China Blues

I really loved this book. I love San Francisco, I love a good story, I love mysteries, and I love words. I wish this writer would write something like this set in New York City because if there's a place I love more than San Francisco, it's New York.

A real rollercoaster of a ride through San Francisco in the year 1923. This was the year that President Warren Harding died in the City by the Bay of mysterious causes. This was the year organized crime was spreading like a virus across America. From Chinatown to Nob Hill to the Tenderloin, San Francisco then - like now - had it all. And so does China Blues. If you ever walked the streets of Chinatown and wondered just what the hell was going on behind all those closed doors, this is the book for you. It's also chock full of city history come alive and adance with living breathing characters, not the least of which is the city itself.

This book is very enjoyable for the excellent writing of its author, Pamela Longfellow, and the vivid portrayal of 1930's San Francisco - specially if you love old black and white gangster films. The love story is exotic and poignant, and the action almost non-stop. If this books suffers at all, it is that sometimes, Ms. Longfellow's beautifully stylish writing gets in the way of the telling of the story. However a thoroughly enjoyable read.