Susan Dunlap

Returning to San Francisco to assist her Zen teacher, stunt-woman Darcy Lott struggles with the pain of her brother's disappearance, only to spot him briefly on the roof of her teacher's zendo, and soon discovers that the sighting has subsequent ties to a second disappearance.

Hungry Ghosts

Zen student and stunt double Darcy Lott wonders whether she can trust her own brother in this intriguing mystery. Darcy Lott is thrilled to be reunited with her brother Mike, who disappeared twenty years earlier. But her joy at bringing him home to San Francisco turns to fear when she learns that he has become the victim of escalating attacks—and he has no idea who is targeting him. Darcy determines to find out who is after him and why—before the attacks turn deadly. However, when Darcy searches Mike's apartment, a disturbing discovery makes her question whether she really knows her brother any more ... or trusts him

Out of Nowhere

Set among the wistful Victorians of San Francisco, the second installment of the Darcy Lott series finds stuntwoman Darcy once again plagued by murder. Recently returned to San Francisco to assist her Zen teacher in his new zendo, Darcy cannot shake the pain of her brother's disappearance. When she spies him on the roof of the zendo, she hurries to catch him—and finds him gone. And when another disappearance rattles Darcy the very next day, she realizes something is afoot. A bit of digging uncovers a terrifying plot, and Darcy must once again race to thwart a killer.

A favor for her ex-husband leads Jill Smith to a blood-soaked crime scene Someone is stealing hubcaps from the Berkeley police department. An afternoon spent chasing the petty thief leaves beat cop Jill Smith exhausted, flustered, and in no mood to talk when her ex-husband Nat calls asking for a favor. A colleague of his at the county welfare department, Anne Spaulding, is missing. Jill doesn’t care about her husband’s new crush, but a note of fear in his voice compels her to investigate. She drives to Anne’s house, where she finds the back door open, the living room trashed, and the walls caked in dried blood. Searching the apartment yields few clues. The woman liked make-up, exercise, and credit cards. The only item that points to a possible suspect is a pewter pen, which Jill recognizes as one of Nat’s. She has no love for her ex-husband, but is she ready to arrest him for murder? This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

As a Favor

When Edwina Henderson, town magnate, dies after taste-testing a slug pizza during the county fair of the California slug, it is up to Vejay Haskell to find the person who poisoned her

A Vejay Haskell Mystery

The Last Annual Slugfest

A special three-in-one edition of Susan Dunlap’s Vejay Haskell Mysteries, about an intrepid meter reader who solves the crimes that the police can’t crack In An Equal Opportunity Death, Vejay Haskell is playing hooky from her job as an electric-meter reader in Henderson, California. She skirts around the edge of town, making her way to Frank’s Place, a cozy saloon owned by her friend Frank Goulet. After two cups of hot buttered rum, they have an argument and she storms out into the pouring rain. But by the time she gets back to Frank’s bar to apologize, he is dead. Vejay was seen leaving Frank’s house in a huff, and her lack of an alibi combined with her suspicious sick day make her the number-one suspect. As the police close in on her, Vejay turns detective in search of Frank’s real killer. It’s a perilous task, but she has one advantage when she puts on her work clothes: Nobody ever notices the meter reader. In The Bohemian Connection, a clique of powerful conservatives called the Bohemian Club gathers for a confidential meeting in the backwoods town of Henderson, California. Though their activities are shrouded in secrecy, Henderson meter reader Vejay Haskell is about to get an all-too-close inside look. Searching the countryside for a coworker’s missing niece, she finds the beautiful gymnast lying dead in the bottom of a sewer drain. The sheriff calls it an accident, but Vejay suspects the girl’s death was connected to the Bohemian Club’s unquenchable desire for drugs, booze, and prostitutes. Finding the killer will mean going head to head with the nation’s fiercest politicians. And in The Last Annual Slugfest, it’s time for Henderson’s regional festival honoring the normally detested California banana slug. Rather than eat crow, the area’s local politicians atone for their sins by eating slug hot dogs, slug chili, and slug pie. This year, one dish will prove murderously foul. Edwina Henderson is the last of her family to live in the town that bears their name. A committed environmentalist, she is also the woman responsible for this year’s slugfest, and will take her place at the judge’s table. When a slug pizza knocks her flat, the crowd assumes it was just an especially gross slice. But when she doesn’t get up, meter reader Vejay Haskell must confront the devious murder of the town’s leading treehugger.

An Equal Opportunity Death, The Bohemian Connection, and The Last Annual Slugfest

The Vejay Haskell Mysteries

Last Annual Slugfest

Vejay investigates the poisoning death of one of the town’s most powerful citizens during its oddest annual event Though it sounds violent, Henderson’s annual slugfest is less vicious than it is slimy. The regional festival honors the normally detested California banana slug with competitions to prove which slug is the biggest, fastest, or—in the event that gives the festival its notoriety—the tastiest. Rather than eat crow, the area’s local politicians atone for their sins by eating slug hot dogs, slug chili, and slug pie. This year, one dish will prove murderously foul. Edwina Henderson is the last of her family to live in the town that bears their name. A committed environmentalist, she is also the woman responsible for this year’s slugfest, and will take her place at the judge’s table. When a slug-pizza knocks her flat, the crowd assumes it was just an especially gross slice. But when she doesn’t get up, meter-reader Vejay Haskell must confront the devious murder of the town’s leading treehugger. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection. The Last Annual Slugfest is the 3rd book in the Vejay Haskell Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A thirty-something junk-food maven and brash, brainy Berkeley cop, Jill Smith usually doesn't spend much time contemplating her navel. But she accepted an invitation to see the new guru in town. She was as shocked as the rest of the packed house when the young man's spirit rose to heaven before their very eyes . . . with a little earthly aid from the dagger buried deep in his swirling red robes. His followers say it was hi karma to die. Now Jill Smith's seeking enlightenment--looking deep into prime causes such as love, hate, ambition, and dark dreams. Among a host of devoted disciples, rough real-estate dealers, rival soul savers, and beautiful consorts, she's searching for the answer to a cop's prayers: the person whose karma is to kill.

Karma

Dødvande

Private eye Kiernan O'Shaughnessy investigates a hit-and-run accident that has left a flamboyant artist brain damaged and caused the drowning of an enigmatic deckhand, and the sleuth suspects a coverup. Reprint.

Rogue Wave

Three years after a hit-and-run, Kiernan searches the sea for the missing suspect As Robin Matucci sails under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific, the sea is calm and her deckhand, Carlos, is sober. By the next day, the sky is black and Carlos is passed out drunk. The waves crest higher as Robin fights to reach land, until they finally overwhelm her small ship. Fire springs up from the engine room, and the tiny craft goes to the bottom of the Pacific. When the wreck’s remains surface, Robin is gone, but the police recover samples of her hair. They then discover that the samples match those found at the site of a hit-and-run accident from three years before. The hit-and-run victim’s widow wants Robin found, dead or alive, and hires medical examiner turned private detective Kiernan O’Shaughnessy to find her. The answer to the riddle of the missing mariner will take Kiernan to the depths of the ocean, and back into the arms of a man she thought she had left behind forever. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection. Rogue Wave is the 2nd book in the Kiernan O'Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Shanthi Sekaran

Barry Gifford

Lucy Jane Bledsoe

Jim Nisbet

Sixteen storytellers shed light on the darkness that lurks in the California city in this fun collection of crime tales. Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. With stories by: Barry Gifford, Jim Nisbet, Lexi Pandell, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Mara Faye Lethem, Thomas Burchfield, Shanthi Sekaran, Nick Mamatas, Kimn Neilson, Jason S. Ridler, Susan Dunlap, J.M. Curet, Summer Brenner, Michael David Lukas, Aya de León, and Owen Hill. Praise for Berkeley Noir “Each story evokes the dark side of a Berkeley neighborhood and pays tribute both to the city's history as a haven for outcasts and as a literary metropolis. If you race through it, consider picking up San Francisco Noir and Oakland Noir.” —Diablo Magazine, a Top Ticket choice “In “Lucky Day,” Thomas Burchfield reveals the evil that can come when a well-meaning aide breaks his boss’s cardinal rule never to allow patrons into the library early. A worried mom from Holloway wangles her son a prized place in the Berkeley school district in Aya de León’s “Frederick Douglass Elementary.” . . . . J.M. Curet’s “Wifebeater Tank Top,” the tale with the firmest criminal pedigree, is the most violent, but its poetic language and come-from-nowhere ending make it the best.” —Kirkus Reviews “The 16 stories set in Berkeley, Calif., in this above average Akashic noir anthology offer little actual noir but a heaping helping of crime, with almost every entry featuring at least a murder or kidnapping . . . . Readers will be glad that many of these tales are fun in a way that traditional noir isn’t.” —Publishers Weekly

Susan Dunlap

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