San Diego Murder Mayhem

Early twentieth-century San Diego was growing fast, and the officers sworn to protect the city encountered more than their fair share of wily lawbreakers. From a shootout with a lone gunman in Mission Hills to gunfights with a gang of bank robbers that involved enthusiastic bystanders hoping to assist, detectives and patrolmen alike tried to maintain the peace. They encountered unexpected bodies, confronted car thieves and pursued criminals through neighboring states and into Mexico. Join author Steve Willard as he unearths stories directly from the case files of the early San Diego Police Department.

Early twentieth-century San Diego was growing fast, and the officers sworn to protect the city encountered more than their fair share of wily lawbreakers. From a shootout with a lone gunman in Mission Hills to gunfights with a gang of bank robbers that involved enthusiastic bystanders hoping to assist, detectives and patrolmen alike tried to maintain the peace. They encountered unexpected bodies, confronted car thieves and pursued criminals through neighboring states and into Mexico. Join author Steve Willard as he unearths stories directly from the case files of the early San Diego Police Department.

This “fast-paced, thoughtful true-crime” examines the cultural shifts of Jazz Age America through a beautiful dancer’s mysterious and scandalous death (Kirkus, starred review). In January 1923, twenty-year-old Fritzie Mann left home for a remote cottage by the sea to meet a man whose identity she had revealed to no one. The next morning, the dancer’s barely clad body washed up on Torrey Pines beach, her party dress and possessions strewn about the sand. The scene baffled investigators, and abotched autopsy created more questions than it answered. However, the investigation revealed a scandalous secret. When a Hollywood A-lister was arrested for Fritzie’s murder, it led to the most sensational trial in San Diego’s history. Set against the backdrop of yellow journalism, Prohibition Era corruption, and a lively culture war, Mystery At The Blue Sea Cottage tells the intriguing story of a beautiful dancer, a playboy actor, a debonair doctor, and a tragic mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

Southern California. Home to sandy beaches, waving palm trees, balmy weather. Also home to the rich and famous, those barely hanging on, and everyone else. Add in murder, embezzlement, stalking, burglary, and every crime under the sun. In Crime Under the Sun, the second anthology offered by Partners in Crime, the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime, fifteen stories capture the hopes and dreams of characters trying to live the idyllic SoCal life. Instead, they bump up against greed, treachery, corruption, and death. These stories will thrill readers with unexpected twists and turns and surprise endings. In the words of Catriona McPherson in our foreword, “…the best mystery anthologies should embrace the whole of our beloved genre and Crime Under the Sun has nailed it.” Welcome to the seamy underbelly of Southern California. Edited by Matt Coyle, Naomi Hirahara and Tammy Kaehler with stories by Sarah Bresniker, Lynne Bronstein, Shelley Burbank, Wrona Gall, B.J. Graf, C.C. Guthrie, A.P. Jamison, Kathy Kingson, Kathy Krevat, Axel Milens, John Edward Mullen, Kathy Norris, Michelle Rodenborn, Wendall Thomas, and James Thorpe. Critical Acclaim for Crime Under the Sun: “It may be a cliché to say an anthology has something for all readers, but Crime Under the Sun delivers in full. From cozy and quirky to gimlet-eyed and hard-boiled and with more than a couple of sides of tense and chilling. Story to story, I was delighted, thrilled, amused, and amazed.” —Art Taylor, Edgar Award-winning author of The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions “The Golden State has a dark underside in Crime Under the Sun, a lively and varied compendium of murder, mayhem, bad choices, and bad dreams. Seedy noir to whimsical cozy, and caper plot to psychological drama, the anthology offers an assortment of vengeful malcontents, ingenious professionals and hapless wannabes, plus few decent souls. Sharp characterization, smooth prose, and some echoes of old time Hollywood's tarnished glamor complete an entertaining package.” —Janice Law, author of the Francis Bacon mysteries “Whoever wrote ‘there's nothing new under the sun’ obviously hasn't read Crime Under the Sun, in which the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime offers up fifteen stories that are not only new but noteworthy. Readers may not be familiar with all of the contributors, some of whom are early in their writing careers—but you're sure to be seeing more of them!” —Josh Pachter, editor of the Anthony Award finalist Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon “A lovely collection of criminous tales, delightfully diverse in style, featuring work by some of the best writers producing short fiction today.” —Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror and The Murder Wheel “Crime Under the Sun features a collection of twists, jagged edges, one-two punches and crisp storytelling from sunny California. With endearing protagonists, villains you love to hate, some cool characters coming off the page and murder mysteries galore, this collection showcases great talent.” —Ryan Sayles, author of Like Whitewashed Tombs “A scorching selection of crime stories that will leave you dying for more.” —Stephen D. Rogers, author of Shot to Death

One January day in 1923, a young boy came across the dead body of a twenty-year-old woman on a San Diego beach. When the police arrived on the scene, they found the woman’s calling card, which read simply, “I am Fritzie Mann.” Yet Fritzie’s identity, as revealed in this compelling history, was anything but simple, and her death—eventually ruled a homicide—captured public attention for months. In Fritzie, historian Amy Absher reveals how broader cultural forces, including gendered violence, sexual liberation, and evolving urban conditions in the American West, shaped the course of Mann’s life and contributed to her tragic death. Frieda “Fritizie” Mann had several identities during her brief life, and the mysterious circumstances of her death raise as many questions as they do answers. She was born in 1903 near the present border between Poland and Ukraine. She and her family were Jewish immigrants who traveled to San Diego to find security and prosperity. In the last year of her life, Mann became locally famous. She had reinvented herself as a flapper and “Oriental” dancer. She claimed to have friends in Hollywood and a movie contract. On the night of her murder, she said she was going to a party to meet her Hollywood friends; instead she traveled to an isolated roadside hotel where she met her death. An autopsy revealed that she was four and a half months pregnant. Absher guides the reader through the intricacies of this true crime story as it unfolded, from the initial flawed investigation to the sensationalized press coverage and the ultimate failure of the legal system to ensure justice on Mann’s behalf. Like other “new women” of her era, Fritzie Mann adopted roles that promised liberation from the control of men. In the end, her life and early death suggest the opposite: she became the victim of a culture that consumed women even as it purported to celebrate them.

Real-life is stranger and more frightening than fiction, and this book serves to cement that principal even further. In this compilation, there are eleven cases of some of the most deplorable, unjust and violent crimes I've come across. From cannibals to rapists to the sickest, most twisted criminals you've not yet heard of, you'll read about them all in this book. I'll tell you the story of Rurik Jutting, a British banker living in Hong Kong who held two women hostage, tortured them and raped them over a number of days. You'll learn about Issei Sagawa, a Japanese cannibal who killed and ate a woman - but walks free on the streets today. Then there's the vile three-week torture of an Australian woman who, when she was eventually rescued, paramedics initially thought she was dead. You can also read about the 'Hello Kitty' murder, which is as bizarre as it sounds - and as equally haunting. But please be warned, the cases in this book are highly disturbing and include graphic and distressing descriptions. Please take this trigger warning seriously as this book depicts horrific crimes that involve sexual abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse and graphic violence throughout. This book is intended to explore the evil in this world and expose the heinous behaviour some people are capable of. Please heed this warning before continuing to read. The book fits under the following categories: Serial Killers True Crime Murder and Mayhem True Murder Cases True Crime Biography

Novice hotelier Am Caulfield, left happily in charge of a luxurious southern California resort, is underprepared for the ensuing mayhem, which includes a grisly double murder that must be solved before his boss's return.

The quiet scandal surrounding her parents' deaths 20 years ago sends Beryl Tavistock on a search for the truth from Paris to Greece. As she enters a world of international espionage, Beryl discovers she needs help and turns to a suave ex-CIA agent. But in a world where trust is a double-edged sword, friends become enemies and enemies become killers.