A novel inspired by Little Women, set around MANCHESTER
Ten Great Crime Thrillers set in SAN FRANCISCO
10th May 2025
Ten great crime thrillers set in San Francisco. San Francisco’s dramatic hills, shrouded in swirling fog, often become a character in themselves within gripping crime thrillers. The city’s diverse neighbourhoods, from the bustling streets of Chinatown to the shadowy alleys of the Tenderloin, provide fertile ground for narratives.
Picture clandestine meetings unfolding against the backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge or along the waterfront. The city’s history, from the Gold Rush era to its more recent tech boom, can weave its way into plots, adding layers of mystery and intrigue. Whether it’s a lone investigator navigating a web of deceit or a team racing against time to solve a crime, San Francisco’s unique presence amplifies the tension and keeps readers on the edge of their seats.
Here are ten of our favourite crime thrillers set in the city.
The Perfect Wife by J P Delaney
Abbie wakes in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. The man by her side explains that he’s her husband. He’s a titan of the tech world, the founder of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative startups. He tells Abbie she’s a gifted artist, a doting mother to their young son, and the perfect wife.
Five years ago, she suffered a terrible accident. Her return from the abyss is a miracle of science, a breakthrough in artificial intelligence that has taken him half a decade to achieve.
But as Abbie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins questioning her husband’s motives – and his version of events. Can she trust him when he says he wants them to be together for ever? And what really happened to her, half a decade ago?
Cinnamon Kiss by Walter Mosley
It is the Summer of Love, and Easy Rawlins is contemplating robbing an armoured car. it’s further outside the law than Easy has ever travelled, but his daughter needs medical treatment that costs far more than Easy can borrow or earn. Then a friend offers a job that might solve Easy’s problem without risking jail time. He has to track the disappearance of an eccentric, prominent attorney and his assistant, the beautiful “Cinnaomon” Cargill. Easy can tell the story is more complex than he is being told, but his need overcomes all concern, so Easy plunges into unfamiliar territory.
Unlucky 13 by James Patterson
When two dead bodies are found inside a wrecked car on the Golden Gate Bridge, Detective Lindsay Boxer doubts that it will be anything as simple as a traffic accident.
The scene is more gruesome than anything she has seen before. It definitely wasn’t the crash that killed these people.
While Lindsay starts to piece this case together, she gets a call she wasn’t expecting. Sightings of her ex-colleague-turned-ruthless-killer Mackie Morales have been reported.
Wanted for three murders, Mackie has been in hiding since she escaped from custody. But now she’s ready to return to San Francisco and pay a visit to some old friends.
Perfect Crime by Jack Erickson
A San Francisco wife plots to murder her philandering husband by being in two places at one time. She commits the Perfect Crime and starts an exciting new life with a sexy new boyfriend, living off the life insurance policy of her murdered husband.
Until her doorbell rings one night . . . .
Agency by William Gibson
San Francisco, 2017. Clinton’s in the White House, Brexit never happened – and Verity Jane’s got herself a new job.
They call Verity ‘the app-whisperer,’ and she’s just been hired by a shadowy start-up to evaluate a pair-of-glasses-cum-digital-assistant called Eunice. Only Eunice has other ideas.
Pretty soon, Verity knows that Eunice is smarter than anyone she’s ever met, conceals some serious capabilities and is profoundly paranoid – which is just as well since suddenly some bad people are after Verity.
Meanwhile, in a post-apocalyptic London a century from now, PR fixer Wilf Netherton is tasked by all-seeing policewoman Ainsley Lowbeer with interfering in the alternative past in which Verity and Eunice exist. It appears something nasty is about to happen there – and fixing it will require not only Eunice’s unique human-AI skillset but also a little help from the future.
A future which Verity soon fears may never be . . .
Japantown by Barry Lancet
San Francisco antiques dealer Jim Brodie receives a call one night from a friend at the SFPD: an entire family has been senselessly gunned down in the Japantown neighborhood of the bustling city. As an American born and raised in Japan and part-owner of his father’s Tokyo private investigation firm, Brodie has advised the local police in the past, but the near-perfect murders in Japantown are like nothing he’s ever encountered. With his array of Asian contacts and fluency in Japanese, Brodie follows leads gathered from a shadow powerbroker, a renegade Japanese detective, and the elusive tycoon at the center of the Japantown murders along a trail that takes him from the crime scene in California to terrorized citizens and informants in Japan. Step by step, he unravels a web of intrigue stretching back centuries and unearths a deadly secret that threatens not only his life but also the lives of his entire circle of family and friends.
Dante’s Numbers by David Hewson
Allan Prime looked ready to die of fright, even before the bright, shining spear with the blood-soaked tip reached his head . . .
The death mask of the poet Dante is to be exhibited at the premiere of a controversial new film, Inferno. But at the grand unveiling this priceless artefact is replaced by a macabre death mask of the film s star, Allan Prime. Minutes later the leading actress, Maggie Flavier, is threatened before her attacker is shot.
Nic Costa and his team are sidelined from the investigation in Rome and follow the movie to its next showing in San Francisco, hoping to recover the stolen death mask.
But in California confusing new clues suggest that there is more behind the killing than a crazed Dante fan. With the authorities distracted by false leads, can Costa protect Maggie, find the truth and stop the killer all before life imitates art?
The Price of Time by Tim Tigner
Would your character change …
if you had all the money in the world?
And all the time?
Would you become a better person?
Or worse?
Imagine Agatha Christie meets Michael Crichton in a fast-paced, philosophical mystery thriller.
There’s a secret in Silicon Valley. A discovery. An invention. One so startling and surprisingly sinister that it needs to be kept—at any price.
Tim Tigner takes a step back from his bestselling Kyle Achilles series to introduce Zachary Chase and Skylar Fawkes in a fresh standalone novel that’s bound to keep you glued and guessing. With secluded meetings, sudden disappearances and strange murders; secret agents, skillful assassins and sexy locations; The Price of Time is packed with fast-paced action and first-class intellectual intrigue.
Propelling the thrills and perched at the middle of the mystery is one of humanity’s great questions: Would finding the Fountain of Youth be a blessing?
Through the Bookstore Window by Bill Petrocelli
Although Gina Perini thrives in her new life as a bookshop manager, her harrowing escape from the war in the Balkans years earlier remains fresh in her mind. There are still those who are searching for her and who are intent on vengeance. Gina suddenly gets news that someone from her past is still alive—someone she had given up hope of finding. This sets in motion a chain of events that will take her from San Francisco to Indianapolis, and push her love and resourcefulness to the limit. Through the Bookstore Window grapples with the grim effects of war and violence while exploring how love can transcend age, gender, background, and—perhaps—the readers’ expectations.
Aftershock by Judy Melinek and T J Mitchell
There’s a body crushed under a load of pipes on a San Francisco construction site, and medical examiner Dr. Jessie Teska is on call. So it’s her job to figure out who it is–and her headache when the autopsy reveals that the death is a homicide staged as an accident.
Jessie is hot on the murderer’s trail, then an earthquake sends her and her whole city reeling. When the dust clears, her case has fallen apart and an innocent man is being framed. Jessie knows she’s the only one who can prove it, and she races to piece together the truth–before it gets buried and brings her down in the rubble.
With Melinek and Mitchell’s trademark blend of propulsive prose, deft plotting and mordant humor, this rollicking new installment in the Jessie Teska Mystery series will shake you up and leave you rattled.
We hope you enjoy our selection of Crime Thrillers set in San Francisco!
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