Helen Plum Library

'An electrifying read . . . I haven't read anything so terrifying since Red Dragon.' 'stephen King     

Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" detective has become one of the longest-lived, and consistently highly praised, private investigators in the annals of American crime fiction and the award-winning author proves, once again, that his skills are unmatched. Things were quiet in the San Francisco-based agency Nameless founded and his partners, Jake and Vanessa were itching to get back to work. A deadbeat father needed to be found, and Vanessa needed to do...

In 1939, as Poland falls under the shadow of the Nazis, young Alma Belasco's parents send her away to live in safety with an aunt and uncle in their opulent mansion in San Francisco. There, as the rest of the world goes to war, she encounters Ichimei Fukuda, the quiet and gentle son of the family's Japanese gardener. Unnoticed by those around them, a tender love affair begins to blossom. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the two are cruelly...

San Francisco lawyers Dismas Hardy and his associate and only daughter Rebecca find themselves in the middle of a difficult murder case involving a teenage African American foster child

FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock are joined by one of their own and a Virginia sheriff in an extraordinary case that immerses them in the world of psychic visions, mind benders, and communications with the dead

It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his murder...

"The New York Times bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony In Love, Shanghai Girls, and Dreams of Joy returns with her highly anticipated new novel. A bold and bittersweet story of secrets and sacrifice, love and betrayal, prejudice and passion, China Dolls reveals a rich portrait of female friendship, as three young women navigate the "Chop Suey Circuit"--America's extravagant all-Asian revues of the 1930s and '40s--and endure...

A naive young secretary forsakes Cleveland for San Francisco, tumbling headlong into a brave new world of laundromat lotharios and cutthroat debutantes

The stories of four Chinese women and their American-born daughters are unraveled through a series of vignettes that reveal the lives of the four older women and the tragedies they endured before coming to America. The memories of the past are then linked to the present day to illuminate the sometimes difficult relationships between the mothers and daughters

Run for the hills, temporarily. That's Colbie Albright's plan when she flees New York for San Francisco. Wrangling her crazy family by day and writing a best selling YA fantasy series by night has taken its toll. In short, Colbie's so over it that she's under it. She's also under the waters of a historic San Francisco fountain within an hour of arrival. Fortunately, the guy who fishes Colbie out has her looking forward to Christmas among strangers....

A woman who married at eighteen realizes that her failing marriage is a trap she must escape