Mystery Reference Books

I collect mystery reference books, and I imagine many of you reading this column do as well. So I was thrilled to see J. Kingston Pierce's article in Kirkus yesterday: Just the Facts, Ma'am: Referencing Books Worth Preserving. Nice to note that I have all the books he mentions!

To read the article, go HERE.

Hills of Homicide: San Francisco

Because Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, will be held in San Francisco October 14-17, 2010, it was only natural that J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet put together several San Francisco Crime posts under the title: Hills of Homicide.

San Francisco is everybody's Favorite City, so it's not surprising that so many crime writers and producers set  their books, films and TV shows here.

Jeff (J. Kingston Pierce) asked me to post my  Top 10 San Francisco-backdropped Crime Novels.  Thought the task would be simple, but it sure wasn't. Think it would have been easier to name my top 10 L.A. crime novels. But I love San Francisco, so I was up for the challenge. I chose books for their specific San Francisco City & County setting, so that excluded many novels that take place in the surrounding cities and countryside.  I started with The Maltese Falcon, of course. I also listed David Dodge's Death and Taxes. Check out the list HERE.

Kelli Stanley put together a list of her favorite San Francisco Noir films. I concur with her great selections.

And, Jeff put together his list of San Francisco Crime TV shows. Of course, The Streets of San Francisco are on the list.

Mystery Readers Journal had two issues devoted to San Francisco Mysteries in 2008.
Check out the Table of Contents: San Francisco I. San Francisco II. We also had an earlier issue of San Francisco Mysteries in 1995.

Want to dig a little deeper into all the crime fiction set in the San Francisco Bay Area? Check out Randal Brandt's Golden Gate Mysteries.

See you in San Francisco at Bouchercon!

Death and Taxes

I started to write something on Death and Taxes yesterday since Tax Day is April 15 in the U.S. That makes it sort of a holiday and holidays are my thing. But I really didn't come up with much. Maybe the whole taxman thing is just too depressing.

J. Kingston Pierce to the rescue. Check out his April 15 blog on The Rap Sheet, "Dying for a Refund" The mystery he reviews is Death and Taxes by David Dodge (1910-1974), a onetime certified public accountant. The book is set in San Francisco, so that's another bonus for me.

Thanks, Jeff!

Don't miss Crime for the Holidays, volume 25:1, Mystery Readers Journal.

16 Random Things About Me

I've been tagged by J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet! This is part of a new meme (yes, it's a noun, look it up) which was born on Facebook. Here's the gist:

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

The rules say that I'm supposed to tag 16 people, but I'm tagging only four bloggers, Louise Ure (Murderati), Bill Crider (Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine), Declan Burke (Crime Always Pays), and Karen Meek (Euro Crime). I've asked them to participate, and I'll update you when they do... if they do. It's a bit of an ego-centric exercise, but a lot of fun.

So here goes. 16 Random Things about me:

1. I have two golden retrievers, Busby Berkeley and Topper. I’m a big fan of 30s movies. Actually I’m a big fan of movies and TV. I used to have a cat named Dashiell Hammett who lived to be 21. Now I have a cat named Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty). Nothing mysterious there. She’s a Siamese rescue.


2. I used to work with juvenile offenders and adolescent parents in the inner city. On the one hand it was a rewarding job since I taught “Human Survival Skills” such as filling out a welfare app, WICKS app, etc. On the other hand every Monday morning there was always one of the kids or one of their relatives or friends who had been shot over the weekend. I went to a lot of funerals. Murder in real life. 10 years in the trenches.

3. I once taught a class on Women in Science Fiction, although my heart belonged to mysteries. I knew I’d get a good sign up. The next class, though, was Women of Mystery, and it’s history from there. The mystery courses developed into Mystery Readers International, and our own local mystery group has been meeting for over 30 years—every Tuesday night.

4. The Mystery Readers Journal grew out of my participation on a Bouchercon committee. I did the publicity newsletter. Cut and paste. Those were the days.

5. I love to garden, and I have over 120 rose bushes on my property. It’s double-fenced to protect the garden from the deer.

6. I have a home in Bodega Bay, site of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. There really are an incredible number of birds there, including flocks of the infamous wild turkeys, as well as rare migrating birds. It’s a sleepy little town on the coast and not much different from when The Birds was made, except I’ve never been attacked by the birds.

7. I once drank Southern Comfort backstage with Janice Joplin at a concert.

8. I came to Berkeley for graduate school, and I never left. My mother used to say I was married to Berkeley, and I guess I am, Frank notwithstanding. Maybe I’m a bigamist, but Berkeley was my first love. It’s beautiful, politically diverse, full of bookstores. What’s not to love?

9. I’m a morning person, and I can get a good three hours in before most people wake up.

10. I’m a tea drinker, probably because my grandmother who lived with us when I was growing up was a tea drinker. She spent 10 years in London where she was married. I take my tea with milk and honey.

11. My favorite writers are usually the ones I’m reading right now, so that would include Peter Lovesey, Reginald Hill, Val McDermid and Peter Robinson. Of course, tomorrow that might all change. I did see a Philip Kerr and a Garcia-Roza and an M.C. Beaton peak out from the TBR pile. What a mix! I’m eclectic in my reading.

12. I have a Ph.D. in religion and literature, specializing in religious mystery fiction. Luckily there wasn’t as much out there at the time. I had a framed copy of an Albert Einstein letter that read, “I shall not become a PhD” hanging above my desk. Didn’t take his advice although it took years to finish. I guess I just got tired of being introduced as ABD. All but dumb? I’ve never really used it for anything, so don’t call me Doctor! Dr. Rudolph was my father.

13. When I was young, I thought I’d be a painter and live in a garret in Paris. Maybe in my next life.

14. I love my Macintosh. I’ve always been an Apple person, and I dedicated my dissertation to my Dad (a big mystery reader), Mystery Readers International and my Mac. I made a cake in the shape of my Macintosh 512 for my PhD party. Couldn’t have done it without my MAC.

15. I’m a TV junkie. I love sitcoms. I love TIVO! I can balance my love of the written word with TV and films. It’s not always easy, but it fulfills my senses.

16. I used to travel a lot, and I have had Fulbrights to India and Brazil. I now travel through books—there is no frigate like a book to take you miles away, and it's even more fun when it's a mystery.