Bad Scene

Colleen Hayes #3

by Max Tomlinson

San Francisco, 1978: While investigating a suspected plot to shoot the mayor, PI and ex-con Colleen Hayes learns that her runaway daughter has joined a shadowy church. The cult is now building a settlement in South America near a volcano about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection—and the day is fast approaching for her daughter and hundreds of others.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2021

About the author

Born in the wilds of San Francisco, with its rich literary history and public transport system teeming with potential characters suitable for crime novels, it was inevitable that Max Tomlinson would become a writer.

He is also kindred spirits with a dog named Floyd, a shelter-mix who stops and stares at headlights as they pass by at night. There's a story there, too. If only Floyd could talk. Then again, maybe not.

His work to date includes SENDERO (listed as one of the top 100 Indie novels of 2012 by Kirkus), WHO SINGS TO THE DEAD, LETHAL DISPATCH, THE CAIN FILE (selected by Amazon’s Kindle Scout program) and the follow-up – THE DARKNET FILE. A new three-book mystery series set in 1970s San Francisco debuted in 2019 with Oceanview Publishing. The first book, VANISHING IN THE HAIGHT, features ex-con Colleen Hayes, on the hunt for her long-lost daughter. TIE DIE, book #2, releases August 2020.

Max also writes under the pen name “Max Radin” when he’s not being purely mysterious or suspenseful. Check out ROCK 'N' ROLL VAMPIRE for his comedy debut.

Reviews

[MarilynW · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bad Scene (Colleen Hayes #3)
by Max Tomlinson

It's still 1978 San Francisco and in this third book of the series Colleen Hayes is still trying to find her daughter. The daughter who she feels so much guilt about, the daughter she killed for, the daughter who was worth the nine years she spent in prison. Colleen would do almost anything for her daughter but her daughter hates her and would rather spend time with cults than with her.

Really, several things aren't going right for Colleen. She's lost track of her daughter and a street friend of hers has word of Pamela's whereabouts. But then he is attacked to almost the point of death so she's going to try to bring justice for Lucky, her unlucky friend. There is also the rumor of plans to assassinate the mayor of the city and Colleen has let law enforcement know but she's not sure they believe her. While juggling all these important balls, Colleen is pretty sure she is being followed/stalked by someone and she still has to earn a buck with her private detective work so she is following/stalking a philanderer so she can get proof of his misdeeds.

Pretty much nothing stops Colleen except knowing she has to avoid getting in so much trouble that she gets her parole yanked. She's dealing with some bad folks on both sides of the law and she even ends up in Ecuador when she realizes the latest cult her daughter is in glorifies self sacrifice to the point of suicide. As usual, we get a taste of the gaudy fashion of the time and also the music. The music comments are usually pretty funny for me, because I remember those songs and nowadays it would be hard to keep a straight face during serious moments if those songs were blaring in the background.

Pub Aug 3 2021

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and Edelweiss for this ARC.

[Michael David (on hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!

My favorite badass PI with a heart of gold, Colleen Hayes, is back! This is book #3, and it publishes in 8 months. I couldn’t resist, and now I’m kicking myself because who knows how long I’ll have to wait for the next installment? 🤦‍♂️

Anyhoo...

It’s still 1978, only a short time after the events of TIE DIE, and Colleen is working on capturing proof of a cheating spouse. This is not the way she likes to spend her days, but as an ex-con making a go of it as a PI, she’ll take what she can get.

Things pick up when one of her street informants gives word that a government official is planning to murder the mayor of San Francisco. While digging into that, Colleen discovers movement on her estranged daughter, Pam, who is now part of a cult that’s heading to Ecuador...and a very active volcano that is about to erupt. 🌋

Author Max Tomlinson does a fantastic job of leading Colleen from one case to another, and tying that to her daughter. I’m not a big fan of stories involving cults, but the plot point didn’t bother me at all...because the goings-on of the cult never overpowers the story. Hopefully, it won’t bother other readers either (I’m looking at you, Jayme!! 👀).

Colleen is extremely smart and level headed, and uses a couple of familiar and friendly resources for assistance throughout the book. My jaw dropped at one point when I realized part of the plot incorporated something that happened in real life. Sure enough, Tomlinson acknowledges that in the highly interesting author’s note...and how another part was mirrored after a different real life incident. His atmospheric writing of San Francisco makes you feel like you are there in 1978. It probably helps that he lived there during that timeframe.

This is a completely gripping and satisfying addition to the series. I absolutely adore Colleen, who faces grit with determination...and some fun dialogue.

Note to Max Tomlinson: Please send me the final draft for book #4 at your earliest convenience so I don’t go out of my mind waiting.

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing, Max Tomlinson, and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[MicheleReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s 1978. Colleen Hayes is a PI in San Francisco and is also an ex-con. While trying to find her missing daughter Pamela, who wants nothing to do with her, one of her sources alerts her that a local neo-Nazi group is plotting to kill the mayor. The police don’t take the lead seriously so she tries to learn more herself. As Colleen’s search for Pamela continues, she uncovers a deadly cult where members have traveled to Ecuador near a volcano and she fears a mass suicide may occur.

Sadly, we know from history that in November, 1978, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered. And also in 1978, a San Francisco-based cult traveled to Jonestown and the tragic outcome is well known. This is not the cult in the book but reflects the turbulent time period.

Bad Scene is the third book in the Colleen Hayes mystery series. And while events parallel the history of the city by the bay, it is essentially a series about a complex woman who yearns to rebuild her relationship with her daughter. You don’t have to have read the first two books to enjoy this new installment but each book is so good, it’s worth reading them all. Colleen is fierce yet vulnerable. The series has a nice sense of nostalgia. Can’t wait to see what happens next.

Many thanks to Edelweiss+, Oceanview Publishing and author Max Tomlinson for the opportunity to read this enjoyable, action-packed book in advance of its August 3, 2021 publication.

Rated 4.25 stars.

Review posted on MicheleReader.com.

[Mackey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max Tomlinson is back with my favorite character, Colleen Hayes, an ex-con (she stabbed her abusive husband, who could blame her) now private investigator in the 1960s/70s. This series began in the 1960s but with Bad Scene we've moved into the groovin 70s, an era filled with disco music, cults and political upheaval. God, I loved the 70s and I absolutely LOVED Bad Scene.

Colleen gets a tip from her source, Lucky, that there is going to be an assassination of the Mayor of San Francisco. The group responsible for the information turns out to be skinhead biker group that also holds clues to the whereabouts of Colleens daughter - a cult in South America that is striving for perfection through death via an erupting volcano. If any of this sounds familiar, it is. There is a lot of fact interspersed throughout Bad Scene and those of us who lived through the 70s will instantly recognize the murder of Harvey Milk and insanity of Jim Jones and his suicide cult. One would think the US had learned their lesson from cults but apparently not.

Colleen is ever fearless and and she charges full steam ahead trying to solve all of the above before anyone dies. Unfortunately, she only succeeds at a portion of her goals. Bad Scene is a fabulous piece of crime fiction with a well developed, strong female lead set in an era that is ripe for crime stories. Honestly, I'm so sick of WWII that I will read any historical fiction set in the 60s and 70s - thank you Mr. Tomlinson!! Now, somehow I missed the second book in the series so I'm going back to that one today. If you haven't read any of these, go! Now! Grab the first one, Vanishing in the Haight and get started, although they all can be read as stand alone books as well. Please, Max, please don't let this be the last of the series!!!

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

Sometime in the 1970's, a female private eye gets information that there is a plot against the mayor of San Francisco. At the same time, her daughter has joined a doomsday cult.

Read it if you're a fan of That 70's Show. All it needs is a guest starring role for Charo.

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of private-eye procedurals and partisans of 1970s nostalgia will find much to enjoy in BAD SCENE, the third outing in Max Tomlinson's series featuring convicted-killer-turned-private-investigator Colleen Hayes and set in 1978 San Francisco.

Where Hayes' first two adventures, VANISHING IN THE HAIGHT and TIE DYE, mostly addressed the era from a cultural perspective, exploring the city that Colleen Hayes left after the Summer of Love and returned to after a decade in prison to find it buzzing with nervy punk and pre-New Wave energy, Tomlinson broadens the period palette in BAD SCENE by heavily incorporating two major real-life stories from 1978: the murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk, and the Jonestown Massacre led by cult leader Rev. Jim Jones.

(Tomlinson plays it pretty straight with the Moscone/Milk murders, basing his private eye's involvement in a later report that found that a conspiracy appeared to extend beyond the convicted killer, ex-Supervisor Dan White, into the San Francisco Police Department. The Jonestown angle is rendered as the fictitious Die Kerk cult, with the climactic action transported to a volcano in Ecuador.)

Tomlinson deftly juggles verisimilitude within not just a taut procedural tale of finding out who killed a societal outcast who had potentially vital information about the broader murder conspiracy with several other elements. Key among them is moving Colleen Hayes' series-long search for her estranged daughter Pamela to continually fraught fruition, while making time for a couple of potential-love-interest subplots. Even with all that ambition in play, Tomlinson keeps things moving along in crisply professional and page-turning fashion, making BAD SCENE the most satisfying read yet in this wonderful series.

(Thanks to NetGalley and Max Tomlinson for providing me with an advance reading copy of BAD SCENE, set for an August 2021 release.)

[Elaine Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a fan of Max Tomlinson's street smart thrillers, this latest is for you. The book mirrors the real-life Nov. 27, 1978, murders of San Francisco mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk. Then throw in a Jim Jones-like suicide cult, some drug-dealing gangsters, and a strong female lead and you have the basis for non-stop thrills. I've been reading Max's work for years and he has tremendous insight into the criminal mind, history, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Plus he knows how to tell a good story. I highly recommend his latest thriller and if you haven't already, buy all three titles in the series and prepare to be entertained!

[Stan Kaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max Tomlinson is to San Francisco what Raymond Chandler was to Los Angeles

Tomlinson's latest in the Colleen Hayes series gives a note-perfect evocation of San Francisco in the 1970s. Anyone who's lived there will feel like they're back again, and anyone who hasn't should know that reading Tomlinson is the next best thing to having been there. The City itself joins a large cast of indelibly drawn characters--from the gutsy, intrepid if flawed heroine Colleen to her troubled daughter Pam to the cadre of bumbling or malevolent cops to Colleen's trusty right-hand man Boom to some of the most colorfully disgusting bad guys Tomlinson has written yet. The race to locate and rescue Pam zooms all through the City and down to South America, tying in plot twists mirroring some of the most horrific SF-related events of that time--the Jonestown massacre and the murders of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk. This is one inventive, compelling, lightning-paced book that will keep you transfixed until the end. It's a tale that is begging to be made into a major motion picture. Give yourself the best pandemic present possible: read Bad Scene and then read the rest of Tomlinson's back catalog.

[Dorothy Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner for Tomlinson

With high stakes and page turning action, Max Tomlinson has done it again. I've read the first two novels in his Colleen Hayes series and found them fresh, with unexpected twists. This one, too, is a winner that dogs deep into San Francisco's history, and weaves it around a face-paced and well written story.

[Juli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time travel back to San Francisco 1978, and spend time with Colleen Hayes an ex-con who went to prison for killing an abusive spouse. This third book in the series takes place not longer after Tie Die, the previous book. Colleen is a private Investigator, she gets a tip that a supervisor plans to kill the mayor. Of course, no one believes her. Max Tomlinson does an excellent job weaving a true event in the storyline.

Colleen continues her search for her daughter, Pam, who has joined a cult. Pam has never forgiven her mother for killing her father. Colleen learns that the cult is planning a relocation to South America and races to rescue Pam. This bears a resemblance to Jonestown.

This book can be read as a stand alone, but I recommend reading the books in order to get a better understanding of Colleen Hayes. Max Tomlinson writes vividly of a San Francisco from the past. The city is as much a main character as Colleen. This series gets better with each book. I anxiously await the next book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for an ARC. The review is my own.

[RL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colleen Hayes is searching for her estranged daughter who has joined a cult with a charismatic leader modeled after Jim Jones of Jonestown fame. Set in 1970s San Francisco, Tomlinson expertly weaves in real-life events including the murder of Mayor Moscone. Following a trail that snakes through dark institutions and foggy streets, seedy lives and secret files, Colleen finds herself battling a dangerous cult and travels to Ecuador to save her daughter. It's a thrilling page-turner written by a masterful storyteller. Do yourself a favor and also read the first two Colleen Hayes mysteries. You’ll love all three!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bad Scene by Max Tomlinson was a throwback to a time when we all wore bell bottoms and platform shoes. Fun, strange fashion memories aside, this was a thrilling, pulse pounding story about political intrigue, biker gangs, the KKK, and cults. When Colleen (ex-con turned private investigator) hears from her source that a city official is going to be assassinated, then discovers a connection to her missing daughter, the action never stops. There are lots of storylines, but it’s easy to keep up. This is a quick, satisfying read.

[BookTrib.com]

It’s this poignant, sharp-as-a-knife slice of vulnerability that really sets Colleen apart from the pack of mystery-main-characters, and all credit goes to the adept author. BAD SCENE proves a very good book.

Read our full review here:
https://booktrib.com/2021/08/03/max-t...

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy. This is the second book of the series that I’ve read.

The story mixes truth with fiction in late-70s San Francisco. A private detective, searching for her wayward 20-year old daughter, gets mixed up with biker gangs, suicide cults, and dirty cops along the way. The author weaves the search in with the Moscone-Milk murders and a Jonestown-like cult, and makes for quite an intriguing story. The many pop-cultural references from 1978 are campy at times, but remind you of the era in which the story is set.

Interested to see where the next book in the series goes.

[John Cadigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

After having thoroughly enjoying the first two of the Colleen Hayes series, I was happy to find that the third iteration not only met, but exceeded my expectations. Tomlinson has created a fantastic storyline with Ms. Hayes along with her cohorts, adversaries and assorted eccentrics...as well as intriguing locations both in and around San Francisco, and well beyond. The author's descriptive style brings me right back to the tumultuousness of San Francisco in the 70's, and I can't wait to see what Colleen takes on next!

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 5 out of 5]

In late 1978, when a gallon of gasoline cost 71 cents ($2.93 today), San Franciscans encountered tragic events: the Jonestown mass suicide and the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk. These atrocities, fictionalized, comprise the bases of this dual-plot novel.

Although in 1967 the Beatles recorded “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, based on a drawing made by John Lennon’s young son, San Francisco’s drug culture adapted the title’s capitalized letters to another meaning: LSD, aka “Lucy.”

Novice private investigator Colleen Hayes hears from struggling newspaper vendor Lucky about a plot to kill the mayor. Misnamed Lucky resides at the decrepit Thunderbird Motel in a room adjacent to Shuggy Johnston, who has connections to neo-Nazis. He also is a drug dealer buying wholesale contraband from Moon Ranch. That cult has a restraining order against Colleen preventing contact with her estranged daughter Pamela, who had made drug deliveries to Shuggy. Colleen schmoozes him and gleans information about Pam’s whereabouts. Without hard evidence regarding the assassination plot, her contacts at SFPD backburner the matter --- until Lucky is beaten to near-death and tossed into a dumpster.

Colleen learns that Pam has left the Moon Ranch cult to join Die Kerk van die Volmaakte, Afrikaans’ vernacular for Church of the Perfect. “Vintage Pam: pick the worst possible option and go for it with gusto.” She is part of a 242-member pilgrimage, at the base of an Ecuadorian volcano about to erupt. A biblical reference to purification by fire?

The aspiring PI treks through the Ecuadorian rainforest to rescue Pam and return her to San Francisco. Although Colleen’s paramilitary endeavors seem implausible, they underscore a mother’s love for her progeny --- and atone for murdering Pam’s father, who had sexually abused his own child.

BAD SCENE, the third installment in Max Tomlinson’s series (following TIE DIE), is an intriguing read that captivates the imagination of mystery and thriller fans --- and those who harbor hope that anyone in the depths of despair can climb out of an abyss.

Reviewed by L. Dean Murphy

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travel back to 1978 San Francisco. The summer of love is long over. The dot com bubble is decades away. It’s a city filled with poverty, drugs and biker gangs. The Rolling Stones have a disco hit, Missing You, for goodness sakes! It is a Bad Scene, man. Baaaad.

Private investigator Colleen gets a tip from a friend that a city supervisor is planning on killing the mayor. The motive is the mayor’s support of a gay rights bill. When the friend gets beaten severely and dumped into a dumpster, Colleen investigates.

Meanwhile, Colleen is also looking for her nineteen-year-old daughter, Pamela. Pamela has never forgiven her mother for killing her father, even though Colleen had paid for her crime in prison. Pamela was last seen with a cult called the Moon Ranch. The Ranch is a suicide cult led by a not-so-benevolent leader, Brother Adem.

It may be hard to believe but the assassination is based on a true crime. It actually jumpstarted Dianne Feinstein’s career. It was also the first use of the “Twinkie defense” that junk food was the real culprit.

Revisiting 1978 was fun. I had forgotten my joy of using the auto-erase key on the IBM Selectric typewriter. And the difficulty of replacing the correction tape. The era’s style and small details are replicated perfectly in this book. Kudos to the author since most books get it at least slightly wrong.

Even if you don’t remember 1978, Bad Scene is an enthralling choice for noir thriller readers. 4 stars!

Thanks to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colleen went to prison for killing her husband, who had abused her daughter Pam. Now released, she's been searching for Pam, who wants nothing to do with her. It's 1978 and Colleen has heard that Pam as joined a cult which plans to move to South America. The plot line involving a volcano ready to pop off is unnecessary- the cult would have been enough. That said, Tomlinson has a way of evoking San Francisco during the period (it's almost another character) and of pulling the reader in. I have enjoyed this series for Colleen, who is dynamic and determined, as well as for her various cases. Don't worry- this will be fine as a standalone. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

[Patricia Gussin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Max Tominson’s third Colleen Hayes Mystery, she discovers that her runaway daughter has joined a shadowy religions group heading to Equator to sacrifice themselves to a volcano about to erupt there. Meantime, she’s learned that a Neo-Nazi group is targeting the Mayor in 1987 San Francisco. This is the perfect balance of how this ex-con, unlicensed P.I. attacks simultaneous, emerging, volatile threats—one personal and in Ecuador—one professional, home in San Francisco. I am totally hooked on the Colleen Hayes series and hope for more!

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free electronic copy of this excellent historical novel as a Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you, author Max Tomlinson, publisher Oceanview Publishing, and Goodreads for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Bad Scene of my own volition and this review reflects my honest opinion of this novel. I am most pleased to recommend Max Tomlinson to friends and family. Though the third in a series, this novel is stand-alone, the pace fast, the protagonists honorable for the most part, and the place, SanFrancisco in the fall of 1978, is portrayed with a clear but sympathetic eye.

The fall of 1978 was a horrific time to get through for San Franciscans. The Peoples Temple, headquartered in SF, saw the tragedy of Jonestown in Guyana, with the suicide deaths of 918 members of that religious sect. The murders of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk by a former supervisor, Dan White, were a shocking wake-up call to a community that considered themselves open-minded and tolerant. It was a wake-up call to all Americans to find honesty and humanity in both community and religion.

Our story brings into play the elements that the city endured that fall, with feisty ex-con and unlicensed PI Colleen Hayes and several members of the Blue Line. This is a book that is over too soon but I hope there will be another chapter in the life of Colleen coming around soon.

pub August 3, 2021
Received August 13, 2021
Reviewed on September 18, 2021, at Goodreads, AmazonSmile, Barnes&Noble, BookBub, Kobo, and GooglePlay.

[Shannon | readingwithmarlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of police procedurals, especially with a woman lead so I was really intrigued by Bad Scene. I haven't read any of the Colleen Hayes books before so I was a bit worried I'd be behind or be missing details. If I did miss something or not know a vital background, it wasn't obvious. The story felt complete though I will say the storylines with Pamela and the cult plus the mayor being assassinated felt sort of disconnected-- even though they were in fact connected. They both could have been separate stories and honestly I didn't really feel like either made the other one stronger. The connection to the 70s and honest, real life San Francisco history was so cool and as someone who didn't live in that time, was a great way to expose me to important events in a fun and unique way. The story was enjoyable but it just felt okay. Not super memorable.

[Mary Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable addition to Max Tomlinson's "Coleen Hayes" series. Set in San Francisco in the summer of 1978, the author notes it was a turbulent time with the Jim Jones "koolaid" suicides and the assassination of the Mayor Moscone and Superintendent Milk. These events are mirrored a bit in the plot line as Coleen follows up on an informant's lead about a conspiracy to assassinate the Mayor, which leads her to investigating the KKK and a biker gang, all while searching for her estranged daughter. The action makes for a quick read.

[Critter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled a lot with this book. The characters felt stiff. I had issues with the tone at times. I wasn't drawn into the atmosphere. I was also thrown out of the reading every time a slur was used. However, I did think that the descriptions were well written and the writing flowed well at times.

I would like to thank Oceanview Publishing for providing me with an Arc.

[Victoria McVicker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The crazy cult stuff was unnecessary and repetitive of the last stupid cult. That said, I do like the protagonist and will probably read the next in the series.

[Jean-Luc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately I didn't finish "Bad Scene", Max Tomlinson's latest thriller involving Colleen Hayes. I just couldn't get into it. I found the plot too rushed & convoluted, the cult story gave me the creeps, the Latin American volcano totally idiotic, the characters annoyed me, the 70s ambiance irritated me, etc. It must have been one hell of a bad day for me....
Max Tomlinson is a great writer & I loved his "Vanishing in the Haight"
So I promise to give "Bad Scene" another try later this spring and modify my review eventually.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for the opportunity to read this book prior to its release date

[Margaret Yelton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad Scene is the third book in the Colleen Hayes series written by Max Tomlinson. I hadn't read either of the two previous books in the series. For me this book just didn't grab my imagination, which I look for in a book. I did find it to be well written and action packed, just not a book for me. I still recommend others read the book because I know everyone does not like the same things.

I received a ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, I am under no obligation to leave a favorable review and all opinions expressed here are my own.

[Kenneth Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I checked this out from the library while on a trip and having some time to read, enjoyed it. Although I skipped over quite a few descriptions which seemed rather lengthy and unnecessary. Max Tomlinson has a good way of describing people, but it seem to me a lot of the descriptions of settings and people did not add to the story. It’s interesting when you describe what a person is wearing if that has an impact on the story, but otherwise it seems like filler.

The story seems a bit formulaic, but does have some surprises. I wouldn’t mind reading more from him.

[Jay Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excitement and suspense as several issues drive Colleen seeks for her daughter, follows a friend killed, dealing with the police, and trying to make money from her PI work. The problems continue to hit more and more and wilder actions. Whether chasing the killers or seeking her daughter from death preacher, the danger stays everywhere.. The character are stereotype, but they enhance the story. This is not a place you can set down with soon happenings. The story is imaginal and what more.

[Claudete Takahashi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most interesting read as it describes how life was before cell phones, and the internet, and provides a funny review of how we used to dress. The plot is very good, the story is beautifully written and it brings to our memory tragic events that happened around that time as the death of cult followers. I found it refreshing to read a story where the PI is an ex-convicted inmate who has paid her due to society.
Entertaining!

[Rena Leddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

3rd one is a charm

I’ve now read these 3 San Francisco based mysteries. I love that they take place in a city that I know during such a fascinating time. The nods to the city landmarks, culture, and history are all fascinating. Great story!