What do you think?
Rate this book
Sharon McCone #6
There's Nothing to Be Afraid Of
The Globe Apartments, six stories of decaying brick and concrete, rises above San Francisco's volatile Tenderloin district. The seedy former hotel, once a haven for the city's down and out, now houses Vietnamese families striving to improve their lives. But private eye Sharon McCone believes that someone from the Tenderloin's shadowy underworld is determined to drive the newcomers out. The suspects range from the colorful to the dangerous: a poetry-loving drifter, a mean-spirited preacher, a flower seller with a deadly touch, an enterprising photographer, and a developer who'd like nothing better than to unload his worst investment - the Globe Hotel.
When the All Souls Legal Cooperative is called upon to stop the patterns of intimidation, resentment explodes into murder. As McCone takes up the refugees' cause, she is drawn into the depths of the city's most hated industry - and into the secrets of San Francisco's buried past.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
12 people are currently reading
322 people want to read
About the author
Marcia Muller
165 books724 followersMarcia Muller is an American author of mystery and thriller novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
May 25, 2020
3 1/2 Stars- This installment has Sharon McCone investigating the strange goings on in an apartment building that houses many Vietnamese families in a low rent district area. The tenants report eerie noises at all different hours, power outages, and children being scared on the staircases. Caroline Bui brings Sharon in as she is a member of the organization that has helped to place several of the families in this building. Could the wealthy building owner be waging a terror plot to get the tenants to move or is it something more sinister going on? When Sharon finds a body in the basement, the stakes just got way higher. What does the porno theater owner have to do with any of this? or does he? Sharons relationship with Don gets tested and her ex-lover gets involved in this case. Where does the preacher and the poet fit in? As the story progresses Sharon has to use Hercule Poirot mind set to figure out the clues and get there before any one else is harmed. All in all, another good installment of the McCone series.
May 13, 2018
This go-around Sharon McCone takes a case in San Francisco's Tenderloin district to find out who is trying to scare out the Vietnamese refugees living in a hotel/apartment building. Once again, the age shows on this one - with the term "Oriental" bandied about more than once. Greg Marcus is also back to create a little friction between Sharon and her new DJ boyfriend, Don. It all hums along rather swimmingly until the end - right around the time Sharon goes on the radio. It just got too...something for me at that point. Cutesy? It felt like a cop-out on Sharon's part - and I was rather meh on the identity of our "bad guy."
BUT, once again, Muller's conflict is amazingly current in a book that's 30 years old. Specifically, when talking about the plight of refugees.
BUT, once again, Muller's conflict is amazingly current in a book that's 30 years old. Specifically, when talking about the plight of refugees.
January 20, 2024
It took a few books to get into this series, but I'm glad I stuck with it because now I know these books will be good, solid reads. If that isn't enough, there's a social justice-type issue in each book. This one deals with discrimination against immigrants to the US from southeast Asia in the San Francisco area in the late 1980s, and it's handled well.
Sharon, the MC, reminds me a lot of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone - a private detective in a time when computers and cell phones weren't prevalent, so investigations involved a lot of (literal!) legwork and face-to-face questioning. They're both also very dogged women, determined to uncover the truth, no matter what roadblocks are put in their way.
I didn't figure out who was behind the things that were going on, but I probably should have. Given that character, the motive made sense, but it was heartbreaking.
I look forward to reading the next book in this series to see what 'cause' Sharon takes on next.
Sharon, the MC, reminds me a lot of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone - a private detective in a time when computers and cell phones weren't prevalent, so investigations involved a lot of (literal!) legwork and face-to-face questioning. They're both also very dogged women, determined to uncover the truth, no matter what roadblocks are put in their way.
I didn't figure out who was behind the things that were going on, but I probably should have. Given that character, the motive made sense, but it was heartbreaking.
I look forward to reading the next book in this series to see what 'cause' Sharon takes on next.
May 16, 2019
Marcia Muller's books about the adventures of private detective Sharon McCone are slowly getting a bit better. This mystery series is really in the cozy form in that they is set in a certain community and although she has been shot at, these stories are not particularly full of depth. The mysteries are fairly simplistic as well. These are enjoyable but nothing when compared to the writing of Donna Leon, Louise Penny or Charles Todd.
In this telling, McCone is tasked with finding out what is happening at a low-cost housing hotel in the Tenderloin. Strange sounds, mysterious shadows and sudden power outages for the most part until there is a death of a Vietnamese youth. McCone once again goes up against her former boyfriend, a detective on the San Francisco police department, to come up with the solution.
In this telling, McCone is tasked with finding out what is happening at a low-cost housing hotel in the Tenderloin. Strange sounds, mysterious shadows and sudden power outages for the most part until there is a death of a Vietnamese youth. McCone once again goes up against her former boyfriend, a detective on the San Francisco police department, to come up with the solution.
November 18, 2018
Info about Vietnamese refugees in San Francisco was well integrated but holy cow was there some other much less interesting infodumping going on here. McCone investigates mysteriousness in the Tenderloin, spars with her ex, and is monumentally unhappy about the misery permeating All Souls, the law firm she works for. Once again the mentally ill are suspect, though there’s less judgeyness about people working in porn, so progress?
February 10, 2011
As this series progresses, Marcia Muller gains mastery. This adventure is set in an apartment hotel in the Tenderloin among Vietnamese refugees and features the poetry of William Butler Yeats. For the Yeats lines quoted alone it could gain an extra star, but the story is suspenseful as well and addresses the difficult problem of refugee resettlement. The character of Sharon McCone is receding a little here as the background of the story gains prominence. That seems to fit the hardboiled detective mode, although Sharon isn't totally hardboiled here.
March 7, 2017
DNF. Tedious
January 4, 2021
Since the books I have read so far seem to have a theme, this one deals with the social issue of immigrant housing. I like reading police procedurals written before modern technology that have a noir feel about them. This one fills the bill and is a fast read.
It's nearing Christmas in the early 80's when San Francisco private eye Sharon McCone is hired by Caroline Bui of the Refugee Assistance Center, in behalf of some Vietnamese refugees, to check out some mysterious happenings in the seedy tenderloin hotel called the Globe Apartment Hotel that they live in. It seems someone is trying to drive out the tenants with strange noises coming from the basement, unexplained power failures, and large odd-shaped moving shadows on the stairs which are frightening the children. The main family she talks with is the large Vang family. As Sharon begins investigating she finds a young Vietnamese man named Hoa Dinh dead under the bovine boiler in the basement. A while later his best friend, Duc Vang goes missing.
There are several suspects which include:
- Could it be the shadowy underworld who prey on the culturally innocent?
- Roy LaFond, the wealthy building owner who got the building by default and would like to unload it as soon as possible. Is he as bad as he seems?
- Otis Knox, the owner of the local porno theatre called the Sensuous Showcase Theatre. He just bought the bigger shabby Crystal Palace Theatre and wants to consolidate his several porno theatres and become the biggest and best adult entertainment center in the city. He is taken off the list when he is killed in his new theatre. He was also messing around with one of the Vang daughters.
- Brother Harry Woods, the hate-filled street preacher who thinks he has instruction from God to save souls and who does it in bizarre ways. Has his behavior taken a turn for the worse?
- Jimmy Milligan, the elfin-like bearded homeless man who recites the poetry of William Butler Yeats and is looking for a place to live where he won't be thrown out.
- Sallie Hyde, a flower seller who spent 7 years in prison for killing a child she was babysitting. Does she have a deep-rooted disturbance?
Subplots include:
- There has been a change in the atmosphere at the All-Souls Legal Co-operative where Sharon works as a detective, especially with her boss, Hank Zahn. After confronting her boss, she finds out that the firm couldn't afford established professionals so Hank had to recruit from the law schools. Since he had to offer more than a low salary, he also offered full partnerships. Now Gilbert Thayer, one of the new partners, is stirring up trouble. He wants to bring the firm up to the present and change things. And the worst thing for Sharon is that the partners want to contract with an outside detective agency - Sharon could lose her job.
- Sharon works with both her old and new boyfriends in this case. Her old boyfriend, SFPD detective, Greg Marcus, wants her to stay away from investigating this case. Her new boyfriend, disc jockey Don Del Boccio who now works for KSUN, helps her to circumvent Greg's orders by putting her and Caroline Bui on his radio show called Don's Forum. He interviews Caroline to update the public on the plight of the refugees and Sharon to discuss the missing boy and asking if anyone has seen him.
This was a well-written story - the author is definitely improving in her writing skills. There was also character development and we learned some backstory of the law firm she works for. We also see Sharon's compassion and concern for these Vietnamese refugees. There was a twist at the end which came as a surprise although it was hinted at earlier. A highly recommended series.
It's nearing Christmas in the early 80's when San Francisco private eye Sharon McCone is hired by Caroline Bui of the Refugee Assistance Center, in behalf of some Vietnamese refugees, to check out some mysterious happenings in the seedy tenderloin hotel called the Globe Apartment Hotel that they live in. It seems someone is trying to drive out the tenants with strange noises coming from the basement, unexplained power failures, and large odd-shaped moving shadows on the stairs which are frightening the children. The main family she talks with is the large Vang family. As Sharon begins investigating she finds a young Vietnamese man named Hoa Dinh dead under the bovine boiler in the basement. A while later his best friend, Duc Vang goes missing.
There are several suspects which include:
- Could it be the shadowy underworld who prey on the culturally innocent?
- Roy LaFond, the wealthy building owner who got the building by default and would like to unload it as soon as possible. Is he as bad as he seems?
- Otis Knox, the owner of the local porno theatre called the Sensuous Showcase Theatre. He just bought the bigger shabby Crystal Palace Theatre and wants to consolidate his several porno theatres and become the biggest and best adult entertainment center in the city. He is taken off the list when he is killed in his new theatre. He was also messing around with one of the Vang daughters.
- Brother Harry Woods, the hate-filled street preacher who thinks he has instruction from God to save souls and who does it in bizarre ways. Has his behavior taken a turn for the worse?
- Jimmy Milligan, the elfin-like bearded homeless man who recites the poetry of William Butler Yeats and is looking for a place to live where he won't be thrown out.
- Sallie Hyde, a flower seller who spent 7 years in prison for killing a child she was babysitting. Does she have a deep-rooted disturbance?
Subplots include:
- There has been a change in the atmosphere at the All-Souls Legal Co-operative where Sharon works as a detective, especially with her boss, Hank Zahn. After confronting her boss, she finds out that the firm couldn't afford established professionals so Hank had to recruit from the law schools. Since he had to offer more than a low salary, he also offered full partnerships. Now Gilbert Thayer, one of the new partners, is stirring up trouble. He wants to bring the firm up to the present and change things. And the worst thing for Sharon is that the partners want to contract with an outside detective agency - Sharon could lose her job.
- Sharon works with both her old and new boyfriends in this case. Her old boyfriend, SFPD detective, Greg Marcus, wants her to stay away from investigating this case. Her new boyfriend, disc jockey Don Del Boccio who now works for KSUN, helps her to circumvent Greg's orders by putting her and Caroline Bui on his radio show called Don's Forum. He interviews Caroline to update the public on the plight of the refugees and Sharon to discuss the missing boy and asking if anyone has seen him.
This was a well-written story - the author is definitely improving in her writing skills. There was also character development and we learned some backstory of the law firm she works for. We also see Sharon's compassion and concern for these Vietnamese refugees. There was a twist at the end which came as a surprise although it was hinted at earlier. A highly recommended series.
May 19, 2022
I’ve allowed this to languish on a hard drive for just a couple of months shy of 10 years. It’s past due for an encounter with my book players.
No one knows who is deliberately frightening the occupants of San Francisco’s Globe Hotel, a falling-to-pieces building in the most hellish part of the famous tenderloin neighborhood. The renters are primarily Vietnamese immigrants recently arrived because of the war. Sharon McCone’s insurance agency wants her to figure out what’s causing the scary encounters between the residents and an unknown shadow apparently intent on driving them out. She visits the place early in the book and encounters some vividly described people inside and out. Your heart goes out immediately to the Vietnamese who live there. They are justifiably frightened. As she reconnoiters the neighborhood, she finds the tragedies of the tenderloin as it was in the 1980s. There’s the preacher filled with profanity and vengeance; you’ll encounter a porn king who owns a chain of porn theaters and a porn production company. Then you meet the guy who owns a Vietnamese market from which the occupants of the building in which Sharon is interested purchase things. It is nearly Christmas as the book opens.
It isn’t many days before the problem escalates from merely attempting to frightening tenants to murdering one. A young Vietnamese man in his 20s dies at the hand of a killer Sharon must find.
Before this short book ends, the pornography theater owner dies after seducing a teenage Vietnamese immigrant.
This has a good plot that works well and moves quickly. It’s a fascinating snapshot of 1980s-era San Francisco.
No one knows who is deliberately frightening the occupants of San Francisco’s Globe Hotel, a falling-to-pieces building in the most hellish part of the famous tenderloin neighborhood. The renters are primarily Vietnamese immigrants recently arrived because of the war. Sharon McCone’s insurance agency wants her to figure out what’s causing the scary encounters between the residents and an unknown shadow apparently intent on driving them out. She visits the place early in the book and encounters some vividly described people inside and out. Your heart goes out immediately to the Vietnamese who live there. They are justifiably frightened. As she reconnoiters the neighborhood, she finds the tragedies of the tenderloin as it was in the 1980s. There’s the preacher filled with profanity and vengeance; you’ll encounter a porn king who owns a chain of porn theaters and a porn production company. Then you meet the guy who owns a Vietnamese market from which the occupants of the building in which Sharon is interested purchase things. It is nearly Christmas as the book opens.
It isn’t many days before the problem escalates from merely attempting to frightening tenants to murdering one. A young Vietnamese man in his 20s dies at the hand of a killer Sharon must find.
Before this short book ends, the pornography theater owner dies after seducing a teenage Vietnamese immigrant.
This has a good plot that works well and moves quickly. It’s a fascinating snapshot of 1980s-era San Francisco.
April 13, 2021
I have read the Sharon McCone books for over 30 years, but never finished reading the earlier entries. Recently, I found the list I had made and decided to finish it. This was the next one in the series, and was published in the mid-1980’s. It’s chock-full of the culture of the era, such as Sharon having to find a pay phone to call police, but the storyline, about marginalized people fighting for some dignity, is still relevant for today. Sharon is hired to discover who is terrorizing the inhabitants of a resident hotel in the Tenderloin District. The people who live there include many Vietnamese immigrants who are trying to make a new life in a new country. When she discovers two murder victims, her concern for her clients intensifies. This book shows Sharon at a crossroads in her career. Office politics and the ugliness she encounters on her job are beginning to wear her down. She has yet to meet Hy Ripinsky, the man who will be her husband. Reading the earlier books gives me an appreciation of how her character matured over the course of the series. (One technical note: the ebook I read from Overdrive was so full of typos that it was distracting. I had to figure out what the word was supposed to be by the context in the sentence.)
March 2, 2025
The stories are improving as the series progresses but
still some flaws. Most pertinent to the mystery is that the perpetrator tries to scare all the people at the hotel to keep a few of them away from another location - it would have been easier to frighten those few at that location. Best part of the story was the information about Vietnamese immigrants in SF in that time period.
Racial/ethnic and fat phobic concerns
One character (a bad guy) refers to the Asian immigrants with a slur, which bothered McCone but she never says anything to him. Others refer to them as “orientals”, which was the common term in 1985, but sounds jarring now.
There is a character who is heavy and Muller often just calls her “the fat woman” which is offensive.
Minor complaints:
It seems unlikely that Hank would have invited people into the partnership who didn’t share the goals and ideals of the firm.
I still don’t know why Muller brought the car into Sharon’s life since it is basically neglected 90% of the time.
McCone skips meals and misses sleep, but never passes on the wine, yet manages to have the energy to handle physical and stressful work throughout
still some flaws. Most pertinent to the mystery is that the perpetrator tries to scare all the people at the hotel to keep a few of them away from another location - it would have been easier to frighten those few at that location. Best part of the story was the information about Vietnamese immigrants in SF in that time period.
Racial/ethnic and fat phobic concerns
One character (a bad guy) refers to the Asian immigrants with a slur, which bothered McCone but she never says anything to him. Others refer to them as “orientals”, which was the common term in 1985, but sounds jarring now.
There is a character who is heavy and Muller often just calls her “the fat woman” which is offensive.
Minor complaints:
It seems unlikely that Hank would have invited people into the partnership who didn’t share the goals and ideals of the firm.
I still don’t know why Muller brought the car into Sharon’s life since it is basically neglected 90% of the time.
McCone skips meals and misses sleep, but never passes on the wine, yet manages to have the energy to handle physical and stressful work throughout
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2018
It's almost Christmas in San Francisco -- in the 80's-- and Sharon McCone is on another case. She needs to find out who is messing with the power, frightening people and generally casuing a bit of havoc for the famlies, mostly Vietnamese refugees, in the Globe Apartments in the Tenderloin. I have to admit that when Sharon figured it out on page 192, I basically hadn't a glimmer. I sortof had narrowed it down to two possibilities -- but turns out I was wrong. Sharon is amazing: she stands up for the little guy, she is empathetic to all types of folks, young and old; she knows her Yeats, she can handle a gun.... And she solves the mystery before the police, which tends to irritate her former boyfriend a lot.
August 9, 2021
Entertaining listening 🎧
Due to eye damage and issues from shingles Alexa reads to me.
Another will written romantic thriller mystery adventure in the Sharon McCone book 6 series. The characters are interesting and will developed. The story line is set in San Francisco where Sharon is hired to help solve why Vietnamese are being frightened. Two murders later Sharon find the killer. I would recommend this series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading 2021 ✨🎉😎👩🦰
Due to eye damage and issues from shingles Alexa reads to me.
Another will written romantic thriller mystery adventure in the Sharon McCone book 6 series. The characters are interesting and will developed. The story line is set in San Francisco where Sharon is hired to help solve why Vietnamese are being frightened. Two murders later Sharon find the killer. I would recommend this series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading 2021 ✨🎉😎👩🦰
April 27, 2018
Sharon is hired to find out about some odd things that are happening in an apartment building in the bad part of town. during her investigation she encounters all sorts of odd street people. And of course a dead body or two. Pretty thin but fun just the same. And the ending is worth the read alone.
March 7, 2021
I still like the mystery’s but the editing for this book was horrendous. Yes, spellcheck agreed that these were indeed words but they were the wrong words. I haven’t seen editing this bad since reading self edited books. I know it gets better because I read #25 first but if you are just starting at the beginning stay with it. I don’t know when is gets better but it does.
April 23, 2019
Read 2007
September 5, 2019
Sharon McCone mystery
October 19, 2019
Love the San Francisco angle, but the racial terms are a bit dated.
February 26, 2020
I can never remember the main character but the stories are memorable.
July 15, 2020
3.5 stars
January 22, 2021
A decent cozy with some frank discussions about the plight of refugees.
June 30, 2023
A solid murder mystery, but also a heart-warming story with a satisfying ending.
Read
September 10, 2023Audiobook
October 16, 2024
When I first started this book, I really wasn't into it - but I came back to it after a week and really enjoyed it. A complex case where you end up feeling a bit sorry for everyone involved -
August 23, 2025
C+. Audiobook
October 9, 2025
this mystery deals with porn tycoons, and immigrants and crazy people obsessed by Yeats,
October 31, 2025
Overall a good story but geez! Talk about fat shaming.
February 14, 2024
Kept you guessing
May 22, 2020
Enjoying this series during the pandemic. Engaging without being too dark and stressful
Read
August 13, 2012There’s Nothing to be Afraid of, by Marcia Muller, b-plus, Narrated by Laura Hicks, Produced by Audiogo, Downloaded from audible.com.
This is the seventh in the Sharon McCone series, so it is set in the early 1980’s, soon after the end of the Vietnam war, and at a time when churches were working together to re-settle South Vietnamese into the United States, with a large population being settled in California. The Globe, an apartment building once home to wealthier people in San Francisco, is now mostly a building frequented by very poor people, until a Refugee committee rented most of the apartments in the building for Vietnamese families. The Vietnamese people cleaned up the building, but it is still in the Tenderloin District and the owner wants to sell the building but can’t because of rent control. Sharon McCone is called in because the Refugee Assistance Committee believes that there are people in the underworld of the Tenderloin who want to scare the Vietnamese families into leaving. Then, soon after she starts investigating, a teenage Vietnamese boy whose family resides in the building, is murdered. Then his best friend, who lives in the building, disappears, and the Pornography king who owns the old theater next door is found dead. The police want Sharon to stay away from the case, but of course she stays in the middle and solves the mystery. This is probably one of the last books to be about Sharon’s worksite, the All-Souls Legal Cooperative, as things are falling apart there, but this book still has most of the well-known characters involved.
This is the seventh in the Sharon McCone series, so it is set in the early 1980’s, soon after the end of the Vietnam war, and at a time when churches were working together to re-settle South Vietnamese into the United States, with a large population being settled in California. The Globe, an apartment building once home to wealthier people in San Francisco, is now mostly a building frequented by very poor people, until a Refugee committee rented most of the apartments in the building for Vietnamese families. The Vietnamese people cleaned up the building, but it is still in the Tenderloin District and the owner wants to sell the building but can’t because of rent control. Sharon McCone is called in because the Refugee Assistance Committee believes that there are people in the underworld of the Tenderloin who want to scare the Vietnamese families into leaving. Then, soon after she starts investigating, a teenage Vietnamese boy whose family resides in the building, is murdered. Then his best friend, who lives in the building, disappears, and the Pornography king who owns the old theater next door is found dead. The police want Sharon to stay away from the case, but of course she stays in the middle and solves the mystery. This is probably one of the last books to be about Sharon’s worksite, the All-Souls Legal Cooperative, as things are falling apart there, but this book still has most of the well-known characters involved.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews