Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California Mysteries II (41:4)

Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California II (41:4) is now available. 

You'll also want to order the companion issue, too: Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California Mysteries I (41:3)

If you're a print copy and/or PDF subscriber, you should have received your copy.

Contributor PDF copies went out today. 

Contributors: Thanks so much for your great articles, essays, and reviews!

Northern California Mysteries II

Volume 41, No. 4, Winter 2025

Buy this back issue! Available in hardcopy or as a downloadable PDF.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

• They Didn’t Intend to Be Detectives… by Aubrey Nye Hamilton
• The Air Smelled Like Redwoods by Rona Bell

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• Northern California—in My Blood, in My Books by Juliet Blackwell
• A Time Traveler in the East Bay by Mary Adler
• Did a Charlie Chan Film Influence the Zodiac Murders? by Lou Armagno
• If You’ve Got the Lipstick… by David Corbett
• Climate Fiction in Northern California by Mary Flodin
• Just Say “Yes” to Stories from the Bay Area by Meredith Blevins
• Why I Set My Stories in Northern California by Daryl Wood Gerber
• San Francisco Wild by Toni Dwiggins
• Setting: Real or Invented? by Vinnie Hansen
• Mild-Mannered Men in Northern California by Walter Horsting
• I Have a Wild Imagination by Nancy Lynn Jarvis
• Following the Money to Silicon Valley by Ron Katz
• Baking Up Good Mystery in the Northern California Redwoods by Victoria Kazarian
• The Fault Lines in Northern California by Ellen Kirschman
• 1860s San Francisco— A Perfect Place for a Mystery by Nancy Herriman
• It Had to Be San Francisco… by Barry Lancet
• The City, My City by Lexa Mack
• World Building: It’s Not Just for Science Fiction and Fantasy by A.B. Michaels
• Feng Shui-by-the-Sea by Denise Osborne
• A Fog-Shrouded Lens by Tim Maleeny
• A Fish Out of Water in Oakland by Brad Parks
• The Babylon Deception, a Northern California Mystery by Ray Pace
• The Estuary Kept Its Secrets by Susan Paturzo
• Red Rock Island: Where Imagination Found a Home by Alec Peche
• The Cook, the Inspector, and the City by the Bay by Joanne Pence
• A Reader and a Writer Walk into a Bar by Karen A. Phillips
• Northern California: The Lost Highway by Alexandra Sokoloff

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews
• Crime Seen: The Streets of San Francisco by Kate Derie
• Cop Ten: The Streets of… Everyplace Else but San Francisco by Jim Doherty
• From the Editor’s Desk by Janet A. Rudolph

***

Time to renew your subscription for 2026: Themes: Mysteries set at Fetes, Fairs, and Festivals;  Mysteries set in France; Cross-Genre Mysteries; Mysteries set in India. Subscriptions are PDF. 

Print-on-Demand issues will be available as each issue is published. We'll post here and elsewhere with a link when each print-on-demand issue is ready. First issue for 2026 will be out in March.

Northern California Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal (41:3) Fall 2025

Northern California I is now available. What a great issue--and not only because I live in NorCal. We've received wonderful articles, reviews, and author essays--so many that we are splitting this theme into two issues. We've left room for a few more articles and author essays. So if you didn't get around to contributing to Northern California Mysteries, you still have until November 10--a drop dead deadline!-- to send something. Send to janet @ mystery readers . org  Hope you enjoy Northern California I. 

Northern California Mysteries I

Volume 41, No. 3, Fall 2025

Available as a downloadable PDF.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES

• The Campanile Murders: A Lost Berkeley Mystery by Randal S. Brandt

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!

• From Lake Tahoe to the Napa Valley by Rachele Baker
• Embedding Northern California with Murder, Mayhem, and Crime by Susan Alice Bickford
• Highway 49 Revisited by Taffy Cannon
• My NorCal Mystery Escapes by Kate Carlisle
• Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay by Glenda Carroll
• Sam Spade Returns by Mark Coggins
• Silicon Valley Will Always Be the Valley of Heart’s Delight to Me by Ron Cook
• Infinite Variety and Inspiration by Janet Dawson
• You Live Where? by Maddie Day
• We Had One Once, but She Died by Michele Drier
• Indigenous Voices Calling by June Gillam
• Meredith Ryan Women’s Mystery Series by Thonie Hevron
• “Why Is a Rock Band like a Writing Desk?” by Claire Johnson
• Santa Cruz: Home to Linguine with Clam Sauce, Avocado Toast… and Murder by Leslie Karst
• Whose Humboldt County Is It, Anyway? by Maria Kelson
• Why Sacramento? by James L’Etoile
• Just a Small Town Duck… by Claudia Long
• The Many Faces of NorCal by Marcia Muller
• How the Screaming Got Started on Northern California’s Quietest Street by Christopher Null
• A San Francisco Tale—Bop City Swing by M.E. Proctor
• The Cities of San Francisco by Lev AC Rosen
• The Noble Grape by Diane Schaffer
• Creating Justice Bay by Patricia Smiley
• Humboldt County: Prohibition, Dinosaurs and a Thousand-Year Flood by Kelli Stanley
• Death, I Said: A Charlie Chan Mystery by John Swann
• Is It Pelican Point… or Bodega Bay? by Penny Warner
• Real Life to Reel Life NorCal Mysteries by William P. Wood

COLUMNS

• Mystery in Retrospect: Reviews, by LJ Roberts and Lucinda Surber
• Children’s Hour: Northern California Mysteries by Gay Toltl Kinman
• Real Crime in Northern California by Cathy Pickens
• From the Editor’s Desk by Janet A. Rudolph

***

Subscribe now in order to be sure to receive all 4 issues for 2025: Themes: London II; Retail Sales; Northern California I; Northern California Mysteries II. 

If you're a PDF subscriber, you should have received download instructions. International subscribers will receive their issues within few weeks. 

PDF Contributor PDF copies went out today. 

Contributors: Thanks so much for your great articles, essays, and reviews!

Call for Articles: Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California issue (41:3)

Call for Articles: Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California Mysteries! (41:3); Fall 2025

For our next issue, we are looking for articles, reviews, and author essays about crime fiction set in Northern California.

DEADLINE: September 1.

If you have a mystery that fits this theme, please consider writing an Author! Author! essay: 500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the theme connection. 

We’re also looking for reviews and articles. 

Send submissions to janet @ mysteryreaders.org 

Deadline: September 1, 2025. 

Author Essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and the "NorCal" connection. 500-1000 words. Treat this as if you're chatting with friends and other writers in the bar or cafe (or on zoom) about your work and the "Northern California" setting in your mysteries. Be sure and cite specific titles, as well as how you use Northern California in your books. Add title and 2-3 sentence bio. 

Reviews: 50-250 words. 

Articles: 500-1000 words. 

Deadline: September 1, 2025  

Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor. janet @ mysteryreaders . org  

Subject Line: NorCal Mysteries

Please let me know if you're planning to send an article, review, or author essay--or if you have any questions! 

Subscribe to Mystery Readers Journal. 

Themes in 2025: London Mysteries 2; Retail Mysteries; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries. 

Back issues available as PDF download 

Southern California: Mystery Readers Journal

Senior Sleuths: Mystery Readers Journal

Irish Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal

Hobbies & Crafts in Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal

And so many more... We are now in our 41st year. 4 themed issues a year! 

Have a look at our index of fabulous issues with articles, reviews, and essays from your favorite authors and reviewers. 

***

Love Mysteries? Love San Francisco? Left Coast Crime will be held in "Everybody's Favorite City" February 26-March 1, 2026.   Register Now! 

Call for Articles: Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California Mysteries (41:3)

Call for Articles: Mystery Readers Journal: Northern California Mysteries! (41:3); Fall 2025

For our next issue, we are looking for crime fiction set in Northern California.

If you have a mystery that fits this theme, please consider writing an Author! Author! essay: 500–1500 words, first person, up-close and personal about yourself, your books, and the theme connection. 

We’re also looking for reviews and articles. 

Send submissions to janet @ mysteryreaders.org 

Deadline: September 1, 2025. 

Author Essays are first person, about yourself, your books, and the "NorCal" connection. 500-1000 words. Treat this as if you're chatting with friends and other writers in the bar or cafe (or on zoom) about your work and the "Northern California" setting in your mysteries. Be sure and cite specific titles, as well as how you use Northern California in your books. Add title and 2-3 sentence bio. 

Reviews: 50-250 words. 

Articles: 500-1000 words. 

Deadline: September 1, 2025  

Send to: Janet Rudolph, Editor. janet @ mysteryreaders . org  

Please let me know if you're planning to send an article, review, or author essay--or if you have any questions! 

Subscribe to Mystery Readers Journal. 

Themes in 2025: London Mysteries 2; Retail Mysteries; Northern California Mysteries; Cross-Genre Mysteries. 

Back issues available as PDF download 

Southern California: Mystery Readers Journal

Senior Sleuths: Mystery Readers Journal

Irish Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal

Hobbies & Crafts in Mysteries: Mystery Readers Journal

And so many more... We are now in our 41st year. 4 themed issues a year! 

Have a look at our index of fabulous issues with articles, reviews, and essays from your favorite authors and reviewers. 

***

Love Mysteries? Love San Francisco? Left Coast Crime will be held in "Everybody's Favorite City" February 26-March 1, 2026.   Register Now! 

MWA NorCal Mystery Month: SETTING!!

October is Mystery Month! Mystery Writers of America NorCal presents a host of special events starting today!

Wednesday, October 13

SETTING: Locked Rooms to Hot Air Balloons – Crafting the Perfect Setting and Making It Real
Via Zoom; advance registration required
5 PM Pacific Time

Setting: 1) the place and conditions in which something happens or exists; (2) the time, place, and conditions in which the action of a book, movie, etc. takes place; and (3) the rooms, painted backgrounds, furniture, etc., that are used for a scene in a movie or a play. Join us, on Zoom, as we dive into the world of backdrop and scene. What’s the context for the action of our characters? With a (literal) world of options how do we pick the best setting for our characters, and how do we assure readers step into the places we create? Setting should encompass more than just place—it is what imbues our stories with mood and ambience.

Moderator: Daisy Bateman is a mystery lover, cheese enthusiast, and world-renowned expert in Why You Should Buy That. Her educational background is in molecular biology from Caltech and UC Berkeley, and in what passes for normal life, she works in biotech.

Panelists:

• John Billheimer holds an engineering Ph.D. from Stanford University and for thirty years was Vice President of a small consulting firm specializing in transportation research. He has investigated such diverse topics as commuter lane performance, mobile phone safety, drunk driving countermeasures, DMV service, video surveillance, and motorcycle safety
• Mark Coggins has earned two degrees and a Phi Beta Kappa Key from Stanford University and has worked for a number of Silicon Valley computer and venture capital firms, including Netscape Communications and Hewlett Packard Company. His books have been nominated for the Shamus and the Barry crime fiction awards and have been selected for best of the year lists compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Detroit Free Press and Amazon.com, among others.
• Margaret Dumas writes books about smart, funny women who are trying to figure things out in the San Francisco Bay Area. Occasionally they fall in love. Occasionally they solve a murder.
  

LATINX MYSTERY WRITERS: SF Public Library 9/15

San Francisco Public Library in partnership with the NorCal Chapter of Mystery Writers of America: September 15: 7-8 p.m. (PDT)

Michael Nava curates a panel of Latinx authors discussing their books, writing and their inspirations. Featuring Alex Segura, Raquel V. Reyes, Richie Narvaez and Lucha Corpi.

Watch on YouTube.

Michael Nava is the author of an acclaimed series of eight novels featuring gay, Latino criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios who The New Yorker, called “a detective unlike any previous protagonist in American noir.” He is the recipient of seven Lambda Literary Awards in the gay mystery category and the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement in LGBT Literature. His most recent Rios novel, Lies With Man, was published in April by Amble Press, an LGBTQ press of which he is also managing editor. The Washington Post review of the novel called Nava “a master of the genre.”

Raquel V. Reyes writes stories with Latina characters. Her Cuban-American heritage, Miami, and the Caribbean feature prominently in her work. Raquel is a co-chair for SleuthFest. Her short stories appear in various anthologies including Mystery Most Theatrical and Midnight Hour. Mango, Mambo, and Murder is the first in the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery series.

Richie Narvaez writes frequently about Latinidad, Puerto Rico, urban culture, and social issues. He is the author of the gentrification thriller Hipster Death Rattle. His most recent novel is the historical YA mystery Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco. His latest work is the anthology Noiryorican. Narvaez teaches writing at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

Alex Segura is an acclaimed, award-winning writer of novels, comic books, short stories and podcasts. He is the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Pete Fernandez Mystery series (including the Anthony Award-nominated crime novels Dangerous Ends, Blackout, Miami Midnight and the upcoming Secret Identity (Flatiron Books). His short story Red Zone won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story, and his border noir short story, 90 Miles will be included in THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE STORIES of 2020. His comic books include the superhero noir The Black Ghost, the YA music series The Archies and the Archie Meets collection. He is also the co-creator/co-writer of the Lethal Lit crime/YA podcast,  which was named one of the best podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times. 

Lucha Corpi was born in México, and came to Berkeley as a student wife in 1964. She is the author of two collections of poetry: Palabras de mediodía/Noon Words and Variaciones sobre una tempestad/Variations on a Storm, two bilingual children’s books: Where Fireflies Dance/Ahí, donde bailan las luciérnagas and The Triple Banana Split Boy/El niño goloso and six novels, Crimson Moon, Eulogy for a Brown Angel, Cactus Blood and more. Corpi’s numerous honors and awards include a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and an Oakland Cultural Arts fiction fellowship. She is a recipient of a PEN-Oakland Josephine Miles Award and an International Latino Book Award. For many years, Corpi taught in the Oakland Public Schools Neighborhood Centers before retiring to devote herself full-time to writing.

Sisters in Crime NorCal: Annual Meet & Greet 2/1/2020

Sisters in Crime, Northern California Chapter Annual Meet & Greet with Panel Discussion on how to get the most out of Book/Conference Events!

 

When:

February 1, 2020 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

 

Where:

Sausalito Public Library, 420 Litho St., SausalitoCA 94965

Annual Meet & Greet gives everyone an opportunity to introduce themselves, their writing, and their other mysterious (or not) interests. In addition, we’ll have a panel discussion loaded with information and tips about this year’s Left Coast Crime (March 12-15 in San Diego), Bay Area Book Festival (May 2-3 in Berkeley), and Bouchercon (October 15-18 in Sacramento).

Contributions to the Refreshment Table and the Book Exchange table are always appreciated.

The more the merrier! All Welcome!!!

Speakers:
Left Coast Crime: Janet Rudolph
Bay Area Book Festival: Ana Brazil
Bouchercon & Moderating: Susan Bickford

Free parking is available at the Sausalito Public Library.

Winter Mystery Book Group

Mystery Readers International's NorCal Mystery Readers Book Group is still going strong. We meet every Tuesday night in Berkeley, CA. Read along and send comments!

January 8      The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

January 15    The Double Game by Dan Fesperman

January 22    The Blackhouse by Peter May

January 29    The Paris Deadline by Max Byrd

February 5     Bleed for Me by Michael Robotham

February 12   Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

February 19   Death on the Pont Noir by Adrian Magson

February 26   The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters

March 5         Not Dead Yet by Peter James

March 12       Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson