Bones of the Barbary Coast

May 8, 2006
In Hecht's less than satisfying third novel to feature paranormal investigator Lucretia "Cree" Black (after 2004's Land of Echoes
), an old family friend, SFPD homicide detective Bert Marchetti, who's nearing retirement and wishes to leave the force with as few loose ends as possible, enlists Cree's help with an unusual skeletal find—an apparent victim of the 1906 earthquake whose strange physiognomy leads the forensic anthropologists on the case to dub him the Wolfman. The detective's motives become suspect when Cree realizes that his agenda may include settling scores with a deformed radiologist Marchetti believes is an unpunished murderer. The chance discovery of a 19th-century diary enables Cree to piece together some details about the Wolfman, but the two main plot lines never quite mesh, and her risky actions belie her reputation for being levelheaded.

August 1, 2006
The third Cree Black novel is a mystery without a murder and a ghost story without ghosts. But the paranormal investigator still delivers a satisfying adventure as she explores what happened to an abnormal creature that died in the basement of a Victorian-era home during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The Wolfman, as he is called by forensics researchers compelled to examine his distended bones, reunites Cree with SFPD homicide detective Bert Marchetti, a childhood family friend who is about to retire with too many skeletons in his own closet. With the help of a scarred radiologist who hates Bert and might have sociopathic tendencies, Cree immerses herself in the city's checkered past. But while her investigation slowly catches fire, the book's most compelling tale by far is told by Lydia Schweitzer, the woman who lived in the house at the end of the nineteenth century and kept a diary of her encounters with the strange and tragic creature. Readers will be forgiven if they wish for a lot more Lydia and a little less Cree. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)