From Publishers WeeklyThe prospect of a pleasant day with her partner/lover is dashed for California detective Jill Smith when she is called in to investigate a felony assault on a nude, sunbathing dentist who claims he was attacked by a branch of a eucalyptus tree. In this fifth novel featuring the smart and sassy Detective Smith, what appears to be the latest episode in a silly feud between neighbors turns deadly serious when the body of a likable but opportunistic young man is found catapulted from his sundeck down the mountainside. While investigating this seemingly motiveless murder, Smith encounters a cross section of eccentrics that includes a foot masseuse, a lady mountaineer and an obsessive lawn waterer, in this romp through the Berkeley Hills. Although a couple of coincidences strain the reader's credibility, this witty police procedural reveals much about life among the denizens of this university town and a knowledge of some of the quirks of its legal system--especially as it pertains to trees. Detective Book Club selection. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In Buddhist lore, hungry ghosts have huge bellies and needle-thin necks and—because they cannot swallow the food they crave—their hunger is insatiable. The Barbary Coast, San Francisco's infamous red-light district in the days when sailors could sit down for a drink and wake up on a ship bound around the Horn, has plenty of hungry ghosts. But it is the living ghosts who threaten stunt double Darcy Lott when she returns to San Francisco to serve as assistant to her Zen teacher, Leo Garson, in his new zendo.Darcy brings her own ghosts along as well. She is haunted by the disappearance of her beloved brother Mike and her estrangement from her family. From a turret atop a San Francisco Victorian, as she prepares for a thirty-five-foot dive to the sidewalk, she spots Mike on the roof of the zendo. By the time she reaches the roof, he is gone. When someone else she cares about disappears the next day, she fears the past is about to repeat itself. But Lott is unable to...

Stuntwoman Darcy Lott can stare down any risky physical feat — until a mistake during a stunt injures Darcy's protegé. Significantly shaken and facing a crisis of confidence, Darcy calls upon her Buddhist beliefs and retreats to a monastery in the California redwoods. What she finds is anything but soul-centering: the monastery's enigmatic leader is poisoned, and an attempt is made on Darcy's own life. When harsh weather prevents Darcy from escaping the retreat, she and the other students pursue their meditation, even as the threat of murder lurks all around them. Darcy must overcome her own personal crisis in order to keep herself — as well as the other practitioners — safe.

When the nation’s political elite descends on a small Northern California town, murder follows—and only Vejay Haskell can get to the bottom of the shocking crimeEach year the Bohemian Club—a clique of powerful conservatives whose ranks include Nixon, Reagan, and Kissinger—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. But compared to the Vietnam vets, pot growers, and backcountry crackpots she normally deals with, the Bohemians don’t frighten Vejay one bit.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

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.

Former medical examiner Kiernan O'Shaughnessy investigates a scandalous suicide in a Catholic churchQuick-witted, precise, and comfortable with corpses, Kiernan O'Shaughnessy was perfectly suited to life as a medical examiner. In her four years with the coroner's office, she never had one unhappy shift until the day they let her go. Enraged and adrift, she made her way to La Jolla, California, to set up a high-class private investigation service for medically suspicious deaths. She works only the cases she wants, and charges a steep enough fee that she can afford a cherry red Triumph and a former NFL player as a houseman. Her latest client is one of the biggest moneymakers on the planet: the Roman Catholic Church.A troubled young priest is found hanged in Mission San Leo in Phoenix, Arizona. Hoping to avoid scandal, the bishop bypasses the police, and hires Kiernan to determine whether the death was an accident or a suicide. They ask her to be quiet, but the secrets she...

Hard-nosed beat cop Jill Smith combs Berkeley for a Buddhist guru-killing cultistIn Berkeley, California, Telegraph Avenue is the headquarters for the city’s strangest inhabitants. Cultists, drug addicts, and hippie burnouts wander its streets, looking to raise their consciousness or, if that fails, to just get high. And Jill Smith walks with them, a beat cop with her finger on the pulse of one of the most unique neighborhoods in America. With time on her hands after her divorce, Jill lets a friend drag her to hear the district’s hot new guru, a Buddhist holy man from Bhutan. As his disciples clap and cheer , Jill tries to keep from smirking. The guru finally draws her attention, however, when he slumps forward with a knife in his back. She calls for backup and cordons off the temple. Jill doesn’t care about karma, but she knows when justice is due.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

When an IRS agent is poisoned, Jill Smith faces a murder case in which dozens of California taxpayers are suspectsIRS agent Philip Drem is found face down in People’s Park, a haven of drug addicts and streetwalkers in the heart of liberal, eccentric Berkeley, California. By the time homicide detective Jill Smith arrives on the scene, Drem’s wallet is gone and the tax collector is near death. The method of attack is as uncommonly cruel as the IRS agent himself. After his death, Jill goes through Drem’s files in search of those whose lives he made miserable. An exercise guru, a bankrupt small business owner, and a hippie sculptor are all possible suspects, but as she researches the dead man she finds that the pain of filling out a 1040 might not be the only motive for murder.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

What is death? Darcy Lott asks her Zen teacher, Garson-roshi.While scouting a location site on the Golden Gate Bridge, stunt double Darcy Lott sees a woman about to jump. The woman fights, but Darcy manages to pull her back. Before disappearing, the woman tells Darcy that by Thanksgiving she’ll be dead. Darcy has four days to find her and keep her from killing herself, but she has no idea who she is.Darcy tracks her to a dodgy San Francisco neighborhood, where she uncovers more perplexing facts. The woman ran a copy shop operating as a front for “the cockroach,” the shady police boss of the neighborhood, lived in a cheap apartment above a bagpipe player, and spent very little money except on an expensive racing bike the week before.Meanwhile, there are problems with the movie production. One of the producers, Macomber Dale, gets their permit revoked, causing them to redo an entire set-up, and then drives the stunt car off the Berkeley pier.The search leads Darcy to the last place a woman would ever bike to: the Top of the Mark on Nob Hill, to a swank charity reception at City Hall and finally to a place more terrifying than the cold Pacific.ReviewPraise for Susan Dunlap:“White-knuckle plot and bare-knuckled action scenes.”–The New York Times Book Review"As long as writers like Dunlap continue to play with the form, genre fans need not lament the mystery's demise."–The San Francisco Chronicle“Dunlap knows the West Coast, knows how to create memorable characters, knows how to build suspense, and her technical expertise is extraordinary.”–Chicago Tribune“Susan Dunlap is one of the best!”–The San Diego Union TribuneAbout the AuthorSusan Dunlap is the author of a collection of short stories and twenty-three novels, including the other Darcy Lott mysteries, Civil Twilight, Hungry Ghosts, A Single Eye and Power Slide. She has won Anthony and Macavity awards and has been president of Sisters in Crime. She and her husband live near San Francisco.