucky” Lucas, a retired police officer and part-time off-the-books private investigator, comes to the aid of his friend, but the arrival of eighteen-year-old Destiny Jones, who introduces herself as Mosley’s never-before-seen-child, and daughter of the murdered Jones, threatens to send an already complicated situation spiraling out of control. As the body count climbs, Lucky’s investigation soon extends beyond the trouble in San Francisco, to Mississippi, New Orleans and the world of organized crime, Southern style. When the past comes calling, all bets are off.

Gunn, James E.

Deadlier Than the Male. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1942.

Summary: An odd, screwball mystery that begins in Reno with the grisly murder of a middle-aged woman and her young lover. The action moves to San Francisco and gets truly bizarre. A memorable scene—and another murder—takes place out in the "San Francisco dunes."

Gunther, Linda S.

Endangered Witness. Self-published, 2014.

| setting: San Francisco | series character: Jessi Salazar | tpo |

Summary: San Francisco veterinarian Jessi Salazar is recovering from a painful break-up from her famous and unfaithful violinist ex-boyfriend. She realizes that he is a bad addiction she must leave behind; yet she's finding it difficult to "let go" of their sensuous connection. The story opens with Jessi spending her 40th birthday at the San Francisco Renaissance Hotel with a new, more sedate and practical romantic interest, Nick Daniels. Tipsy from too many cocktails and a little high on pain medication from dental surgery, Jessi thinks she sees a brutal abduction and possible murder through the hotel restaurant window. Nick is gone to the restroom, leaving Jessi as the only eye witness. Upon Nick's return, the violent scene has completely disappeared from sight on the street below. Jessi is confused and at the point of physical collapse. The truth is that it all actually happened!

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