We love the clues, we love the chase, and we love to read mysteries. Local News Matters is thrilled to kick off our partnership with the local Bay Area chapter of Sisters in Crime, a national alliance of mystery writers and readers. Look for upcoming columns on how to begin writing, great “cozy” mysteries, how to research most anything, fave bookstores, and even a deep dive into poisons.
From “The Maltese Falcon” to “Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man),” San Francisco has been a popular setting for dastardly deeds all the way back to its Prohibition past. For a city that only measures seven by seven, its literary misdeeds seem disproportionate—second only to sleepy but murderous Agatha Christie English villages. Maybe it’s the bone-chilling fog or its ruthless Gold Rush past when San Francisco was a notorious shanghai capital. Whatever the case, San Francisco remains an inspiration and a destination for authors and readers alike.
A roundup of San Francisco mysteries is almost too easy. This list features crime set in the City and slightly beyond, in books that range from humorous to dieselpunk, and in places like a fictional Filoli Gardens and a coastal organic beet farm. The attraction: not just a whodunnit, but a wheredunnit.
“The Red-Hot Blues Chanteuse” by Ana Brazil
While performing in vaudeville in 1919 San Francisco, ambitious blues chanteuse Viola Vermillion’s piano player and lover Stu Wiley is murdered in the Pantages Theater balcony. With her own gun. To remain out of jail, Viola is forced to uncover Stu’s secret past and figure out which one of his lies got him killed.
“Better Off Dead” by Glenda Carroll
Successful Marin County financier Andy Barlow is training in San Francisco Bay for a competitive open-water swim. Unexpectedly, his support boat runs him over, killing Barlow instantaneously. Consumed with grief and anger, Andy’s college-aged son Harrison returns from London. The local sheriff’s office calls the tragedy an accident, but Harrison refuses to believe their findings. He reaches out to amateur sleuth Trisha Carson to hunt down the real killer.
“The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco” by Michelle Chouinard
San Francisco…a city with killer charm. No one knows this better than Capri Sanzio, who gives serial killer tours of the city, a topic that’s interested her since she discovered she’s the granddaughter of serial killer William “Overkill Bill” Sanzio. When an Overkill Bill copycat strikes San Francisco, Capri decides it’s time to exonerate her grandfather while documenting the present process. But Capri soon finds herself at the heart of the investigation when the police tag her and her daughter as prime suspects. Chouinard is an Edgar-nominated, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling author.
“One Gun” by Vinnie Hansen
How much havoc can one gun wreak? In a Santa Cruz-like oceanside town, Vivi and Ben Russo startle a burglar in their home. The young man flees, and when Ben gives chase, the thief pulls a gun, threatening to kill Ben, but doesn’t. The burglar is arrested, but not before hiding the gun. Facing a weapons charge that could add 10 years to his sentence, the burglar enlists cohorts to pick up his stash, which escalates toward personal tragedy. “One Gun is a Claymore Award finalist.
“Fog City” by Claire M. Johnson
In 1930 San Francisco, the Moore Detective Agency is about to go under when the wife of a prestigious banker asks them to look for her wayward stepson. The only case Detective Nick Moore cares about contains 12 bottles of Prohibition bathtub gin. So secretary Maggie Laurent takes the case. She’s soon up to her neck in murder, arson, and the lies and double lives of San Francisco’s elite, where she’s seen as a nuisance and…a threat. Can she solve the murders before she becomes the next victim? “Fog City” is a 2025 Shamus Award nominee.
“Back to the Garden” by Laurie R. King
The Gardener Estate, a storied home and gardens on California’s coast, conceals turmoil. When construction work unearths a 50-year-old skull, Inspector Raquel Laing of the SFPD Cold Case Unit has her work cut out for her. Back in the 1970s, the estate was an Edenic commune. But serial killers, like The Highwayman, preyed on such innocents. Could the skull belong to one of his victims? Is he still at large? The pressure is on for Laing to finally solve the Gardener case. King is an Edgar Award winner and Mystery Writers of America’s 2022 Grand Master.
“Call Me Carmela” by Ellen Kirschman
Police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff’s caseload focuses on Silicon Valley cops. But when a friend asks Dot to help an adopted teenager locate her birth parents, she can’t say no. Once she starts digging into the case, she’s drawn into a murky world of illegal adoptions and the choices a young pregnant woman might make as a last resort. As she investigates, Dot realizes that the painful truth of what happened all those years ago might heal one family—but it’s certain to destroy another.
“House of Desire” by Margaret Lucke
At a fundraiser to save a San Francisco Victorian, psychic Claire Scanlan encounters Roxane, invisible to everyone but her. A “soiled dove” plying her trade in the mansion in 1896, Roxane discovered a secret portal that lets her slip into the mansion in present time. When the fundraiser’s organizer is murdered, Roxane—the sole witness—flees back to her own time, terrified. Claire’s brother-in-law is accused of being the killer and, to clear his name, she must find Roxane, along a perilous journey into the past.
“A Place of Fog and Murder” by T.E. MacArthur
Detective Lou Tanner needs to cement her reputation to survive in a man’s job, but the client offering her a new case has brought her a toxic mix of ruthless gangsters, suspicious cops and a desperate blackmailer. Gun in hand and wits at the ready, Lou is in a fight for her life in this noir-meets-dieselpunk tale of 1935 San Francisco. From the corrupt power of the ultra-rich to the dirty underworld, deadly secrets hide behind a thin veneer of propriety and a thick wall of fog.
“Beet Fields” by Robin Somers
Olive Post’s bucolic life is thrown off kilter when she finds a body in the beet field and suspects foul play. When the coroner determines the death a suicide, her investigative instincts kick in. Her pursuit of evidence strains her marriage and places her children in danger as she uncovers a scheme that threatens her family. Set on an organic farm in Santa Cruz, “Beet Fields” exposes insatiable corporate agribusiness. With unfaltering courage, Olive confronts malevolent forces and struggles to restore constancy to her home. “Beet Fields” is a Pacific Coast Book Review, Best Westerns finalist.
“Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)” by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Ever since a man was found dead in Vera’s teahouse, her shop has been bustling and her son has a girlfriend…Officer Selena Gray, who investigated the murder. After Vera meets a young woman looking for a missing friend, Xander Lin, she finds a trove of information about Xander in Selena’s briefcase. Xander had it all: private jets, socialite parties and a career as an influencer. But after his body is fished from Mission Bay, the police can’t identify him. Everybody claims not to know him. Vera is determined to solve Xander’s murder 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 car accident kills his wife. An eccentric old man approaches him and gives Mariner a $3 million gift. When the man is discovered dead, Mariner becomes a suspect. After he learns that his wife was about to expose a corrupt ring linked to the old man and the car crash was no accident, Mariner determines he must expose the organization’s terrifying agenda and bring meaning to his wife’s death.
Michal Strutin’s upcoming 16th-century mystery trilogy is being published by Sibylline Press. An award-winning nature and travel writer, she is the author of “Judging Noa: A Fight for Women’s Rights in the Turmoil of the Exodus” and a member of Sisters in Crime NorCal. Founded in 1987 by women crime writers to gain equal publishing treatment, Sisters in Crime (SinC) has more than 50 chapters, including three in Northern California. Find out more about SinC history and follow SinC NorCal on Facebook. Questions? Reach out to SinC NorCal President Glenda Carroll at president@sincnorcal.org.
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