Golden Gate Mysteries: A Bibliography of Crime Fiction Set in the San Francisco Bay Area is a treasure trove for mystery readers seeking San Francisco and Bay Area settings. This site includes more than 1,250 mystery, detective, and crime fiction titles. Only first American editions are listed unless the book was originally published elsewhere, in which cases the first edition and the first American editions are listed. Entries are in alphabetical order by author, with multiple books by the same author listed in chronological order. Place of publication, publisher, and publication date are given, and many have brief reviews by Randal Brandt, Maria Brandt, or Harriet Klausner. Randal Brandt, the compiler of the site, is a librarian at The Bancroft Library, the primary special collections library at the University of California, Berkeley. The library houses the Don Herron Collection of Mystery and Detective Stories, one of the largest collections of San Francisco mysteries. Brandt's web page and curriculum vitae shows numerous ties to his work with crime and mystery fiction. A link is provided to his e‐mail address for suggestions for improvement, corrections, or additions.
There is a link to a nice introductory page about the San Francisco mystery and crime fiction scene and literary detectives such as Dashiell Hamett's Sam Spade, Robin Burcell's Kate Martinelli, and David Dodge's Whit Whitney.
A Methodology button reveals the seven sources used to compile the site: Don Herron, “the godfather of San Francisco mysteries”; OCLC's WorldCat database; Crime Fiction III: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1749‐1995 (Allen J. Hubin); An Annotated Bibliography of California Fiction, 1664‐1970 (Newton D. Baird and Robert Greenwood); the special San Francisco Mysteries issue of Mystery Readers Journal (Vol. 11 No. 2, Summer 1995); Dan Krummes, director of the Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library at the University of California, Berkeley; and the employees of the San Francisco Mystery Bookstore. The Methodology page contains a number of embedded links where one can further investigate topics.
The site is attractive and easily navigable. Alphabet buttons on every page lead to the author lists. A nice feature is the New Additions button where one can click to see the latest entries, including forthcoming titles. Fans of this genre will find this feature useful in keeping abreast of new material. Internet Explorer or Netscape 7.x are recommended for optimum viewing.
This site is highly recommended for anyone wanting to find books or learn more about mysteries or crime fiction set in the San Francisco or Bay Area.
