The Cliff House Strangler

May 7, 2007
P
lucky lawyer Sarah Woolson arrives at rugged Land's End on a predictably dark and stormy night in Tallman's third entertaining and atmospheric 1880s San Francisco whodunit (after 2005's The Russian Hill Murders
). Socialites have gathered at Cliff House for a séance with Madame Karpova, self-proclaimed Russian psychic. She puts on a good show until tell-all columnist Darien Moss decides to spoil the party. Then comes a crash of lightning, the lights go out, and when they come back on, Darien is found garroted with a balalaika string. Sarah, trying to establish herself as San Francisco's first female attorney, turns sleuth with the help of her devoted brother, a crime novelist. Mounting corpses distract Sarah from the miseries of her first client, a single mother whose flight from a drunken husband (legally represented by Sarah's love interest, Robert Campbell) provides a poignant subplot. Tallman throws in some unexpected twists, keeping the reader guessing to the end.

Starred review from June 1, 2007
It is 1881, and San Francisco attorney Sarah Woolson ("The Russian Hill Murders") has opened her own law firm (over the wishes of her respectable family). When she and her colleague Robert Campbell attend a sé ance run by a new medium at the famed Cliff House, a reporter with a habit of digging up dirt on prominent people is strangled. Sarah is hired to represent the man accused of the crime, but soon there are other murders. Once again bringing Victorian San Francisco to colorful life, Tallman offers an entertaining mystery with an indomitable, independent heroine that will appeal to fans of Anne Perry and Rhys Bowen. This is a series to watch, sure to get better with each succeeding book. Tallman lives in Incline Village, NV.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2007
Nineteenth-century feminist lawyer Sarah Woolson (Murder on Nob Hill, 2004, and The Russian Hill Murders, 2005) has just opened her own law firm in San Francisco. While waiting for paying clients, she decides to satisfy her curiosity about spiritualism and do her journalist brother a favor by attending a s'ance given by Madame Karpova at the Cliff House. Her friend and fellow lawyer Robert Campbell accompanies her. The surroundings are suitably eerie. Cliff House sits on the rocky shore above the Pacific Ocean, and a raging thunderstorm makes the room dark. The attendees include some of San Franciscos elite as well as a less-than-respectable gossip columnist, who ends up dead as the s'ance and the storm provide cover for the murderer. Sarah finds herself in the middle of a complex case involving Russians, ghosts, corrupt politicians (one of whom is her brother), and City Hall. This is a fine historical series with a strong female sleuth who stands up for herself and plots that raises issues that remain relevant today.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)