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Golden Gate Mysteries

 

 

Compiled by

Randal S. Brandt,

The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

 

Watch this space for additions made to the Golden Gate Mysteries website after June 15, 2015.

Updated: November 24, 2016

 

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

 

Abbott. Victoria.

The Hammett Hex. Berkley Prime Crime, 2016.

setting: San Francisco | series character: Jordan Bingham (A Book Collector Mystery) | pbo | find it |

Summary: On a getaway to the City by the Bay, book collector Jordan Bingham becomes entangled in a mystery with more twists than Lombard Street.... Jordan has been able to swing a romantic trip to San Francisco with Officer Tyler "Smiley" Dekker on one condition -- she must return with a rare copy of Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest for her irascible employer, Vera Van Alst. For his own part, Smiley is full of surprises. He's a Dashiell devotee himself -- excited to be in the city of Hammett's hard-boiled heroes like Sam Spade and the Continental Op -- and also announces he plans to visit his previously unmentioned estranged grandmother, who lives in an old Victorian on Telegraph Hill. But the trip goes downhill fast when Jordan is pushed from a cable car and barely escapes death. And when a dark sedan tries to run the couple down, it's clear someone's after them-but who? Just like in Hammett's world, nothing is quite what it seems....

 

Barnes, B. Kim.

Murder on Retreat: A Corporate Mystery. Johari Press, 2014.

setting: San Francisco | tpo | 

Summary: Sarah Hawthorne is a successful organizational consultant. She has big plans to overhaul Martech Corporation’s outdated business model, so she’s surprised when the CEO hires an eccentric business guru named Scorpio who claims to be Martech’s savior. Scorpio and his cronies plan an executive retreat at a posh Napa Valley resort, and despite her misgivings, Sarah agrees to participate. The retreat is a disaster. Scorpio is more of a cult leader than a corporate consultant, and Martech’s executive team rebels against Scorpio’s intense and inflammatory tactics. They don’t realize, however, that he won’t be a problem much longer. The next morning, Scorpio is found dead in the sauna. Sarah immediately throws herself into solving the mystery of Scorpio’s murder, much to the annoyance of her husband. But soon she unlocks old employment secrets, broken promises, and shady financial alliances, all while fighting off her growing attraction to one of the murder suspects. Scorpio isn’t the only one who ends up dead, however, and Sarah’s powers of deduction eventually put her in the danger zone.

 

Bridges, Ann.

Private Offerings: A Silicon Valley Novel. Balcony 7 Media and Publishing, 2014.

setting: Silicon Valley | find it |

Summary: Struggling public relations consultant Lynn Baker lands a much-needed contract with a dynamic technology firm in Silicon Valley, just in time to help launch its highly anticipated initial public offering. She soon finds herself drawn into a web of intrigue as competing interests from China begin a ruthless game of chess, each vying for the top-secret technology developed by the enigmatic company founder, Eric Coleman. The already-frenetic IPO schedule is disrupted by a vicious vortex of turmoil, including deep-rooted power plays from company insiders, each holding surprising secrets....

 

Bridges, Ann.

Rare Mettle: A Silicon Valley Novel. Balcony 7 Media and Publishing, 2016.

setting: Silicon Valley | find it |

Summary: The reality that American military strength and technology prowess could come under attack if China decides to flex its political muscle, limiting exports of rare components vital to Silicon Valley and defense contractors, is brought to life through Ms. Bridges' exhaustive research, finessed with input from government insiders. In Rare Mettle, politicians and CEOs busily protect their careers, while special agent Paul Freeman fights to rescue his assigned operative in China, who possesses inside intelligence vital to America. Unexpected alliances bulldoze the status quo with courage and conviction, leveraging state-of-the-art surveillance technology in a breakneck effort to defend and protect all they hold dear: their national pride, their families... and their futures.

 

Chevalier, Joanie.

Deadly Dating Games. Spider Books Publishing, 2014.

setting: San Francisco | tpo |

Summary: Most of the women in the newly formed book club were simply looking for friendship, a good read and maybe even a few dating tips. Greed snowballs into jealousy and hatred and several women realize too late they’ve been roped into crimes that force them to flee for their lives. Alyssa: Cougar-complete with short skirts, stiletto heels and an insatiable appetite Bess: Desperate-looking for love in all the wrong places Julianna: Girl-Next-Door-low self-confidence and bad judgment leads her astray Traci: Cunning-determined to get what she wants, no matter who gets in the way Aaron: Is he part of the crime circle or is he capable of saving the woman he loves? BLACKMAIL. MURDER. ROMANCE. Four women. Four personalities. Who will Overcome; Who will Survive?

 

Downs, Mike.

Sounds of Deception. MKD Publishing, 2015.

setting: San Francisco (1943) | tpo | find it |

Summary: 1943 San Francisco CA The city is still edgy. Rumors of a Japanese invasion continue to circulate. America's offensive strategy begins to win battles, raising morale. A lonely sailor on liberty walks down Sutter Street looking for booze and women. What Navy Submariner Nick Devin finds is a Nazi spy ring and big trouble. Torn between his service to America and the demands of the Nazi spies, Nick seeks the FBI's help to bust up the spy ring. Agent Barry Keys, a tough FBI veteran, uses Devin to get to the bad guys. Keys is also determined to rip the heart out of the Nazi threat, to end its quest for America's latest tech secrets. Together Nick and Keys plan to take the spy ring down. What they get is far more than they bargained for.

 

Dugoni, Robert.

The 7th Canon. Thomas & Mercer, 2016.

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

Summary: In San Francisco's seamy Tenderloin district, a teenage street hustler has been murdered in a shelter for boys. And the dedicated priest who runs the struggling home stands accused. But despite evidence that he's a killer, and worse, Father Thomas Martin stands by his innocence. And attorney Peter Donley stands with him. But a ruthless DA seeking headlines and a brutal homicide cop bent on vengeance have their own agendas.

 

Ellison, Jan.

A Small Indiscretion. Random House, 2014.

setting: San Francisco | find it |

Summary: At nineteen, Annie Black trades a bleak future in a washed-out California town for a London winter of drinking and abandon. Twenty years later, she is a San Francisco lighting designer and happily married mother of three who has put her reckless youth behind her. Then a photo from that distant winter in Europe arrives inexplicably in her mailbox, and an old obsession is awakened. Past and present collide, Annie's marriage falters, and her son takes a car ride that ends with his life hanging in the balance. Now Annie must confront her own transgressions and fight for her family by untangling the mysteries of the turbulent winter that drew an invisible map of her future.

 

Goins, John.

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...

 

Goldberg, Lee.

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.

 

Gummere, Mark.

Scar Tissue. Mark Gummere, 2015.

setting: San Francisco | series character: Lucky Lucas (1) | tpo | originally published as an e-book in 2012 |

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.

 

Gummere, Mark.

When the Past Comes Calling. Mark Gummere, 2015.

setting: San Francisco | series character: Lucky Lucas (5) | tpo |

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.

 

Hara, Susie.

Finder of Lost Objects. Ithuriel's Spear, 2015.

setting: San Francisco (Mission District) | tpo | find it |

Summary: Sadie Garcia Miller, a bisexual Jewish Latina, turns the old gumshoe trope on its head. She is a struggling entrepreneur who helps clients recover what's been lost. This story takes Sadie from San Francisco's Mission District, to the farm worker fields of the Central Valley, and south to the streets of Los Angeles.

 

Haven, Heather.

The CEO Came DOA. The Wives of Bath Press, 2016.

setting: Silicon Valley | series character: Lee Alvarez (Alvarez Family Murder Mystery 5) | tpo |

Summary: Someone is trying to sabotage the Initial Public Offering of 'Read-Out', a small Silicon Valley start-up, and Lee Alvarez has been hired to find the culprit. Meanwhile, the first Alvarez grandchild is about to be born while Lee is planning her very own Christmas wedding; or rather letting her mother plan it. When Lee finds the CEO hanging by the neck in his boardroom wearing nothing but baby blue boxer shorts, she has to ask herself, was it suicide? Or was it murder? If so, was the saboteur responsible, one of his business partners, or even his famous rock star ex-wife? There are too many suspects and the bodies start piling up just in time for Christmas. Ho, ho, ho.

 

Herriman, Nancy.

No Pity for the Dead. Obsidian, 2016.

setting: San Francisco (1867) | series character: Celia Davies | tpo | find it |

Summary: British-born nurse Celia Davies runs a free medical clinic to assist the poor women of San Francisco. Aided in her endeavors by her half-Chinese cousin, Barbara, and her feisty housekeeper, Addie, Celia has earned the trust and friendship of many of the city's downtrodden, including a young orphan named Owen--who has just confided to her that he's stumbled upon a corpse. Owen recently started working for the ruthless real estate and development group Martin and Company and discovered a dead body in the office's basement. Celia turns to Detective Nicholas Greaves for help, only to learn that one of the main suspects -- the husband of Celia's dearest friend -- is an old enemy of Nick's. Now Celia and Nick must put aside their personal feelings about the case -- and each other -- if they're going to bring a killer to justice.

 

Hoffman, Patrick.

Every Man a Menace. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016.

setting: San Francisco | find it |

Summary: San Francisco is about to receive the biggest delivery of MDMA to hit the West Coast in years. Raymond Gaspar, just out of prison, is sent to the city to check in on the increasingly erratic dealer expected to take care of distribution. In Miami, the man responsible for getting the drugs across the Pacific has just met the girl of his dreams—a woman who can't seem to keep her story straight. And thousands of miles away in Bangkok, someone farther up the supply chain is about to make a phone call that will put all their lives at risk.

 

Holm, Chris.

Red Right Hand. Mulholland Books, 2016.

setting: San Francisco (Golden Gate Bridge) | series character: Michael Hendricks (2) | find it |

Summary: When viral video of an explosive terrorist attack on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge reveals that a Federal witness long thought dead is still alive, the organization he'd agreed to testify against will stop at nothing to put him in the ground. FBI Special Agent Charlie Thompson is determined to protect him, but her hands are tied; the FBI's sole priority is catching the terrorists before they strike again. So Charlie calls the only person on the planet who can keep her witness safe: Michael Hendricks. Once a covert operative for the US military, Hendricks makes his living hitting hitmen... or he did, until the very organization hunting Charlie's witness -- the Council -- caught wind and targeted the people he loves. Teaming up with a young but determined tech whiz, Cameron, on the condition she leave him alone after the case, Hendricks reluctantly takes the job. Of course, finding a man desperate to stay hidden is challenging enough without deadly competition, let alone when the competition's shadowy corporate backer is tangled in the terrorist conspiracy playing out around them. And now Hendricks is determined to take the Council down, even if that means wading into the center of a terror plot whose perpetrators are not what they seem.

 

Hutchinson, Ty.

Chop Suey. Self-published, 2011.

setting: San Francisco (Chinatown) | series character: Darby Stansfield (1) | tpo |

Summary: When disgraced sales associate Darby Stansfield discovers he has six months to save his job, he does what any normal person would do. He freaks. Desperate to resurrect his career at Teleco Wireless, Darby conjures up an international scheme filled with the promise of endless, high-spending clients. It's brilliant, it's international, it would have his boss snooping and his best friend sweating, but it has Darby on a plane to Hong Kong where he signs his latest client, a Chinese gang. Meanwhile, bodies are piling up in San Francisco and Darby has no idea that his brilliant plan has just put him on a collision course with the killer. To make matters worse, his best friend and his girlfriend find themselves caught up in his dangerous plan. Darby must now make a tough decision -- give up on the one good idea he ever had or risk it all.

 

Jackie D.

Lands End. Bold Strokes Books, 2016.

setting: San Francisco | tpo | find it |

Summary: In the blink of an eye, Lena Michaels's dreams of college became a distant memory. A robbery gone wrong in her family's locally owned restaurant took the life of her parents. The only witness to the gruesome tragedy was Laura, Lena's nine-year-old sister. Seven years later, the murders remain unsolved and Laura is now a rebellious teenager, dead set on pushing her sister's limits. Amy Kline is a public relations hotshot for the San Francisco Miners football team. Her only focus is keeping her publicity prone clients out of hot water. When Laura's rebellious streak puts her in the sites of the Miners star wide receiver, Lena and Amy will have to face off to protect what is important to them. What neither is prepared for is that the price could be their hearts.

 

James, R. Franklin.

The Fallen Angels Book Club. Camel Press, 2013.

setting: "San Lucian" (San Francisco Bay Area) | series character: Hollis Morgan (1) | tpo | find it |

Summary: The Fallen Angels Book Club has only two requirements: the members must love books and have a white-collar criminal record. Hollis Morgan fits the bill. Left holding the bag in an insurance fraud scheme concocted by her now ex-husband, she served her time and is trying to rebuild her life. All she wants is for the court to pardon her conviction so she can return to law school. After one of her fellow members is murdered in a scenario straight out of a club selection, Hollis is once again the subject of police scrutiny. Refusing to get stuck with another bad rap, she sets out to investigate her fellow club members. Is one of them really blackmailing the others? As a second member dies in yet another book-inspired murder, Hollis realizes that time is running out. Everything rides on her finding the killer -- not just her career aspirations. She must identify the killer before she herself becomes the next victim. Everyone is convinced she knows more than she lets on. But what is it, exactly, that is she supposed to know?

 

James, R. Franklin.

Sticks & Stones. Camel Press, 2014.

setting: "San Lucian" (San Francisco Bay Area) | series character: Hollis Morgan (2) | tpo | find it |

Summary: "Sticks and Stones can break my bones...." Despite what the old children's rhyme says, words can cause grievous harm. A lesson ex-con Hollis Morgan, a casualty of her deceased ex-husband's white collar crimes, knows all too well. Now that she has received an official pardon, she is free to pursue her dreams of moving up in the world from paralegal to attorney. While awaiting the results of the bar exam, she hopes to clear the name of a friend accused of libel by philanthropist Dorian Fields, a man whose charitable giving looks a lot like money-laundering. Only problem: the evidence has disappeared and her friend Catherine is found dead. Although initially thought a suicide, Hollis' friend was murdered. Catherine was writing an article about Fields for a tabloid. Hollis and attorney Mark Haddan convince the magazine to let them carry on with the libel defense, but they have fewer than 60 days to prove Catherine's exposé was well-founded. In the meantime Hollis has other distractions; she is also helping to settle the estate of Margaret Koch, a rich client of the law firm whose impetuous actions as revealed in her letters still embitter the lives of those she left behind. And then there are the two men vying for her attention -- one a police detective, the other a private eye. Normally Hollis trusts her built-in lie detector, but in this case, too many people are lying for too many reasons. One of them is not only a liar, but a killer.

 

James, R. Franklin.

The Return of the Fallen Angels Book Club. Camel Press, 2015.

setting: "San Lucian" (San Francisco Bay Area) | series character: Hollis Morgan (3) | tpo | find it |

Summary: Hollis Morgan is a survivor. She married young to flee an unloving family and ended up in prison, paying the price for her charming husband's embezzlement. After finally obtaining a California judicial pardon, Hollis has climbed the ladder from paralegal to probate attorney at a respected law firm in the Bay Area. Unfortunately her first two cases are trials by fire. One involves a vicious family dispute over a disinheritance of family members who seem ready to stop at nothing to get their share. The other is the murder of her former parole officer, Jeffrey Wallace, whose will and family trust she is retained to file with the court. Too many people have motives and family mourners are few, so she resists processing the estate. Without Jeffrey, Hollis' successful reentry into society would never have been possible. It was he who introduced her to the Fallen Angels -- his other white-collar ex-parolees seeking a second chance. The book club they formed was a comfort and a distraction, until two murders forced them back under the scrutiny of the law. The group disbanded during the ensuing investigation. Now, realizing their debt to Jeffrey, they come together once more, determined to uncover the truth. Although Hollis has met a great guy -- a police detective who knows about her past yet accepts her unconditionally -- she is afraid to trust again. Naturally he doesn't want to see her put her life in danger for the sake of a case, but he also knows she won't stop until Jeffrey's murderer is discovered. As both cases heat up, Hollis finds that probate law can bring out the worst in people and sometimes expose a killer.

 

James, R. Franklin.

The Trade List. Camel Press, 2016.

setting: "San Lucian" (San Francisco Bay Area) | series character: Hollis Morgan (4) | tpo | find it |

Summary: Hollis Morgan has come a long way since serving time for her ex-husband's white-collar crimes. After receiving a state pardon, she is now a probate attorney at the Bay Area firm where she began as a paralegal. In a case close to home, her manager, George Ravel, inherits a fortune from his newly found birth mother, but her dead husband's heirs are overcome with greed, not grief. They are determined to discredit her will and deny her natural son even one cent of the millions they believe should belong to their father's estate. George asks Hollis to handle the case, but her attention is divided. A dead woman has been discovered with Hollis's business card -- one that dates back to Hollis's years on parole. The police don't believe Hollis's claim that she never met Olivia Shur. As it turns out, she did know the woman, only under another name. At the time of her death, Olivia Shur possessed a list that could end the careers and lives of several public officials and prominent businessmen. Copies of the list exist. Someone believes Hollis has one of them and will go to any extreme to obtain it. To protect her friends and stay alive, Hollis turns to her ex-con buddies from the Fallen Angels Book Club. In this case, there are too many people on both sides of the law who are determined to see her stopped.

 

Kalteis, Dietrich.

House of Blazes. ECW Press, 2016.

setting: San Francisco (1906) | tpo | find it |

Summary: In the days before the great earthquake and fire of 1906, Levi Hayes returns from San Quentin Prison with a plan. After serving five years for the theft of $30,000 in gold coins from the San Francisco Mint, he's ready to take back what's his and exact revenge on the now-powerful Healey brothers who set him up and had his barroom, House of Blazes, seized by court order. To get back his bar Levi recruits his nephew, Mack Lewis, telling him the gold coins wait hidden behind one of its cellar walls. Their wild scheme propels them through saloon halls, gambling dens, back alleys, and brothels before it backfires. In lock-up as the earthquake hits, Levi and Mack must escape the collapsing building and burning city to get to the gold coins, with Quinn Healey determined to get his own revenge on them.

 

Kennealy, Jerry.

Screen Test. Down & Out Books, 2016.

setting: San Francisco (1968) | find it |

Summary: In April of 1968 Steve McQueen arrives in San Francisco to film Bullitt. Rough-and-tumble SFPD Inspector Johnny O’Rorke, aka The Fixer, is the department’s Executive Protection Officer. His job is to make sure that visiting celebrities are well taken care of. O’Rorke is instructed to take special care of McQueen; the city’s movers and shakers are hoping to develop San Francisco into Hollywood North. McQueen takes a liking to O’Rorke, and when Russ Cortig, a member of his film crew, is busted at a wild Haight Ashbury party, he asks O’Rorke to try to have the charge dismissed. Fixing Cortig’s arrest sheet is a minor problem, but it leads O’Rorke into a tangled web of intrigue and corruption that includes the murder of one of his longtime informers, a crossdresser who goes by the name of Vanessa the Undresser, tangling with a Chinatown drug lord, being shot at by a sadistic Soviet hit man, going up against a wealthy former Russian Mafia leader now living in San Francisco, dealing with a vicious local gangster, Alec Zek, aka The Swine, and a chasing after a priceless blue diamond known as the Stalin Blue. If that isn’t complicated enough, O’Rorke breaks into a real sweat when McQueen asks him to make a screen test for a part in Bullitt.

 

Krejcik, Patrick.

Sand Hill Road. Palo Alto Venture Publishing, 2015.

setting: Silicon Valley | tpo | find it |

Summary: Chaos grips Silicon Valley largest venture capital firms as a financial collapse looms. Enter Massimo, a physicist at Stanford accelerator lab on Sand Hill Road. Using a formula originally developed for high energy physics for predicting chaos he discovers he can successfully forecast stock market trends. Abruptly, he is swept up in a maelstrom of events as his fledgling startup company is seized in a series of convoluted mergers, involving the largest venture capital firms on Sand Hill Road. Aware of the disturbing applications his formula may be used for, he tries to follow the oblique money trail of his new angel investors, but is utterly unprepared for the gold rush mentality of Silicon Valley Enterprise. Can the physicist match wits with the shrewd VC? Massimo fatalistic urge to prove his theory for predicting chaos may be his demise as he seeks to expose the mastermind behind the impending banking scandal that dwarfs even the excesses of Wall Street.

 

Lamb, Bette Golden.

The Organ Harvesters. Book II. Two Black Sheep Productions, 2016.

setting: "Sanfrancorp" [San Francisco] (2020) | series character: Zoe Hildalga | science fiction | tpo |

Summary: In this terrorizing sequel to The Organ Harvesters, the bloodless war of 2020 has destroyed all governments and left monster corporations in control globally, unhindered to waste the planet's natural resources, and to manipulate the world's population with iron-handed control. There's one last chance to save life on Planet Earth-roaming at large under a death warrant, Dr. Zoe Hidalga leaves behind both her daughter and her lover, mystic Asher Wind Storm, to return to Sanfrancorp to join the Defys, an underground resistance group that has spread throughout the world during the past six years. The time has come for redemption, a time to save the people and shut down The Organ Harvesters and end corporate domination.

 

Lewitt, Fil.

Tight: A Novel of the 1960s. Fictional Enterprises 2008. 

setting: San Francisco (1967) | tpo | find it |

Summary: San Francisco, 1967. Tough guy Morry Twych, with his brother Dicky and friend Moosy, has some years previously invented "porno" to replace the old burlesque. They run a successful "theater" downtown. Graduate student Will Rymer has been drafted by the Chicano members of PUS-People Under Slumlords-to be their honky negotiator with the slumlord, a downtown lawyer named Berlitzer. The suave Byron Berlitzer, aka Sleekman, also owns the property where the Twych Brothers operate their theater, and wants a piece of the action. All five men are involved with, maybe even in love with, the gorgeous Li Van Bang, a twenty-year-old Vietnamese-American, who is a clean naive student at SF State by day and a sometime porno film actress by night.

 

Lewitt, Fil.

Killer Picture Postcards. Fictional Enterprises 2013. 

setting: San Francisco | series characters: Mercy Torcher; Ed Steadman (Mercy Investigations 1) | tpo | find it |

Summary:

 

Lewitt, Fil.

Gay Blade. Fictional Enterprises 2014. 

setting: San Francisco (Castro District) | series characters: Mercy Torcher; Ed Steadman (Mercy Investigations 2) | tpo | find it |

Summary: A vicious crime in the gay Castro District of San Francisco, unsolved by the SFPD, results in the hiring of Mercy Investigations to find the perpetrator. At the same time, US Senator Ruth Fineline is trying to help her grand-niece get out of an abusive and miserable marriage without creating a public spectacle. This second Mercy Investigations novel brings back the agency's crew of four - Steady Ed Steadman, Mercy Torcher, Jack Nowan, and young Reggie Jackson - in a rolling, startling novel of action and intrigue, another outing that contains wit and intelligence as well as the serious process and progress necessary to a thriller.

 

Lewitt, Fil.

Revenge. Fictional Enterprises 2015. 

setting: San Francisco | series characters: Mercy Torcher; Ed Steadman (Mercy Investigations 3) | tpo | find it |

Summary: In San Francisco, the founder of the original agency, Steady Ed Steadman, tells the story of a murderous maniac, Ort Baggett, who was released by mistake from prison and intends to get revenge on the man who put him there, Ed Steadman, by murdering him. Meanwhile, in the sub-plots that always show up in this series, young buff black Reggie Jackson, their resident computer expert, is trying to protect lovely Lola Lopez, who works upstairs for La Raza, from a couple of Hispanic gangbangers who are seriously hassling her. Ed is also asked to recover some stolen gems for an old friend dealer after a fancy medical doctor gets hold of a million bucks worth of Albert Belgique’s diamonds and other gems through fraud. And Morry Twych, one of the stars of a previous novel, TIGHT, now pushing eighty but as funny and tough as he was in the 1960s, hires Mercy Investigations to find out who is trying to blackmail him and his still successful Twych Brothers Hydeaway Playhouse porno palace in the Tenderloin District. Through all of this, Ort Baggart, as mean as they come, is stalking Steady Ed in order to kill him.

 

Lewitt, Fil.

Convictions. Fictional Enterprises 2015. 

setting: San Francisco | series characters: Mercy Torcher; Ed Steadman (Mercy Investigations 4) | tpo |

Summary: Mercy Torcher goes solo in this 4th of the Mercy Investigations Novels, leaving her partner, Jack Nowan, her mentor Steady Ed Steadman, and their apprentice Reggie Jackson, on their own to run the show in San Francisco, after her father and friend Superior Court Chief Judge Allwin Torcher asks her to come back to Boston, her home town, to look into the possibility that a black man who confessed to a murder did not in fact commit the crime that put him in state prison. She returns without hesitation to help her father, staying in their home on Beacon Hill, but has to go undercover to accomplish her task, working with the Boston Ombudsman for Prosecutorial Misconduct, transforming herself into a Latina from Stockton, from longtime Hispanic residents of California. Mercy's natural olive complexion allows her to pass for many other kinds of people. This assignment gets her involved, way beyond its original intent, with the various mobs of Boston - Irish, Latino, Jamaican, Russian, and the bent cops and officials who help to empower them. Mercy has help available, but is largely on her own, trying to make sense out of a dangerous mess in order to help her father, the Judge, and get back to her home and compatriots in San Francisco in one piece.

 

Lewitt, Fil.

While You Were Gone. Fictional Enterprises 2016. 

setting: San Francisco | series characters: Mercy Torcher; Ed Steadman (Mercy Investigations 5) | tpo |

Summary: While Mercy Torcher is back in Boston, undercover to help her father, the Judge, Ed Steadman, Jack Nowan, and Reggie Jackson are left in San Francisco to deal with a rape and attempted murder by a sexual predator of a boy, the nephew of redhead Acton Barr, half Steady Ed's age but attracted to him. Also a particularly nasty bail skip, and a vicious dust-up for Reggie with four white hockey players from SF State, who take issue with a young black man dating a white girl. Into the mix comes a group of would-be male boy predators who must be infiltrated to find out if anything connects. Along with all this, Mercy Investigations adopts a huge unfriendly cat they name Cal, by way of Jack clonking the monster over the head with a trashcan lid. The story begins with Mercy's return from Boston in July of 1999, with Jack becoming Mercy's Scheherezade in order to tell her what she missed.

 

Lewitt, Fil.

Stiff. Fictional Enterprises 2016. 

setting: San Francisco | series characters: Mercy Torcher; Ed Steadman (Mercy Investigations 5) | tpo |

Summary: Someone has the audacity to commit a murder in Morry Twych's porno theater, and Morry takes it as a personal affront, hiring Ed Steadman and Mercy Investigations to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Mercy Torcher and her partner Jack Nowan are retained by Joel and Dorothea Rose of Sea Cliff to try to find out who stole their invaluable art collection, get it back, and return it to them. Already stolen once by the Nazis, and finally recovered after great efforts, now it has happened again, right here in San Francisco. The Mercy Investigations crew teams up with Lieutenant "Ant" Antonelli of the Homicide squad in the Tenderloin Precinct, and also with Detective Sergeant Riva Gennaro, San Francisco's only art cop, to try to solve the two capers. Although Steady Ed has dealt with a gem rip-off before, the is the agency's first trip into the increasingly murky and often violent world of art heists and the fences who deal in it.

 

Locke, M. Louisa.

Pilfered Promises. Self-published, 2016. 

setting: San Francisco (1880) | series character: Annie Fuller (Victorian San Francisco Mysteries 5) | tpo | find it |

Summary: It is the winter of 1880, and the future looks promising for Annie and Nate Dawson. Nate’s law practice is taking off. Annie has made the transition from pretend clairvoyant to a successful financial consultant. And they are looking forward to spending their first Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together. For Robert Livingston, the owner San Francisco’s newest grand emporium, the holidays don’t look so promising. Not if he can’t figure out how to stop whoever is stealing from his department store, the Silver Strike Bazaar. However, when he hires the Dawsons to investigate, they discover that behind the doors of his “Palace of Plenty,” nothing is quite what it seems. 

 

McMorris, Kristina.

The Edge of Lost. Kensington Books, 2015.

setting: San Francisco, Alcatraz Island (1937) | find it |

Summary: On a cold night in October 1937, searchlights cut through the darkness around Alcatraz. A prison guard's only daughter -- one of the youngest civilians who lives on the island--has gone missing. Tending the warden's greenhouse, convicted bank robber Tommy Capello waits anxiously. Only he knows the truth about the little girl's whereabouts, and that both of their lives depend on the search's outcome. Almost two decades earlier and thousands of miles away, a young boy named Shanley Keagan ekes out a living as an aspiring vaudevillian in Dublin pubs. Talented and shrewd, Shan dreams of shedding his dingy existence and finding his real father in America. The chance finally comes to cross the Atlantic, but when tragedy strikes, Shan must summon all his ingenuity to forge a new life in a volatile and foreign world. Skillfully weaving these two stories, Kristina McMorris delivers a compelling novel that moves from Ireland to New York to San Francisco Bay. As her finely crafted characters discover the true nature of loyalty, sacrifice, and betrayal, they are forced to confront the lies we tell -- and believe -- in order to survive.

 

Moore, Jonathan.

The Dark Room. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.

setting: San Francisco | find it |

Summary: Gavin Cain, an SFPD homicide inspector, is in the middle of an exhumation when his phone rings. San Francisco's mayor is being blackmailed and has ordered Cain back to the city...a helicopter is on its way. The casket, and Cain's cold-case investigation, must wait. At City Hall, the mayor shows Cain four photographs he's received: the first, an unforgettable blonde; the second, pills and handcuffs on a nightstand; the third, the woman drinking from a flask; and last, the woman naked, unconscious, and shackled to a bed. The accompanying letter is straightforward: worse revelations are on the way unless the mayor takes his own life first.

 

Moore, T. J.

Mind Games. Self-published, 2015.

setting: San Francisco | tpo | find it |

Summary: In San Francisco, CSI Photographer Cameron Frost spends his nights capturing evidence from the latest crime. And he's good at it. So when San Francisco citizens start disappearing, Cameron and his team jump on the case. But the trail of missing people leads Cameron straight into the den of a self-proclaimed mastermind bent on one terrifying goal. Cameron and his team must outwit the evil at the center of this crime web before time runs out. TJ Moore tells a gripping and thought-provoking story of manipulation and twisted motives in this beat-the-clock thriller.

 

Muller, Marcia.

Someone Always Knows. Grand Central Publishing, 2016. 

setting: San Francisco | series character: Sharon McCone | find it |

Summary: Finally settled into their new home after losing their house in a fire, and fully established in their new shared offices, private investigator Sharon McCone and her business partner husband Hy are starting to feel comfortable. That calm is shattered when Hy's former colleague Gage Renshaw -- a shady troublemaker who they had presumed dead -- reappears, and it's unclear what he wants from his prosperous former associate. Meanwhile, Sharon has a new client with a desire to rid a derelict house he's just bought in the city's notorious Western Addition neighborhood from intruders, drug users, and thugs. However, the abandoned house holds its share of secrets, and soon Sharon is contending with more than a simple eyesore as she searches for the individual who is obsessed with destroying her life.

 

Muller, Marcia, and Bill Pronzini.

The Dangerous Ladies Affair. Forge, 2017.

setting: San Francisco (1890s) | series characters: Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon | find it |

Summary: For the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services, stopping extortionists is not only grand, but excitingly lucrative.When a pleasant afternoon's bicycling through Golden Gate Park with a friend ends with the revelation of threatening letters, followed by a gunshot in a mansion garden, Sabina Carpenter knows this is a case that demands her immediate and undivided attention.The questions her partner John Quincannon has to unravel are not difficult: Wrixton, a wealthy banker, has met his extortionist's first demand, but the order to pay another $5,000 is too much to face. The banker's real problem is something he doesn't want to reveal. That was fine with the detective, and when he was informed that some private letters were involved and Wrixton absolutely needed them back, there was nothing more Quincannon needed in the way of background. As with so many of San Francisco's elite, the bedroom doors never seemed to stay shut.That was the easy part; far more difficult was the matter of the dead courier, murdered most foully in a locked room within a locked room, creating a trail that will take John Quincannon through most of San Francisco's less savory places and end with a riverboat trip that is anything but a relaxing cruise.

 

O'Neill, Gene.

Taste of Tenderloin. Apex Publications, 2009.

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

Summary: Eight stories of dark science fiction and fantasy weave a path through the underbelly of San Francisco's most notorious district in Taste of Tenderloin by Gene O'Neill. Best known for his strong sense of place and uniquely vibrant characters, O'Neill brings the gritty underside of the city to life with eight interwoven stories of broken lives, missed dreams, and all that can go wrong with both reality and fantasy among the down and out. The city itself opens wide to swallow all comers with the temptation of its secrets and sins, while O'Neill brings dignity and humanity to a set of characters often overlooked in both society and fiction.

 

Pandian, Gigi.

Michelangelo's Ghost. Henery Press, 2016.

setting: San Francisco; Italy | series character: Jaya Jones (Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery 4) | find it |

Summary: When Jaya's old professor dies under eerie circumstances shortly after discovering manuscripts that point to a treasure in Italy's Park of Monsters, Jaya and her brother pick up the trail. From San Francisco to the heart of Italy, Jaya is haunted by a ghost story inexorably linked to the masterpieces of a long-dead artist and the deeds of a modern-day murderer. Untrustworthy colleagues, disappearing boyfriends, and old enemies -- who can Jaya trust when the ghost wails?

 

Pedersen, John.

The Shaking Reeds. Roadoilers Press, 2016.

setting: San Francisco | tpo |

Summary: When Soren Rauhe accidentally dumps his coffee in the lap of Jenny Farrar, his life of vintage motorbikes, NorCal surf and Irish tunes gets seriously complicated. Thrown together by Jenny’s impending eviction and harassment by her crooked boss, Jarno, they quickly forge a surprisingly tight bond. Jenny and Soren stick together despite her skeptical introduction to late night tune sessions and old-guy motorcycle pals. While Jenny’s boss is desperately trying to locate her to retrieve evidence implicating him in a massive forgery scam, she and Soren slink between his house in the Outer Richmond and his North Beach motorcycle shop trying to remain incognito. An unexplained attack on Soren’s assistant, the ex-Russian rocket engineer, leaves loads of unanswered questions while his childhood friends rally around with questionable success. A chance retelling of an old story involving a mystical accordion with reeds of magical Chinese sword steel further complicates his life. Action, tunes, clues and hints drag Soren and Jenny all over San Francisco and its outlying districts. After Jenny disappears Soren fears the worst and pursues all avenues until they are finally reunited in a ground-shaking conclusion.

 

Rupp, Richard V.

Death & Taxes. Archway Publishing, 2015.

setting: San Francisco; Fresno | tpo | find it |

Summary: In this crime thriller, Dick Hartmann is a seasoned FBI agent who heads up San Francisco's Violent Crime Squad. When he and his elite squad are assigned to investigate a suspicious death at the IRS Service Center in Fresno, they're soon led into the bowels of the city's largest street gang -- the Bulldogs. As the case grabs the attention of America's president, the squad travels to Los Angeles and then to Mexico where they must infiltrate a drug cartel to take down a gang member with the power to ruin the lives of millions of American taxpayers. Now only time will tell if they can stop him before it is too late.

 

Smith, Lachlan.

Panther's Prey. The Mysterious Press, 2016.

setting: San Francisco | series character: Leo Maxwell | find it |

Summary: Taking a job as a public defender in San Francisco, Leo Maxwell successfully defends a homeless man, only to be wrongly implicated in the brutal murder of his co-counsel, a crime that their former client confesses to committing.

 

Soracco, Sin.

Come to Me. The Green Arcade, 2016.

setting: San Francisco | tpo | find it |

Summary: Come to Me is a tale of a woman just sprung from prison who finds her way back to a once familiar San Francisco. Gina seeks out her old friend Francine whose rooming house is a refuge for women who are devotees of Santeria, the religion brought to this hemisphere by African slaves. It is above a botanica and curio shop run by Oleander, whose secret past will play a crucial role in this story of love, magic, greed and desire.

 

VanDyke, D. D.

Loose Ends. Reaper Press, 2015.

setting: San Francisco | series character: California "Cal" Corwin | tpo |

Summary: When a young girl is kidnapped, street-smart but damaged San Francisco ex-cop California "Cal" Corwin is engaged to find and rescue her before murder raises the stakes. As a straightforward case takes unexpected twists, Cal must quell a growing fear that an anguished mother may never see her child again. With a shadowy crime lord lurking behind every unexpected clue, Cal struggles to tie up loose ends before evil claims its next victim.

 

VanDyke, D. D.

In a Bind. Reaper Press, 2015.

setting: San Francisco | series character: California "Cal" Corwin | tpo |

Summary: When a blackmailed drag queen walks into Cal Corwin's P. I. agency, she quickly throws herself into the investigation, but with each new clue she finds the case gets murkier, its web of lies more tangled. When murder rears its ugly head, it becomes clear more is at stake than money, and Cal must watch her own back even as she tries to find the culprit.

 

VanDyke, D. D.

Slipknot. Reaper Press, 2015.

setting: San Francisco | series character: California "Cal" Corwin | tpo |

Summary: After a woman is found dead in Cal Corwin's car and police detectives come knocking at her door, the case turns far more personal than first it seemed. As the ghosts of past cases rear their ugly heads, not only must she find out who murdered the victim, but why. Teasing the answers out soon reveals the disturbing question: Who is the hunter, and who hunted?

 

Warner, James.

All Her Father's Guns. Numina Press, 2011.

setting: Berkeley; San Francisco | tpo | find it |

Summary: Cal Lyte, a gun-loving venture capitalist, is tired of paying alimony to his ex-wife Tabytha. Plotting to blackmail her and derail her campaign for Congress, he enlists the help of their daughter's boyfriend, British academic Reid Seyton, to unearth some Lyte family secrets. But the results turn out to be more than anyone bargained for, in an escalating cycle of revelations that will leave nobody's life the same.

 

Wolfe, Susan.

Escape Velocity. Steelkit Press, 2016.

setting: Silicon Valley | tpo | find it |

Summary: Georgia Griffin has just arrived in Silicon Valley from Piney, Arkansas, on very bald tires, having firmly rejected her beloved father's life as a con artist. Her father is in jail and a certain minister is hugging her mother for Jesus while eyeing Georgia's little sister, Katie-Ann. Georgia desperately needs to keep her new job as a paralegal for Lumina Softward so she can provide a California haven for her sister before it's too late. While she's still living in her car, Georgia realizes that incompetence and self-dealing have a death grip on her new company. She decides to adapt her extensive con artist training -- just once -- to clean up the company. But success is seductive. Soon Georgia is an avid paralegal by day and a masterful con artist by night, using increasingly bold gambits designed to salvage Lumina Software. Then she steps into the shadow of a real crime and must decide: Will she risk her job, the roof over her sister's head, and perhaps her very soul?

 

Wood, Simon.

Deceptive Practices. Thomas & Mercer, 2016.

setting: East Bay | tpo | find it |

Summary: Olivia Shaw grew up poor on the wrong side of the tracks, but with her thriving real estate practice and a solid marriage, her life finally feels stable.... until she discovers her husband is cheating. Enraged, her sister offers a solution: Infidelity Limited, a firm that promises to rough up her husband and scare him straight. Overnight, Olivia’s life is upended as she, like all of Infidelity Limited’s clients, is drawn into a dark web of blackmail and murder. Now, Olivia is emerging as a prime suspect in her husband’s death. As a dogged detective closes in, she has only one option -- take down Infidelity Limited before it’s too late.

 

 

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