Hi!
I’m so glad Dru Ann told you to look me up when you came to San Francisco. I have the whole Saturday off – no special events at the Devor Museum, donor dinners, or proposals to write asking museum supporters for mega donations. I hope you wore trainers and dressed in layers since this is a typical Bay Area day, fog in the morning, especially here in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of the city, and sun in the afternoon.
Let’s head to Marin County. The fog’s so low over the Golden Gate Bridge that it looks like whipped cream pouring in under those tall International Orange-painted towers, doesn’t it? The view along Bridgeway Boulevard in Sausalito is gorgeous – see the Bay Bridge, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Alcatraz? Espresso and croissants outside at Poggio’s and then we’ll drive out to Rodeo Beach and walk off the calories while we sniff Pacific Ocean breezes.
I know you want to take another selfie with the cliffs behind you, but we need to get going if we’re going to take the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge across to Berkeley. I wasn’t sure where to have lunch. Betty’s Oceanview Diner on Fourth Street is a tradition and we could do some serious clothes shopping (me for the size 10 corner of my closet, which I have named Hopeful), but I thought it might be fun to eat at one of the many ethnic spots near the University of California Berkeley campus. Falafal, pizza, croque monsieur, Ethiopian stew, Balinese nasi goring, Korean barbeque, vegan, Pakistani – with 37,000 students, there’s something good to eat on every block! If we’re lucky, the 100-year old Campanile tower will chime while we’re here.
It’s getting warm. I’ll bet you’re glad you did the dressing in layers thing. I was in New England last spring. Don’t get me started on how mixed up with murder I got, but the weather there is so much more consistent and, on balance, I’m glad I went even if I did get kidnapped at one point.
I lied – I have one small work task. There’s an exhibition of California artists at the Oakland Museum that I promised the Devor’s director I’d peek at. You remember Teeni, my office assistant, and Cal Ph.D. candidate? Her doctoral project is a Funk Art show we’re doing at the Devor soon and we’ll be borrowing a few pieces from the Museum’s collection for it.
Sorry to keep pushing, but we have to get back to San Francisco. We’re going in a circle across three bridges. No baseball game today at the new stadium just south of the Bay Bridge. If there were, there would be a flotilla of little boats out here, with fans hoping to catch home runs that get hit out of the park and into the Bay.
We’re going back to change at my condo, a block or so from the Broadway mansion where a particularly nasty man used to live until I figured out what a creep he was, and what to do about it. Charlie Sugerman and Dickie – you remember him, my ex-husband and actually a pretty nice guy as long as you’re not married to him? – are meeting us at one of San Francisco’s hottest Asian fusion restaurants, The Slanted Door, in this trendy indoor market hall at the Ferry Building. Charlie swears he’s off duty as a homicide cop tonight. I would have had Dickie pick us up, but he only drives Porsches and Ferraris – two-seaters. Better bring that jacket. The fog has already started to roll in and the breeze is picking up now that the sun has set.
I hope you’re not tired. We may decide to take a walk along the Embarcadero after dinner. And there’s North Beach, and Chinatown, and we haven’t even talked about the Starlight Room at the Drake Hotel, where they make great appletinis.
I’m so glad you could spend a day with me. Kiss kiss – see you next time you’re in town!
Mixed Up With Murder is the third book in the “Dani O’Rourke” mystery series, published by Reputation Books, February 2016.
The third book in the thrilling Danielle O’Rourke mystery series brings fans once again into the elegant and exciting world of Devor Museum’s chief fundraiser.
Dani is flying east for what should be an easy and interesting diversion, a short consulting assignment to help a small New England college with a plentiful gift of money and art from an alum. But the donation comes with some strange terms, and she soon learns the donor is a powerful man hiding some alarming secrets. When the college’s vice president drowns on a golf course, Dani finds herself in the center of a dangerous plot and, is once again, mixed up with murder.
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All comments are welcomed.
About the author
Susan C. Shea spent more than two decades accumulating story material before creating her best-selling 
mystery series featuring a professional fundraiser for a fictional museum in San Francisco: Murder In The Abstract, The King’s Jar, and Mixed Up With Murder (Feb. 2016). A new, three-volume set will be released in early 2016. Currently the secretary of the national Sisters in Crime board, she’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, and blogs on CriminalMinds. Visit Susan at www.susancshea.com
Photo credit: Cheshire Issacs
Giveaway: Leave comment below for your chance to win a print copy of Mixed Up With Murder. US entries only, please. The giveaway will end February 10, 2016 at 12 AM EST. Good luck everyone!
Sounds like a good read. Thanks for introducing us and the chance to win.
This is a new to me author and series. Thanks
Yeah, another new author and a series to explore. Thanks for the intro!
I’m exhausted after that sightseeing tour!
I didn’t know about this series. Thanks for the introduction!
Another new-to-me author to try. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
Thanks for introducing me to a new author
Thanks for this great book and new series which sounds enjoyable.
Sounds like a great read.
A series I have missed. Sounds like a good read.
I wanted to continue reading after three excerpt -thus I would so enjoy reading this series. Thank you for the opportunity.
What a tease. Now I must get this book to see what happens in the end. Thanks for the information. robeader53@yahoo.com
Love the way she speaks to us as though we are there. How down to earth.
San Francisco is one of the only cities I enjoy. This sounds like a whale of a day’s excursion!
I’m sorry that I am not familiar with your books but I trust Dru’s recommendations and would love to win this!
How did I miss the first 2 books about my favorite City in the world. Must do something about this. My first trip to the CITY was the Worlds Fair in 1938. Thanks for the chance to win the 3rd book.
This sounds like a series I’d love. Can’t wait to sample it!
I loved the first two books in this series and am thrilled to see the third has been released. I’m really looking forward to reading Mixed Up With Murder and would love to add this to my ever-growing book collection. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
Another new author, another new series, another 3 books added to my wish list!
Another series to add to my TBR list. Sounds great. I worked in three non-profits for over 20 years in the fund raising depatment so this is a must read for me.
I haven’t read anything in this series, so I’m looking forward to reading the first two, and then this one as well.
Another new series – hanks for the introduction.
oops – thanks for the introduction
Mixed Up With Murder sounds great. Thank you for introducing me to Susan Shea’s books.
Interesting plot. Adding to my TBR list. Thank you.
Enjoyed Dani’s post. A must have book. so hoping.
I have the first two books and loved them! Can’t wait to read to the new one….February 10 is my lucky day!
New to me series and I’m already exhausted! 🙂
Thanks for the chance to win!
I love San Francisco—so I’m sure to enjoy this book. Thanks for the contest.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Is this the first time I’m hearing of this series?!?!
Thanx for the heads-up & giveaway….