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This page lists novels and short story collections featuring the private investigator Sharon McCone.

Edwin of the Iron Shoes

Marcia Muller

1977

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Elderly dealer Joan Albritton has been found dead, stabbed with an antique dagger. Her neighbors are shocked. Recurring vandalism has them frightened. Ferreting out the facts will take Sharon from the chaotic jumble of the junk dealer's establishment to a museum where San Francisco's most elegant socialites gather. But it is not until she is alone in Joan's dark shop with Clothilde, the headless dressmaker's dummy; Bruno, the stuffed German shepherd; and Edwin, the little boy mannequin in the ornate iron shoes that she will have the chance to discover the murderous secret someone will kill -- and kill again -- to keep."

Ask the Cards A Question

Marcia Muller

1982

A Sharon McCone novel.

"There's trouble in Sharon McCone's quiet San Francisco apartment building. Madame Anya, with her cards, her tame crow, and her candles, had predicted evil for Molly Antonio. Linnea Carraway, drinking heavily and careening crazily in the wake of a divorce, had argued with her. Now the sweet, elderly lady lies in her apartment. Linnea, last to see Molly alive, is the prime suspect and if Sharon means to clear her best friend, she has to find the murderer fast. Suddenly death is in the cards, threatening Sharon's oldest friendship, her professional credibility-and her life."

The Cheshire Cat's Eye

Marcia Muller

1983

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Investigating her friend's murder, private eye Sharon McCone follows a trail into San Francisco's glamorous architectural community in search of a very valuable clue--a Tiffany lamp adorned with the grinning face of a Cheshire Cat."

Games to Keep the Dark Away

Marcia Muller

1984

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Picture Salmon Bay: an isolated, run-down northern California village, home to an idle fleet of fishing boats, a deserted amusement park, and a handful of secretive, even hostile residents. When private investigator Sharon McCone arrives in search of one of the town's wayward daughters, the train leads to the thriving resort of Port San Marco. McCone believes that the missing woman, a former social worker named Jane Anthony, was involved in the suspicious deaths of three terminally ill patients at an exclusive hospice."

Leave A Message for Willie

Marcia Muller

1984

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Amid the shifting world of San Francisco flea markets, shady vendors sell junk, precious antiques, and stolen goods side by side. Somewhere in the mix, a priceless collection of sacred Torah scrolls is gathering dust - and attracting a group of fanatical killers. When private investigator Sharon McCone helps one flea market kingpin fend off a stalker, she's drawn into the netherworld of deal-making and thievery, a dangerous milieu seldom seen by outsiders. For her client Willie Whelan, the sidewalk sales are a game: trick the customer, outsell the competition, and stay one step ahead of the cops. But Willie's enemies have something more sinister in mind - a conspiracy so heinous it threatens the religious artifacts, Willie's freedom, and McCone's life."

Double

Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller

1984

A Nameless Detective and Sharon McCone novel.

"The "Nameless Detective" and Sharon McCone join forces at a San Diego private detective convention in a posh seaside hotel to investigate a case involving multiple murder, a crime ring dealing in smuggled fugitives, and bizarre, kinky lifestyles. For Sharon it's a chance to catch up with old friends - all except for the one who fell four stories from one of the hotel spires. Now, Sharon is determined to find out why her friend died."

There's Nothing to Be Afraid of

Marcia Muller

1985

A Sharon McCone novel.

"The Globe Apartments, six stories of decaying brick and concrete, rises above San Francisco's volatile Tenderloin district. The seedy former hotel, once a haven for the city's down and out, now houses Vietnamese families striving to improve their lives. But private eye Sharon McCone believes that someone from the Tenderloin's shadowy underworld is determined to drive the newcomers out. .... When the All Souls Legal Cooperative is called upon to stop the patterns of intimidation, resentment explodes into murder. As McCone takes up the refugees' cause, she is drawn into the depths of the city's most hated industry - and into the secrets of San Francisco's buried past."

Eye of the Storm

Marcia Muller

1988

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Appleby Island, once the magnificent home of a tycoon and planter, is a place of history and mystery in the Sacramento delta. Its story includes hints of tragedy, fueling rumors that ghosts still walk its derelict orchards. Now Patsy McCone, her new lover, and a group of investors are turning the old mansion into an elegant bed and breakfast inn. Summoned by her eccentric younger sister, San Francisco's #1 P.I. Sharon McCone arrives in the teeth of a gale, taking a busman's holiday to investigate mysterious acts of vandalism that are running the project to ruin. But when simple sabotage escalates to savage murder, she finds herself trapped on the island with a desperate killer -- and flung into a raging storm of treachery, violence, and sudden death."

There's Something in A Sunday

Marcia Muller

1989

A Sharon McCone novel.

"It's a cold Sunday in San Francisco. Sharon McCone's alone on a routine surveillance job, following a man named Frank Wilkinson through the city's lush horticultural hot spots to the sere foothills of the Diablos. But when she returns to find her kindly old client in a pool of blood nothing she's learned explains it. The search for answers takes her from Wilkinson's sullen brood on Burning Oak Ranch, to the eccentric havoc of a household in the Haight, to Golden Gate Park and the desperate digs of the homeless. Unraveling the threads that link a homeless man, a pair of prominent activists, a wayward rancher, and a mysterious missing beauty, Sharon is plunged into the depths of domenstic mayhem...entering a realm where dreams shatter and marriage leads to bloody murder."

The Shape of Dread

Marcia Muller

1989

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Private eye Sharon McCone dusts off a baffling case that made headlines two years earlier. Young comic Tracy Kostakos disappeared just as she was beginning to attract large audiences. McCone turns up oddities in the case and reveals the darker side of comedy--as well as upsets the California legal justice system."

Trophies and Dead Things

Marcia Muller

1990

A Sharon McCone novel.

"When a former sixties radical is murdered during a string of random sniper attacks, the All Souls Legal Cooperative must settle his surprisingly large estate. Then private investigator Sharon McCone comes across a new will, made just days before he died, that disinherits his two children in favor of four unknown and unconnected parties. McCone sifts through Perry Hilderly's belongings, but finds little to explain this puzzling change - until she uncovers a .357 with the serial number burned off."

Where Echoes Live

Marcia Muller

1991

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Sharon McCone has been asked by a former colleague to look into the plans of a large corporation to reopen a gold mine near the Nevada border that could seriously endanger the ecosystem of the area. Following a trail of bizarre happenings, disappearances, and a dead body, McCone's trail leads to her to a Hong Kong industrialist . . . and a killer bent on large-scale destruction."

Deceptions: A Short Story Collection

Marcia Muller

1991

"A collection of short stories ranging from the straight-forward detective to the off-beat mystery. Includes Sharon McCone and Elena Oliverez stories as well as an original introduction by the author. Marcia Muller."

Pennies on A Dead Woman's Eyes

Marcia Muller

1992

A Sharon McCone novel.

"It looked like a lost cause. Convicted of a brutal society murder in 1956, Lis Benedict had served a long sentence and just been released from jail. Then in a last desperate attempt to clean the Benedict name, her daughter Judy convinced All Souls Legal Cooperative to take her mother's case before the Historical Tribunal. Sharon McCone loves a challenge but has little affection for the cold and unlikeable Lis. Then, suddenly, the woman in question is dead, a vicious threat is scrawled in read paint across the front of Sharon's house, and San Francisco's #1 P.I. is following a fresh trail of death that leads back to a wild debutante, a prestigious think tank, and the power politics of the '50s...all in search of a killer who has engineered a fatal cover-up and built a brilliant career on murder."

Wolf in the Shadows

Marcia Muller

1993

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Successful in her investigative work for All Souls Legal Cooperative, happy with her newly renovated house, and feeling somewhat more secure in her relationship with the mysterious environmental activist, Hy Ripinsky, Sharon is shocked to find herself suddenly faced with a wrenching ultimatum. No longer a small, informal co-op, All Souls has grown. New legal partners, exasperated with Sharon's free-wheeling ways, want to kick her upstairs with a raise, perks, and a "career opportunity" that will chain her to a desk forever. Offered a take-it-or-leave-it deal, Sharon is in turmoil. And to make matters worse, Hy has disappeared."

Till the Butchers Cut Him Down

Marcia Muller

1994

A Sharon McCone novel.

"In the biggest professional move of her life, Sharon is cutting her umbilical cord of All Soul's Legal Cooperative and opening her own shop. But even before the phone lines are installed, McCone Investigations gets its first case - one that lifts Sharon off a roof in a helicopter and deposits her on a posh hideaway on the north California coast. Her new client is T.J. Gordon, a "turnaround man" - that rare breed of corporate troubleshooter who creates profits and enemies while reviving failing companies. Gordon owns more than the helicopter that whisks Sharon away... much more. And he's not really new. A friend from her radical student days in Berkeley, T.J. was a campus nomad with a lifestyle shadier than most. Now T.J. Gordon - grown ever more quirky, eccentric, and reclusive - is convinced someone is trying to kill him. He wants Sharon's help. Then he does another kind of turnaround: he vanishes."

A Wild and Lonely Place

Marcia Muller

1995

A Sharon McCone novel.

"It's worth a $1 Million reward to Sharon McCone if she catches the man called the Diplo-bomber, who has set off bombs at consulates all over the U.S. Now he's in San Francisco - and that's McCone's turf. When he misses his latest target, the embassy of a small Arab emirate, McCone's on the spot--and soon discovers some disturbing things about this strange, forbidding embassy. One is the American woman kept a virtual prisoner there by her Arab mother-in-law. The other is a mischievous, lonely nine-year-old girl who's in grave danger not only from the terrorist but also from her estranged playboy father. Went the child disappears, McCone follows her trail to a desolate Caribbean island. Here McCone's rescue mission takes her dangerously close to death and the hidden motive behind the Diplo-bomber's explosions. Now, with a child's life hanging in the balance, what McCone plans to do may either be called cold-blooded murder...or justice."

The McCone Files

Marcia Muller

1995

Sharon McCone short stories.

"Sharon is a humane and sympathetic sleuth who makes a difference to her clients and to the world around her. The McCone Files contains the 13 previously uncollected short stories about McCone, including the Shamus Award winning 'Final Resting Place', as well as two written specially for this volume."

• Place That Time Forgot
• Somewhere In The City
• Final Resting Place
• Silent Night
• Benny's Space
• Lost Coast
• File Closed
• Last Open File
• Merrill-Go-Round
• Wild Mustard
• Broken Men
• Deceptions
• Cache And Carry
• Deadly Fantasies
• All The Lonely People

The Broken Promise Land

Marcia Muller

1996

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Someone is bent on getting revenge on Ricky Savage, Sharon McCone's brother-in-law and a two-time Grammy Award-winning country singer. The danger escalates as Sharon realizes that more than one person has been playing underhanded games--and that the music industry is truly a broken promise land."

Both Ends of the Night

Marcia Muller

1997

A Sharon McCone novel.

"A full-fledged pilot for several years, Sharon McCone is due for the biannual flight review required by the FAA. Her former flight instructor, Matty Wildress, invites her to fly up to the small Sonoma County town of Los Alegres for the evaluation. The test isn't due for several months, however, and McCone suspects Matty has more than safe flying on her mind. She's right. Matty's live-in lover John Seabrook, has been gone for a week, abandoning his small son, Zach. In a desperate letter John entrusts the boy to Matty's care, urging them to go into hiding immediately. But Matty is a professional and determined to perform in the last aerobatic air show of the year. Despite the extra security, something goes horribly wrong. Suddenly, an ordinary missing person case becomes a personal vendetta. Together with her lover, Hy Ripinsky, McCone bypasses the authorities to hunt down the man responsible for Matty's death. Her search will take her across the country as she uncovers the startling details of John Seabrook's past."

While Other People Sleep

Marcia Muller

1998

A Sharon McCone novel.

"It starts when Sharon McCone's acquaintance tells her that someone was pretending to be the private eye at a party. Sharon investigates further and discovers that the imposter has no qualms about mixing business with sex. Even more alarming, the faux McCone is cancelling Sharon's credit cards, invading her home, and making frightening calls to family members. But when Sharon is almost arrested for a crime committed by the imposter, the determined P.I. pulls out all the stops in her search for a criminal hitting far too close to home."

Duo

Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

1998

"The world's first two-author, husband-and-wife short story collection. Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini are two of the world's most popular and respected mystery authors. Their new collection demonstrates why this team has so many fans. Here you'll find Muller's famous Sharon McCone searching for the dark truth in "Somewhere in the City." Pronzini's long-heralded private eye Nameless is tracking down a clever killer in "Home is the Place Where." McCone and Nameless team up in the wry "Cache and Carry." Fourteen great stories in all."

A Walk Through the Fire

Marcia Muller

1999

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Accidents are plaguing a documentary film crew on breathtakingly beautiful Kauai. Can San Francisco P.I. Sharon McCone ferret out possible sabotage behind the scenes? The job sounds like a breeze - McCone envisions romantic, tropical nights with her lover, Hy Ripinsky. Instead, she finds a troubled paradise with rising tensions between native and non-native Hawaiians, a film going south fast, and a macabre ritual death. Then a mysterious local pilot rattles her commitment to Hy, and soon McCone is in danger herself ... caught in the place Hawaiians call 'ahi wela maka'u', the place between fire love and fire terror, the place where even a seasoned private eye can get burned."

Listen to the Silence

Marcia Muller

2000

A Sharon McCone novel.

"For PI Sharon McCone, when one door opens, another shuts. In the midst of celebrating a joyous wedding, she gets word that her father has died. The news leads her to the rituals of death: the scattering of ashes, the sharing of grief, the sorting of a loved one's belongings. But the last of these acts leads to a shocking discovery that will flip her life upside down. Soon, McCone is drawn into a conspiracy that includes the attempted murder of an activist lawyer and threats on her own life. No one is talking, and to discover the truth, Sharon McCone must learn to listen to the silence - before a killer's bullet silences her."

McCone and Friends

Marcia Muller

2000

Sharon McCone short stories.

"Now McCone’s colleagues get a chance to offer their viewpoints on some cases. McCone and Friends contains three stories told by McCone herself, as well as two stories narrated by the agency's investigator Rae Kelleher; a story from the viewpoint of its office manager Ted Smalley; an investigation conducted by McCone's nephew Mick Savage; and one by her long-term lover Hy Ripinsky."

• If You Can't Take The Heat
• The Holes In The System
• One Final Arrangement
• Up At The Riverside
• Knives At Midnight
• The Wall
• Recycle
• Solo

Season Of Sharing

Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

2001

A Sharon McCone and Nameless detective story.

A limited edition 19 page chapbook.

Dead Midnight

Marcia Muller

2002

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Stretching flat across the water, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is a popular spot...for jumpers. Roger Nagasawa, a brilliant employee at a popular Internet magazine, is its latest "suicide" and veteran P. I. Sharon McCone's new case. But instead of getting closure for his family, McCone uncovers more questions than answers: Roger's stark apartment...his aloof parents, who had wanted an investigation and now refuse to talk...a cutthroat workplace...a cache of secrets in a shady waterfront deal. It's a puzzle within a puzzle with a deadly game at its heart. For the elusive, twisted trail is about to circle back into Sharon McCone's own life-and bring the danger home."

The Dangerous Hour

Marcia Muller

2004

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Sharon McCone and the staff of McCone Investigations are enjoying the firm's healthy state and future prospects. But things take a turn for the worse when one of McCone's operatives, Julia Rafael, is arrested for stealing a credit card from a client and making purchases with it. Sharon took a chance on hiring Julia, a former juvenile delinquent who seems to have turned her life around. Julia swears she is innocent and Sharon thinks there must be some mistake-until she learns about the many expensive mail order packages the police found in Julia's apartment. Sharon must get to the bottom of the mystery before the firm's reputation is ruined."

Vanishing Point

Marcia Muller

2006

A Sharon McCone novel.

"In the wake of her Nevada nuptuals to fellow detective Hy Ripinsky, McCone dives into one of her most baffling cases yet- the disappearance of Laurel Greenwood, who vanished twenty-two years before without a trace. Laurel's grown-up daughter is desperately seeking closure and wants McCone to find out the fate of the young mother and artisty who never returned from a day of landscape painting in a central California coastal town. The case is cold, and the evidence McCone begins uncovering is chilling. Secrets kept for two decades now emerge to create a portrait of a woman who's perfect on the surface and anything but a paragon beneath it. She intends to uncover the truth- the whole truth- even when it awakens her suspicions that the bonds of marriage can easily become chains, and that escaping them may lead to desperate acts... or murderous ones."

The Ever-Running Man

Marcia Muller

2007

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Sharon McCone is hired by her husband's security firm to track down 'the ever-running man', a shadowy figure who has been leaving explosive devices at their various offices. She doesn't have to search for long. When McCone narrowly escapes an explosion in her apartment building, she catches a glimpse of his retreating figure. The ever-running man is dangerously close - and anyone connected to the firm seems to be within his deadly range. To complicate matters, McCone is forced to question her reluctant husband Hy about his involvement in some of the firm's dark secrets. The history of corruption may jeopardise their marriage, but uncovering the secrets of the firm may be the only way she can save her husband's life, and her own."

Burn Out

Marcia Muller

2008

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Traumatized by a recent life-or-death investigation, Sharon McCone flees to her ranch in California's high desert country to contemplate her future. Deep depression shadows her days and nights, and a chance encounter with a troubled, highly secretive Native American woman begins to haunt her dreams. Even though she is determined not to investigate anything during her stay--and perhaps not ever again--McCone is drawn into the plight of the young woman and her dysfunctional family. A murder and traces of violence at a deserted resort lead her across the desert and into Nevada, and finally to a remote and isolated ranch, where danger lies closer that she expects and where her future and life itself may hang in the balance."

Locked In

Marcia Muller

2009

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Shot in the head by an unknown assailant, Sharon McCone finds herself trapped by locked-in syndrome: almost total paralysis but an alert, conscious mind. Since the late-night attack occurred at her agency's offices, the natural conclusion was that it was connected to one of the firm's cases. As Sharon lies in her hospital bed, furiously trying to break out of her body's prison and discover her attacker's identity, all the members of her agency fan out to find the reason why she was assaulted. Meanwhile, Sharon becomes a locked-in detective, sorting through the clues her colleagues discover. As the case draws to a surprising and even shocking conclusion, Sharon's husband, Hy, must decide whether or not to surrender to his own violent past and exact fatal vengeance when the person responsible is identified."

Coming Back

Marcia Muller

2010

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Sharon struggles to regain control over her body. Impatient with her progress, Sharon wants everything to go back to normal, although she suspects that it won't be possible to return to her old life. Meanwhile, Sharon's relationships are suffering. Her husband Hy Ripinsky is impatient with her refusal to accept help and some of her colleagues doubt her abilities after the accident. But when Sharon's friend from physical therapy goes missing, she must call upon those closest to her to find out the truth behind the disappearance. The investigation soon points to issues of national security and finally forces Sharon to confront her greatest fears."

City of Whispers

Marcia Muller

2011

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Private eye Sharon McCone receives an e-mail asking for help from her emotionally disturbed half brother Darcy Blackhawk. She replies . . . but gets no response. As Sharon digs deeper, she discovers that Darcy sent his message from an Internet café in San Francisco, a city he's never been to before. Sensing that her brother is in terrible danger, Sharon begins a search for him throughout the city. The investigation leads her to the body of a woman at the Palace of Fine Arts, where a witness had told her that Darcy was headed. Then, as she digs deeper, Sharon uncovers a connection to the unsolved murder of a young heiress to a multimillion-dollar banking fortune. Now Sharon must race to solve both murders and ensure her brother's safety, despite the imminent danger that lurks within her own family."

Skeleton in the Closet

Marcia Muller

2012

A Sharon McCone short story published electronically only.

"Sharon McCone is excited--and relieved--to move her detective agency into the perfect new office space. Unfortunately, real estate woes aren't the only headache that the new building brings into Sharon's life. Possible nineteenth century ghosts and a shady "intra-reality organization" ensure that Sharon's new office will bring as much excitement as any of her clients."

Looking For Yesterday

Marcia Muller

2012

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Three years ago, Caro Warrick was acquitted for the murder of her best friend Amelia Bettencourt, but the lingering doubts of everyone around Caro are affecting her life. Sharon McCone is confident that she can succeed where other detectives have failed (though at times it's hard to shake her own misgivings about what happened), but when Caro is brutally beaten right at Sharon's doorstep, the investigation takes on a whole new course. How many more people remain at risk until Amelia's murderer is finally caught?"

The Night Searchers

Marcia Muller

2014

A Sharon McCone novel.

"When new clients Jay and Camilla Givens come to Sharon McCone with Camilla's stories of devil worshippers performing human sacrifices in San Francisco, the detective is sceptical, to say the least. However, when she discovers that Jay is involved with the treasure hunting group The Night Searchers, she starts looking into what exactly he and the other participants are up to after dark. As she digs deeper into the Searchers, Sharon joins their ranks in order to find out more."

Merrill-Go-Round

Marcia Muller

2016

A Sharon McCone short story published electronically only.

"McCone’s first recorded short case—a private-eye story that is also a 'woman’s story,' in the best sense of that term."

Tell Me Who I Am

Marcia Muller

2016

A Sharon McCone short story published electronically only.

Someone Always Knows

Marcia Muller

2016

A Sharon McCone novel.

"Finally settled into their new home after losing their house in a fire, and fully established in their new shared offices, private investigator Sharon McCone and her business partner husband Hy are starting to feel comfortable. That calm is shattered when Hy's former colleague Gage Renshaw - a shady troublemaker who they had presumed dead - reappears, and it's unclear what he wants from his prosperous former associate. Meanwhile, Sharon has a new client with a desire to rid a derelict house he's just bought in the city's notorious Western Addition neighborhood from intruders, drug users, and thugs. However, the abandoned house holds its share of secrets, and soon Sharon is contending with more than a simple eyesore as she searches for the individual who is obsessed with destroying her life."

The Color of Fear

Marcia Muller

2017

A Sharon McCone novel.

"When a knock on the door in the middle of the night wakes Sharon, she's wholly unprepared for the horrifying news: her father has been the victim of a vicious, racially-motivated attack. A nationally recognized Shoshone artist, Elwood had been visiting Sharon for the holidays, browsing for gifts in San Francisco's exclusive Marina district when he was set upon by a mob of angry young men. Now he lies in a coma, hovering between life and death. With little progress on the investigation from the overworked, short-handed police, Sharon resolves to track down Elwood's attackers herself. But when Sharon begins receiving hate-filled, racist threats from a shadowy group, it becomes clear that her pursuit of justice may be putting her own life in jeopardy."

The Breakers

Marcia Muller

2018

A Sharon McCone novel.

"On a foggy summer morning, private investigator Sharon McCone receives a call from her former neighbors, the Curleys. Their usually dependable daughter Chelle hasn't been answering their calls for weeks. Would Sharon check on her? Sharon arranges to visit the building Chelle had been living in and rehabbing in southwest San Francisco. Once it was a nightclub and bar, she learns, and a favorite destination for the city's elite during Prohibition. But there's something sinister about the space, and Sharon quickly discovers why. Lurking behind a divider screen is a ghastly art gallery: portraits and caricatures of mass murderers, long ago and recent. Jack the Ripper. The Zodiac and Zebra killers of the 1970s. Charles Manson and his girls. Scott Peterson, who killed his pregnant wife, Laci, and dumped her body into the Bay on Christmas Eve. What, an alarmed Sharon wonders, was Chelle doing in this chamber of horrors? And where is she now?"