My name is Celia Davies, and I’m honored to have been invited to return in order to tell you all something about my life. Much has changed since I was last here, and much has not. But for those of you who are unfamiliar with me, I will attempt to acquaint you.

In brief, I operate a free women’s clinic out of my home at the base of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, which I share with my cousin. A nurse by profession, I received my training during the recent American civil war. I am originally from the rolling green hills of England and came to this country with my restless, gold-seeking husband. He was believed killed in Mexico, but—and this is where my life has become quite unsettled since last I visited here—it now appears he is alive and in San Francisco. I hate to admit I dread encountering him, and, so far, he has stayed far away. But I expect that will not be the situation for long.

Meanwhile, I continue to tend to my patients, so many of them desperate for whatever help they can get from a woman who sympathizes and treats them with compassion, unlike the male practitioners who sometimes. . .do not. Nursing is how I would prefer to spend all my time, in my clinic healing my patients’ wounds and woes or out among them, delivering their babies or ministering to their children. But that is not what always happens. Instead, I have become unwittingly skilled at getting entangled in murder cases. I have not shied, however, from doing my part to see justice done. My involvement irritates—or amuses, depending on whom you ask—the city police department and Detective Nicholas Greaves in particular. Those of you who are acquainted with me are also aware of our warm feelings for one another. Or, at least, my warm feelings for him, which are unwise and inappropriate, now that I am not the widow I believed myself to be. Nonetheless, Detective Greaves tolerates my ‘interference’, as he calls it, more than other police detectives would do. Perhaps because I have proven to be of value. Not that he would admit that was the case.

As I write these words, I am again entangled in an investigation. This time, a prominent banker—and budding politician—has been found deceased in his room at one of the city’s water cure establishments. Not, Mr. Greaves and I both agree, by natural means. Sadly, the daughter of my nearest neighbor is the primary suspect in the man’s death. I refuse to accept her guilt and have vowed to help clear her name and find the guilty party. Those dearest to me will make me promise that this investigation will be my last one. I shall, of course, oblige them and make that promise. Somehow, though, fate keeps having different ideas.

No Darkness as like Death, A Mystery of Old San Francisco Mystery #4
Genre: Historical
Release: April 2021
Purchase Link

In a new Mystery of Old San Francisco, when a controversial politician is found dead of natural causes, Celia and Nick must prove that his death came about in a most unnatural way . . .

Few in San Francisco were troubled by the news that Ambrose Shaw had been found dead at a local health institute—the prominent banker had recently turned to politics and was reviled by many for his incendiary views. But when Celia Davies learns that his death is considered suspicious by the police and that a damning piece of evidence points to a patient of hers as the culprit, she feels compelled to prove the woman’s innocence.

Teaming up with Detective Nick Greaves, Celia soon discovers there’s no shortage of suspects, including the victim’s many political enemies, his disaffected son, who may have been too eager to receive his inheritance, and even the dead man’s fellow patients at the institute, whose founder promises miracle water cures but has been covering up numerous burglaries of his well-to-do clients.

As Celia and Nick struggle with their feelings for each other as well as the many murky aspects of the case, they’ll have to navigate an endless trail of false clues and dead ends to reach the cruel truth behind a perplexing murder . . .

About the Author
Nancy Herriman retired from an engineering career to take up the pen. She hasn’t looked back. Her work has won the Daphne du Maurier award, and Publishers Weekly has said that her ‘A Mystery of Old San Francisco’ series “… brings 1867 San Francisco to vivid life.” Her latest release is No Darkness as like Death. When not writing, she enjoys singing, gabbing about writing, and eating dark chocolate. She currently lives in central Ohio with her family. Find out more at nancyherriman.com or follow her on Facebook. 

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