The Dangers that Lurk in the City by the Bay

by Erica Miner

‘San Francisco, a city that considers its Opera only slightly less sacred than the Holy Grail’

San Francisco. City by the Bay. Famous for stunning landmarks: the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf. Legendary for its cable cars, iconic waterfront, steep rolling hills and Victorian architecture. A city of contrasts, from its natural beauty to its technology. Of fascinating history, from the gold rush to the present.

But the San Francisco of Overture to Murder, the latest novel in my Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series, is a city of mystery: Twin Peaks, stealthy fog…and the ghostly upper reaches of its opera house.

After her life-threatening entanglements in murder investigations at the Metropolitan Opera (Aria for Murder) and Santa Fe Opera (Prelude to Murder), intrepid young violinist Julia Kogan takes on new challenges as the concertmaster (first of the first violinists) of the San Francisco Opera, a position of immense responsibility. She is temporarily replacing the current concertmaster, who has been badly injured in a hit-and-run accident, which Julia thinks worthy of looking into as not accidental. It is a high-pressure situation for her, both musically and emotionally, but she’s up to the test—or is she?

In the historical War Memorial Opera House, Julia finds a theatre steeped in history: among other things, it’s adjacent to the Veterans Building where Harry Truman signed the UN Charter in 1945. But she also finds intrigue. There’s no time for sampling the sourdough, Dim Sum, Ghirardelli chocolates and other culinary delights of the city. Julia has her work cut out for her, trying to uncover the perpetrator in the latest grisly operatic killing.  

The city of San Francisco and its opera are in my blood. I have a personal connection with both of them. Over the last several decades I paid numerous visits to this amazing city to spend time with a close family member who worked with the company and with other family members and friends who lived in the Bay Area. Thus I experienced a doubly significant journey when I recently toured the War Memorial Opera House with the House Head, who had been working there for over 30 years and knew every corner and cranny. Little had I known that the place, which had served as the locale for the film Foul Play, is filled with creaky old equipment that’s positively scary to look at and listen to and is home to its own ghosts.

As I cringed from these discoveries, I put myself in Julia’s shoes. How does she cope with disturbingly creative modes of murder devised by a mentally unhinged killer? She investigates, of course, as is her wont. Her natural curiosity gets the better of her, as it has in previous opera houses. She will leave no sheet of music unturned until she discovers the perpetrator’s identity, with little regard for her own safety. The trouble is, she’s not the only one who’s in danger. The life of another person near and dear to her is in jeopardy as well. The tables have turned.

It was such a trip for me in so many ways to write this novel. Nostalgia about my past experiences with the company met with the fascination I experienced in my forays at the opera house of the present. Julia is my alter ego, based on myself when I, too, was an eager young violinist. But I could never summon up the level of courage that becomes essential for her as she navigates the perilous world of opera mystery in the dark stairways, back hallways, and hundred foot-high catwalks of the War Memorial Opera House. And again, the curtain comes down on murder.

About Erica:

Former Metropolitan Opera violinist Erica Miner is now an award-winning author, screenwriter, arts journalist, and lecturer based in the Pacific Northwest. Her debut novel, Travels with My Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Her current Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera: Aria for Murder (Level Best Books, 2022), was a finalist in the 2023 Eric Hoffer and Murder and Mayhem Awards; Prelude to Murder (2023) a Distinguished Favorite in the 2024 NYC Big Book Awards, glowingly reviewed by Kirkus Reviews; and the just-released Overture to Murder (2024). As a writer-lecturer, Erica has given workshops for Sisters in Crime; Los Angeles Creative Writing Conference; EPIC Group Writers; Write on the Sound; Fields End Writer’s Community; Savvy Authors; and numerous libraries on the west coast.

ISBN-10: 978-1-68512-781-7 (pb)

ISBN-13:978-1-68512-782-4 (eb)

Webpage: www.ericaminer.com

Social media:

https://www.facebook.com/erica.miner1

https://twitter.com/EmwrtrErica

https://www.instagram.com/emwriter3/

Buy Link: Amazon

Blurbs:

“Anyone who loves the romance of opera and opera houses will enjoy Overture to Murder. Miner gives us a unique tour of the War Memorial Opera House, letting us in on its secrets, legends and gossip, and one of its most important occupants, the San Francisco Opera. She shares many details only a true insider can know, bringing the building to life and making it an essential character in this exceptionally well-crafted mystery.” ~ John Boatwright, San Francisco Opera House Head

“Divas and deadly secrets share center stage in Erica Miner’s Overture to Murder, a classic mystery tale set at the San Francisco Opera House, a chilling backdrop for murder. Precise details, inside information about the glamorous world of classical music, and a cast of finely drawn characters propel the action from the opening curtain to the final bows. This suspenseful tale of mystery, music, and mayhem is a page-turner. Highly recommend.” ~ Lori Robbins, author of the On Pointe Mysteries

“Set against the elegant backdrop of the San Francisco Opera, this smart, suspenseful mystery weaves a tale as intricate and compelling as Wagner's Ring. With its masterful blend of suspense, music, and drama, OVERTURE TO MURDER is a must-read for mystery enthusiasts and opera lovers alike.  Mally Becker, Agatha Award-nominated author of The Revolutionary War mysteries.

I Left My Heart by Keenan Powell

 

My settings are always a separate character. Perhaps it’s my Irish diasporic heritage, ever seeking a relationship to the land I inhabit. Perhaps it’s something more primitive than that. Alaska, about which I have written, I know. Other places I research. For setting as character, you can’t beat San Francisco.

I lived near, and left, San Francisco many years ago, but I’ve had the good fortune to stop for a few days now and then. Odd, I thought, when the pandemic struck that of all the places I lived, this was the first place I yearned to see again. So I started writing a new book set in The City by the Bay, thus seizing upon the excuse to hunt down old Herb Caen books.

Herb Caen was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for six decades. A 1996 special Pulitzer Prize was awarded to him “for his extraordinary and continuing contribution as a voice and conscience of his city.” Lucky for us, he recorded the ever-evolving yet steadfastly quintessential character of The City and its inhabitants. When I was growing up, everyone read him. I mean everyone. Because the first thing that would happen when you went to work on Monday morning is someone would ask: did you see Herb Caen’s column? If you hadn’t read him, you weren’t in the know.

If you don’t read him for your love of The City, read him for his gorgeous descriptions. A quote from Don’t Call it Frisco (Doubleday & Co, 1953):

The tourist, looking at the city for the first time, shakes his head in a puzzled way and sighs: “This San Francisco – it sort of gets to you. There’s something about it. I don’t know quite what it is, but it’s something”…

And the San Franciscan smiles and nods, for he thinks he knows what it is…It’s the gay fluttering of the flags and pennants on the downtown minarets, outlined against a blue sky flecked with fast-rolling fog…It’s the never-cloying thrill of standing at the bow of a proud old ferryboat as it churns its white way in an arc across the Bay, then eases, like a practiced firehorse, into its slip under the Ferry Building’s ageless tower…It’s the pride, reborn again and again, that comes when you stand on a Marin mountaintop and gaze over the  water at your magic city, gleaming like an endless mosaic that covers each hill with castles and fills each valley with romantic lights and shadows…

I especially love the firehorse analogy.

How about you, Writers Who Kill? When you’re researching locale, what are your sources?

Beloved Readers: chime in on comments: Where did you leave your heart?

My Vacation in California

Few of the Carquinez Straight a block from Mary's House.

Last week I flew into San Francisco International Airport to visit my California daughter for a week. Mary has a home in the suburbs of the historic small town of Benicia northeast of San Francisco. Benicia is a charming little town that was the original capital of California for several years.  After we unloaded my suitcase at her home, I got to meet her border collie, Kira, for the first time. All three of us went down to Benicia to have lunch at the First Street Café. Benicia is a very dog friendly town. When we finished eating, went on to my favorite place in the town, the Benicia Bookstore where I ordered a book for one of my book clubs.

Fishing at Benicia State Park.

 Later we went to Benicia State Park to walk. It’s a lovely park overlooking Carquinez Strait, which leads into the San Pablo Bay. Mary was surprised to see so many cars and people there. She asked someone what the occasion was, and was told it was because the salmon were running, and people were all there fishing off the shore down at the end of the park.

There were a lot of bales of straw to sit on. We took chairs.

On Saturday we went to an American Roots Music Festival in Bodega, California. Mary had bought the tickets online because she knows I like folk music. The festival was in an open field with only a few trees so with little shade, it was hot and uncomfortable. The first band played for an hour and a half. Neither Mary nor I liked them. It wasn’t folk music as I know it so we left as soon as the first band finished. When we got in Mary’s jeep, I started singing, “He was a mean man, a mean man, a mean mean man” like the female singer in the band had repeated over and over with the two guys chiming in occasionally. Mary laughed and joined me. I knew none of the featured bands, and the band most people wanted to see wouldn’t perform until seven-thirty that evening.

I'm sitting with Kira on an upstairs deck.

We went through small towns like Sedona and others and planned on going back someday and check them out. We stopped at the Jack London State Park, but they were closing soon because a Shakespeare Play was starting soon in an outdoor amphitheater, and it was sold out. From there we went back to Mary’s house and relaxed.

Mary and Kira under the redwoods.

On Sunday morning Mary, Kira and I went hiking in the Redwood Regional Park in the Oakland Hills. It’s a lovely park and so pleasant to walk in. There were a lot of people walking, some with dogs, or riding bicycles or jogging. We had packed a lunch to eat when we stopped to rest. I do so love being in a redwood forest. The trees are so amazing.

Sunday afternoon we went to the movies to see The Light Between Oceans. I’d read the book by M.L. Stedman several years ago and loved it. Although it had been awhile since I read it, as far as I could tell, they followed the book faithfully. I think Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander did an excellent job. Mary enjoyed the movie as much as I did – well, except for the loud commercials and upcoming movie trailers, we enjoyed it.

However, at the emotional ending, some guy popped into the theater with a large bag of popcorn and sat down in the almost empty theater in the same row as us and proceeded to rustle paper and smack away on his popcorn while looking at us. That was annoying.

 

On Monday, Mary and I took the ferry from Vallejo to San Francisco. It’s an hour ride and much more relaxing than driving in San Francisco traffic. I enjoyed the trip and the visit to the area near Fisherman’s Wharf. That is I did until I tripped against a raised sidewalk piece and fell flat on my face. Ouch! It was embarrassing. I split my lip slightly and hit my cheek. My daughter and several men helped me up. Mary led me a short distance away to sit on a chair outside a restaurant while she ran inside and got a bag of ice for me. Other than a swollen cheek and a split lip, I was okay. I teased her saying I’d tell people she’d been beating me up. She made me hold the ice against my cheek and lip for almost an hour until it totally melted.

We went to a restaurant we like and had lunch. From there we went to Ghiardelli’s and got ice cream, and Mary bought candy to take home. She gave me a large bar of Raspberry Radiance with dark chocolate that I’m saving for a time I’m desperate for chocolate.

On Tuesday we were going to camp in Yosemite, but the weather forecast the night before said it was going down to the low forties and it would snow, so instead we wandered around small towns between Berkley and Oakland and ate lunch in a little restaurant. Later we walked in Benicia State Park again.

Burnt trees. The live ones may have been sprayed with retardent.

Wednesday we headed for Yosemite. Mary had a cabin reserved for that night. It never did get that cold or snow so we were disappointed we hadn’t gone the day before. As we approached the park and when we got into it, we were so saddened to see all the burnt trees from the wildfires and where there hadn’t been wildfires, there were still lots of tall dead pine or fir trees with yellowed needles from the drought.

Just one of the pictures I took.

Even though it was a weekday and a little past summer vacation time, the valley was crowded with people. Still the tall mountains overlooking the valley where most of the activity goes on were spectacular and so awe inspiring. Even though I’d seen them twice before, they still took my breath away.

One of the earliest settlers who died in a carriage accident.

Before the Lee Stetson program, Mary and I wandered through a historical cemetery with stones for the earliest settlers to the Yosemite Valley. It was near the ranger cabins and behind the museum. I’ve always been fascinated by old cemeteries. Most of these were huge chunks of rocks from the mountains with engravings on them of who was buried there with birth and death dates. There were also some newer stones that replaced earlier stones that probably wore away. These were all the same size and a red color.

I so enjoyed visiting with him.

The highlight of our trip was the program featuring Lee Stetson as John Muir: This program was “Conversation with a Tramp.” I have seen Lee Stetson three times now. The first time was in Cuyahoga National Park near my home when he appeared as John Muir with another actor portraying Theodore Roosevelt. That was awesome. The next time was at Yosemite three years ago. We made sure to get there early so we could have front row seats. In this production, he portrayed John Muir complaining about the government planning on damming up the Tuolumne River and flooding the beautiful Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide water for San Francisco. He was portraying a much older John Muir.

When I got home, Mary sent me a link to an interview with Stetson. He came from Quincy, Massachusetts to Los Angeles and worked as an actor. When he’d found a biography of John Muir, he began exploring the Southern Sierra, moved by John Muir’s descriptive poetry. In April 1982, he visited Yosemite for the first time. He was so impressed, the very next day he got a job as a desk clerk with one of the concessionaires in the park. For the past thirty plus years, he has produced interpretive stage productions focusing on the themes of land use, environmental ethics, and the concept of engaging wilderness. He uses John Muir’s words extensively in his plays, including Muir’s Scottish accent. Four of his presentations are one person shows as the naturalist John Muir, and two are with a second person portraying Theodore Roosevelt. He has performed throughout the United States in schools, universities, parks, museums, conventions and around campfires in Yosemite. He has even traveled to Canada, Scotland and Japan. He was also the voice of John Muir in Ken Burn’s documentary “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” I’m hoping that someday he’ll come back to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Have you ever visited Yosemite?

What is your favorite National Park you’ve visited?

Literary Landmarks USA

What do Slip F18 in Bahia Mar, Grip the Raven, a windmill in Stony Brook, NY, and John’s Grill in San Francisco have in common? They’ve all been designated Literary Landmarks.

To encourage the preservation of American literary sites and history, Friends of Libraries (now United for Libraries) started the Literary Landmarks program in 1986. Since then, the group has evaluated and recognized sites of literary importance in 33 states. The program partners with local literary and historical societies to ensure that sites honoring influential literary figures are managed and maintained for future generations of readers.

While most sites are what one would expect – author’s birthplaces and library collections – some more unexpected sites have made the list.

The Stony Brook windmill? Tennessee Williams lived in the windmill in Southampton, NY, in the summer of 1967 while he wrote “The Day on Which a Man Dies” about his friend Jackson Pollock. Williams has had a total of six Literary Landmarks dedicated to him: the windmill; his Key West home; the Tennessee Williams Visitors Center in his birthplace, Columbus, MS; St. George’s Episcopal Rectory in Clarksdale, MS; the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans; and his New Orleans townhouse.

Strater Hotel, Durango, Colorado

Several hotels have been designated landmarks: The Monteleone in New Orleans was named to the list in honor of frequent visitors Williams, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, and William Faulkner. While the hotel is officially the landmark, one imagines that the bar was actually the attraction for this group of writers. The Plaza Hotel in New York was added to the list for being the home of Kay Thompson’s creation, Eloise, and The Menger Hotel in San Antonio, TX was recognized for hosting literary lights like O. Henry and Oscar Wilde.

Louis L’Amour’s landmark is Room 222 of the Strater Hotel in Durango, CO. For twenty years, L’Amour spent every August there with his family, and said that the sounds rising from the hotel’s bar inspired his writing.

Capote, Faulkner, Welty, and Williams may have had the elegant Monteleone, but Jack London has Heinhold’s First and Last Chance Saloon in Oakland, CA. Dashiell Hammett is honored with the inclusion of two San Francisco sites: John’s Grill and an apartment at 891 Post Street.  Hammett wrote his first three novels Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, and The Maltese Falcon there, and Sam Spade’s apartment was modeled on Hammett’s Post Street home.

For sheer size, Willa Cather’s Literary Landmark tops them all; she is honored with the Willa Cather Prairie just off Highway 281 in Red Cloud, Nebraska.

United for Libraries’ first landmark was Slip F-18 Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale, FL, the “address” of The Busted Flush, John D. MacDonald’s beloved character Travis McGee’s houseboat. A redesign of the marina demolished the slip, so now the honorary plaque is displayed in the marina’s offices.

Grip the Raven at the Free Library of Philadelphia

Our Goth Poet Laureate Edgar Allan Poe has two landmarks: the Poe House in Philadelphia, PA and Grip’s roost at the Rare Books Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Grip was the beloved pet of Charles Dickens, who had the unusually intelligent bird preserved upon his death. In 1843, Poe and Dickens met in Philadelphia. Poe had reviewed a Dickens story that featured a raven named Grip. Soon after this meeting, Poe wrote the blockbuster poem that turned Grip into “The Raven.” Grip is part of an extensive collection of Dickens memorabilia at the Free Library.

The most recent additions to the Literary Landmarks list are the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site and Interpretive Center, Huntington Station, NY; the Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center, Henning, TN; and The Sarah Josepha Hale Memorial Park, Newport, NH. As editor of “Godey’s Lady Book,” Hale nurtured the careers of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. In a timely note, Hale successfully campaigned to establish our national Thanksgiving holiday.

What author do you think deserves a Literary Landmark?