We love the clues, we love the chase, and we like to learn mysteries. Native Information Issues is thrilled to kick off our partnership with the native Bay Space chapter of Sisters in Crime, a nationwide alliance of thriller writers and readers. Search for upcoming columns on the best way to start writing, nice “cozy” mysteries, the best way to analysis most something, fave bookstores, and even a deep dive into poisons.
From “The Maltese Falcon” to “Vera Wong’s Information to Snooping (on a Useless Man),” San Francisco has been a well-liked setting for dastardly deeds all the way in which again to its Prohibition previous. For a metropolis that solely measures seven by seven, its literary misdeeds appear disproportionate—second solely to sleepy however murderous Agatha Christie English villages. Possibly it’s the bone-chilling fog or its ruthless Gold Rush previous when San Francisco was a infamous shanghai capital. Regardless of the case, San Francisco stays an inspiration and a vacation spot for authors and readers alike.
A roundup of San Francisco mysteries is sort of too straightforward. This listing options crime set within the Metropolis and barely past, in books that vary from humorous to dieselpunk, and in locations like a fictional Filoli Gardens and a coastal natural beet farm. The attraction: not only a whodunnit, however a wheredunnit.
“The Red-Hot Blues Chanteuse” by Ana Brazil
Whereas performing in vaudeville in 1919 San Francisco, bold blues chanteuse Viola Vermillion’s piano participant and lover Stu Wiley is murdered within the Pantages Theater balcony. Along with her personal gun. To stay out of jail, Viola is pressured to uncover Stu’s secret previous and determine which considered one of his lies acquired him killed.
“Better Off Dead” by Glenda Carroll
Profitable Marin County financier Andy Barlow is coaching in San Francisco Bay for a aggressive open-water swim. Unexpectedly, his help boat runs him over, killing Barlow instantaneously. Consumed with grief and anger, Andy’s college-aged son Harrison returns from London. The native sheriff’s workplace calls the tragedy an accident, however Harrison refuses to imagine their findings. He reaches out to novice sleuth Trisha Carson to search out the actual killer.
“The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco” by Michelle Chouinard
San Francisco…a metropolis with killer allure. Nobody is aware of this higher than Capri Sanzio, who offers serial killer excursions of town, a subject that’s her since she found she’s the granddaughter of serial killer William “Overkill Invoice” Sanzio. When an Overkill Invoice copycat strikes San Francisco, Capri decides it’s time to exonerate her grandfather whereas documenting the current course of. However Capri quickly finds herself on the coronary heart of the investigation when the police tag her and her daughter as prime suspects. Chouinard is an Edgar-nominated, USA Right this moment, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling creator.
“One Gun” by Vinnie Hansen
How a lot havoc can one gun wreak? In a Santa Cruz-like oceanside city, Vivi and Ben Russo startle a burglar of their dwelling. The younger man flees, and when Ben offers chase, the thief pulls a gun, threatening to kill Ben, however doesn’t. The burglar is arrested, however not earlier than hiding the gun. Going through a weapons cost that would add 10 years to his sentence, the burglar enlists cohorts to select up his stash, which escalates towards private tragedy. “One Gun” is a Claymore Award finalist.
“Fog City” by Claire M. Johnson
In 1930 San Francisco, the Moore Detective Company is about to go beneath when the spouse of a prestigious banker asks them to search for her wayward stepson. The one case Detective Nick Moore cares about incorporates 12 bottles of Prohibition bathtub gin. So secretary Maggie Laurent takes the case. She’s quickly as much as her neck in homicide, arson, and the lies and double lives of San Francisco’s elite, the place she’s seen as a nuisance and…a menace. Can she clear up the murders earlier than she turns into the subsequent sufferer? “Fog Metropolis” is a 2025 Shamus Award nominee.
“Back to the Garden” by Laurie R. King
The Gardener Property, a storied dwelling and gardens on California’s coast, conceals turmoil. When building work reveals a 50-year-old cranium, Inspector Raquel Laing of the SFPD Chilly Case Unit has her work minimize out for her. Again within the Nineteen Seventies, the property was an Edenic commune. However serial killers, like The Highwayman, preyed on such innocents. May the cranium belong to considered one of his victims? Is he nonetheless at massive? The strain is on for Laing to lastly clear up the Gardener case. King is an Edgar Award winner and Thriller Writers of America’s 2022 Grand Grasp.
“Call Me Carmela” by Ellen Kirschman
Police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff’s caseload focuses on Silicon Valley cops. However when a good friend asks Dot to assist an adopted teenager find her delivery dad and mom, she will’t say no. As soon as she begins digging into the case, she’s drawn right into a murky world of unlawful adoptions and the alternatives a younger pregnant lady may make as a final resort. As she investigates, Dot realizes that the painful fact of what occurred all these years in the past may heal one household—nevertheless it’s sure to destroy one other.
“House of Desire” by Margaret Lucke
At a fundraiser to save lots of a San Francisco Victorian, psychic Claire Scanlan encounters Roxane, invisible to everybody however her. A “dirty dove” plying her commerce within the mansion in 1896, Roxane found a secret portal that lets her slip into the mansion in current time. When the fundraiser’s organizer is murdered, Roxane—the only witness—flees again to her personal time, terrified. Claire’s brother-in-law is accused of being the killer and, to clear his title, she should discover Roxane, alongside a deadly journey into the previous.
“A Place of Fog and Murder” by T.E. MacArthur
Detective Lou Tanner must cement her fame to outlive in a person’s job, however the shopper providing her a brand new case has introduced her a poisonous mixture of ruthless gangsters, suspicious cops and a determined blackmailer. Gun in hand and wits on the prepared, Lou is in a battle for her life on this noir-meets-dieselpunk story of 1935 San Francisco. From the corrupt energy of the ultra-rich to the soiled underworld, lethal secrets and techniques conceal behind a skinny veneer of propriety and a thick wall of fog.
“Beet Fields” by Robin Somers
Olive Publish’s bucolic life is thrown off kilter when she finds a physique within the beet subject and suspects foul play. When the coroner determines the loss of life a suicide, her investigative instincts kick in. Her pursuit of proof strains her marriage and locations her kids in peril as she uncovers a scheme that threatens her household. Set on an natural farm in Santa Cruz, “Beet Fields” exposes insatiable company agribusiness. With unfaltering braveness, Olive confronts malevolent forces and struggles to revive fidelity to her dwelling. “Beet Fields” is a Pacific Coast E-book Assessment, Greatest Westerns finalist.
“Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)” by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Ever since a person was discovered lifeless in Vera’s teahouse, her store has been bustling and her son has a girlfriend…Officer Selena Grey, who investigated the homicide. After Vera meets a younger lady searching for a lacking good friend, Xander Lin, she finds a trove of details about Xander in Selena’s briefcase. Xander had all of it: non-public jets, socialite events and a profession as an influencer. However after his physique is fished from Mission Bay, the police can’t determine him. Everyone claims to not know him. Vera is set to resolve Xander’s homicide for the sake of her future daughter-in-law.
“Codex” by Lisa Towles
FBI Agent Angus Mariner goes off-grid in Northern California after a automotive accident kills his spouse. An eccentric outdated man approaches him and provides Mariner a $3 million present. When the person is found lifeless, Mariner turns into a suspect. After he learns that his spouse was about to show a corrupt ring linked to the outdated man and the automotive crash was no accident, Mariner determines he should expose the group’s terrifying agenda and convey which means to his spouse’s loss of life.
Michal Strutin’s upcoming 16th-century thriller trilogy is being printed by Sibylline Press. An award-winning nature and journey author, she is the creator of “Judging Noa: A Combat for Ladies’s Rights within the Turmoil of the Exodus” and a member of Sisters in Crime NorCal. Based in 1987 by ladies crime writers to achieve equal publishing remedy, Sisters in Crime (SinC) has greater than 50 chapters, together with three in Northern California. Discover out extra about SinC history and comply with SinC NorCal on Facebook. Questions? Attain out to SinC NorCal President Glenda Carroll at president@sincnorcal.org.
