Bøger af Marcia Muller

"San Francisco is home to more than 200 privately owned streets. Most are alleyways, but a select few look torn straight from the pages of a magazine. Lined with mansions and elaborate gardens, the properties are luxurious and perfectly maintained; security guards patrol the grounds to keep the curious at bay. Few know of these exclusive enclaves, but those who do prowl for availability, ready to make a grab for the precious real estate if opportunity strikes. When several such streets are targeted in a series of so-called pranks, Sharon is hired by a coalition of concerned owners to investigate. But as things escalate - an attempt on Sharon's life, an explosion at a meth lab, and a shocking murder - Sharon realizes far more is at play than a few misdemeanors gone wrong. The case takes a sudden turn when one of McCone & Ripinsky's most trusted employees is implicated, and Sharon will have to dig deep to save her agency - and her life"--

"Sweet Cactus Wine," in which a benign saguaro cactus commits mayhem, was Muller's first Western story. Each tale, including "The Cyaniders" written especially for this collection, is a miniature masterpiece of storytelling, realistic characters, and vivid settings. Even Sharon McCone makes her appearance in two of the stories, "The Lost Coast" and "Knives at Midnight," the latter collected here for the first time.Also included is her only collaboration with her husband, Bill Pronzini, on a Western story. "Caves of Ice" was inspired by a visit to an ice cave in Montana. "Forbidden Things" is an imperishable story of a woman who finds out who she really is when she returns to Camel Rock. There are elements of horror and imagination not only in "Time of the Wolves" but also in "The Indian Witch."Time of the Wolves is an extraordinary collection of Western stories by a truly outstanding author, stories that can and will be read and reread with sustaining enjoyment.

A collection of short stories ranging from the straight-forward detective to the off-beat mystery. Includes Sharon McCone and Elena Oliverez stories as well as an original introduction by the author.Marcia Muller, author of the Elena Oliverez mysteries, is the creator of sleuth Sharon McCone, widely considered to be the first of the new breed of female private eyes.

Ciro Sisneros seems the most harmless of men-a Chicano historian immersed in writing a book about the Great Depression and the Mexican-American agricultural workers of that era. Then why, when he dies of a fall at pool-side in Leisure Village Mobile Home Park, a senior citizens' community near Santa Barbara, does Gabriel a Oliverez insist that he has been murdered?True, Ciro had been warned by an anony¬mous caller to stop work on his book-something he had no intention of doing. Gabriela wants her daughter, Elena, to put aside the urgent demands of her job as curator of the Museum of Mexican Art and find out why the book was a threat-and to whom. Hadn't Elena solved the murder of her predecessor (in Muller's The Tree of Death)?That's not an easy thing for Elena to do. The museum is understaffed. Fiesta time is upon them. One of the museum's volunteer workers suddenly disappears. There are countless other demands on the young curator's time. And the chairman of the museum board, Carlos Bautista, is courting her. Although she likes him well enough, she does not welcome the attentions of a man twenty-six years her senior, and she feels uncomfortable among his rich Anglo friends. But how to avoid him without antagonizing him?However, as Police Lieutenant Dave Kirk (whose attentions Elena would welcome) says of her, she is "incurably nosy." Her nosiness, in fact, causes more than one attempt on her life. Only by going far back into the past-and making a visit to "Abuela" (Grandmother) Felicia, who had been active in the agricultural workers' struggles of the thirties-does Elena learn the truth behind the legend of the slain soldiers and how it ties in with the very recent death of Ciro Sisneros.

The Museum of Mexican Arts in Santa Barbara has the usual problems-chronic budget deficits and wealthy patrons who like to meddle. When Isabel Cunningham, descendant of one of the oldest Spanish land-grant families, donates a garish Tree of Life, the museum's greedy director accepts at once. Frank De Palma knows how to curry favor and raise funds, but in matters of taste, Elena Oliverez recognizes his limitations. The young curator despises the huge ceramic object and considers it an eyesore, while Frank views it as the key to future donations from a very rich patron. In addition, Frank's pompous, vain manner is as offensive as his lack of respect for good art.On the eve of the opening of the museum's new quarters, Frank is found crushed beneath the monstrosity he acquired. Elena Oliverez is every one's suspect. The continual feuding between Elena and her boss was public knowledge, and everyone had heard her threats when Frank forced the unpopular tree into the museum's permanent collection.Despite Frank's murder, the museum's opening proceeds as scheduled. Later, when Elena is made acting director, she's even more a key suspect. So the art historian turns sleuth, poking through Frank's files and puzzling over a long string of clues. All too soon she's convinced that the murderer is close by... and ready to strike again Now Elena's problem is to convince a skeptical police department that her deductions are valid.Lt. Kirk disregards key clues: several suspects have a history of suffering at Frank De Palma's hands and may have scores to settle; a museum employee has been taking a number of mysterious trips of late. The Tree of Death is rich in Southern California lore and features an inside look at what happens behind the scenes in the world of fine arts. It also introduces us to a clever young Mexican-American heroine, whose lively curiosity and love for Spanish art and history make for a memorable amateur sleuth.

In this twisting mystery in a New York Times bestselling series, pranks escalate into a deadly scheme that Private Investigator Sharon McCone must unravel--​before they claim her life. San Francisco is home to more than 200 privately owned streets. Most are alleyways, but a select few look torn straight from the pages of a magazine. Lined with mansions and elaborate gardens, the properties are luxurious and perfectly maintained; security guards patrol the grounds to keep the curious at bay. Few know of these exclusive enclaves, but those who do prowl for availability, ready to make a grab for the precious real estate if opportunity strikes. When several such streets are targeted in a series of so-called pranks, Sharon is hired by a coalition of concerned owners to investigate. But as things escalate--an attempt on Sharon's life, an explosion at a meth lab, and a shocking murder--Sharon realizes far more is at play than a few misdemeanors gone wrong. The case takes a sudden turn when one of McCone & Ripinsky's most trusted employees is implicated, and Sharon will have to dig deep to save her agency--and her life.

Things seem to be going smoothly for Joanna Stark; she is beginning to get over the fear that has haunted her since her near-fatal encounter (in There Hangs the Knife) with Antony Parducci, former lover, art forger, thief. But arriving home after lunch at her son's winery-to-be in their town of Sonoma, Joanna finds her house broken into and a painting-one of no value but of great significance to Joanna-has been stolen.The painting has been taken, and other subtle clues left, she knows, on purpose in order to frighten her. She is convinced that Parducci, whom she had left for dead in England, has been there, has come to kill her.Joanna is alone with her fear. Her stepson, E.J., convinced the man is certainly dead, will urge her to put him out of her mind; it's unhealthy, he's told her, to dwell on past fears. Moved to confide in a woman friend, Joanna is drawn into another mystery-the provenance and ownership of two very valuable paintings that no one had known about. Oddly, mysteries and anomalies begin to match, one with the other; and, like a giant spider, Parducci seems to be at the center of it all.This final novel in Muller's three-part work about her interesting character, Joanna Stark, brings the strongly independent woman to a final confrontation with the man who hates her for betraying him, and provides an exciting climax both to the novel and the series.

Joanna Stark thought she had finally left her troubled past behind: After the death of her husband, she quit the San Francisco art security firm where she was a partner and retreated to the small California wine country town of Sonoma.But unexpectedly, in one rainy week before Thanksgiving, her carefully constructed world collapses. A Frans Hals painting, The Cavalier in White, is stolen from the M.H. de Young Museum, and the strange circumstances surrounding its disappearance prompt her former business partner to ask her to return to the city and investigate the theft. Joanna knows she must go back-as much for her own protection as for the sake of the museum.Her investigation takes her from the hushed corridors of the de Young to a seedy waterfront tavern; from a Seacliff mansion to a vandalized shack on the shores of the Bay; to galleries, museum openings-and the scene of a murder.By the time she confronts the killer, the careful order of her life is nearly destroyed and she finds that the past is not only inescapable, but also more complex and frightening than she had previously imagined.

Joanna Stark thought she had finally left her troubled past behind: After the death of her husband, she quit the San Francisco art security firm where she was a partner and retreated to the small California wine country town of Sonoma.But unexpectedly, in one rainy week before Thanksgiving, her carefully constructed world collapses. A Frans Hals painting, The Cavalier in White, is stolen from the M.H. de Young Museum, and the strange circumstances surrounding its disappearance prompt her former business partner to ask her to return to the city and investigate the theft. Joanna knows she must go back-as much for her own protection as for the sake of the museum.Her investigation takes her from the hushed corridors of the de Young to a seedy waterfront tavern; from a Seacliff mansion to a vandalized shack on the shores of the Bay; to galleries, museum openings-and the scene of a murder.By the time she confronts the killer, the careful order of her life is nearly destroyed and she finds that the past is not only inescapable, but also more complex and frightening than she had previously imagined.

In 1895 San Francisco young debutantes don't commit suicide at festive parties, particularly not under the eye of Sabina Carpenter. But Virginia St. Ives evidently did, leaping from a foggy parapet in a shimmer of ghostly light. The seemingly impossible disappearance of her body creates an even more serious problem for the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services.Sabina hadn't wanted to take the assignment, but her partner John Quincannon insisted it would serve as entrée to the city's ultra rich and powerful. That means money, and Quincannon loves the almighty dollar. Which is why he is hunting the bandit who robbed the Wells, Fargo office of $35,000.Working their separate cases (while Sabina holds John off with one light hand), the detectives give readers a tour of The City the way it was. From the infamous Barbary Coast to the expensive Tenderloin gaming houses and brothels frequented by wealthy men, Quincannon follows a danger-laden trail to unmask the murderous perpetrators of the Wells, Fargo robbery. Meanwhile, Sabina works her wiles on friends and relatives of the vanished debutante until the pieces of her puzzle start falling into place. But it's an oddly disguised gent appearing out of nowhere who provides the final clue to both cases-the shrewd "crackbrain" who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes. Fans of Marcia's Muller's bestselling Sharon McCone novels and Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective series will applaud The Spook Lights Affair and future exploits from the annals of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services.The Carpenter and Quincannon Mysteries:#1 The Bughouse Affair#2 The Spook Lights Affair#3 The Body Snatchers Affair#4 The Plague of Thieves Affair#5 The Dangerous Ladies Affair#6 The Bags of Tricks Affair

When two women are brutally murdered in northern California, their deaths are the latest atrocities in a surge of violence targeting Indigenous women in the area. Despite all evidence to the contrary, local officials rule the deaths isolated incidents, and they soon join the ranks of other unsolved homicides, quickly forgotten by law enforcement. Private Investigator Sharon McCone knows better, and so does the organization known as Crimes Against Indigenous Sisters, which hires Sharon to go undercover in Meruk county, a tiny region on the mountainous Oregon border, to uncover the murderer. In an isolated cabin in the freezing, treacherous woods, Sharon must unravel a mystery that is rooted in ignorance, profound hatred, and vengeance--before another victim is claimed.

Hot-tempered curator Elena Oliverez threatens to kill her boss, Frank DePalma, when he orders her to put a particularly hideous piece of sculpture--donated by a wealthy patron of the new Museum of Mexican Arts--on display for the museum opening. So when someone kills Frank with the sculpture, Elena must conduct her own investigation to clear her name--or die trying.

Private Investigator Sharon McCone goes undercover to investigate the murders of two Indigenous women in remote Northern California in this gripping, atmospheric mystery in the New York Times bestselling series.

Learning that his wife, who has been missing for fourteen years, is alive and letting people believe he is responsible for her disappearance, Matthew journeys to California to clear his name, but when she goes missing again under mysterious circumstances, he teams up with her lesbian lover to find

Sharon McCone throws herself into her work but, after her brother's suicide, the case she is working on hits too close to home. Learning that the victim has been afraid for his life since he was a witness to computer espionage, she realizes she must solve the mystery - or become the next victim.

A DOUBLE NIGHTMAR94EWith her agency going great guns, Sharon McCone is known as one of the best detectives in the business...until her reputation is threatened by an impostor. The woman's resemblance to McCone is uncanny. Her knowledge of McCone's life is chilling. And with lover Hy Ripinsky away on business, McCone is alone as the double insidiously sabotages McCone's career, invades her home, and leads her into a deadly game of cat and mouse through San Francisco's underworld. Now, with professional detachment giving way to blinding rage, McCone is fighting for her life. But her very essence is also at stake...as a hunger for personal justice overrides her fiercely held ethics and lets loose a primeval urge for revenge.

Private investigator Sharon McCone returns in New York Times bestselling author Marcia Muller's latest mystery--now in mass market!

Private investigator Sharon McCone returns New York Times bestselling author Marcia Muller's latest novel.

New York Times bestselling author Marcia Muller's latest Sharon McCone novel.

In this explosive new novel, Sharon McCone investigates an unsolved murder-and someone is willing to add to the body count to keep from being found.