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!

Elaine Flinn, R.I.P.

It was a sad day yesterday when the mystery community learned of the death of Elaine Flinn, author, antiques dealer, comedian, friend.

Elaine Flinn passed away Saturday night as the result of complications due to pneumonia and cancer. Elaine, a former Bay Area antiques dealer, created Molly Doyle, a Carmel, CA, aniques dealer in Dealing in Murder, her 2003 debut novel that was nominated for an Agatha, Gumshoe, Barry and Anthony (2003). Tagged for Murder (2004) won the Barry Award. Two more Molly Doyle novels--Deadly Collection and Deadly Vintage followed.

Flin was one of the founding members of Murderati. And, it was during her time at Murderati that Flinn developed the Evil-E persona for which she became so well-known.

I was lucky to have known Elaine, and we shared laughter and fun at conventions and bookstores over the years. I will miss her. I know she was looking forward to Left Coast Crime 2009 in Hawaii.

L.J. Roberts tells us more about Elaine in the Rap Sheet today. Mystery authors remember Elaine today in Louise Ure's blog at Murderati.