Nineteenth-century attorney Sarah Woolson is still trying to get her life together. Against her family's wishes, she opens her own San Francisco law firm, only to find that clients---paying clients, that is---are wary of allowing a woman to manage their legal affairs. Just when her patience, as well as her money, are about to run out, Sarah and her friend and former colleague, Robert Campbell, attend a séance at San Francisco's Cliff House. Making their way through the worst storm of the season, they arrive at their destination to find themselves in for much more than, in Robert's words, "silly parlor tricks." After a dramatic display of spirit apparitions, flying trumpets, and phantom music, Madame Olga Karpova---a renowned Russian clairvoyant---and her guests make a grisly discovery: One of the twelve people seated at the table has been brutally strangled. Later, when two more séance participants are found slain, Sarah is pressed into defending the accused murderer. Working on her client's case, she quickly finds herself at the center of a complicated murder plot involving ghosts, gypsies, and City Hall, all the while facing off with Robert in a volatile legal battle and investigating her brother Frederick's shady political dealings. Hardly proper behavior for a nineteenth-century woman, but Sarah wouldn't have it any other way. Feisty and determined, Sarah continues to flout the notions of "proper" femininity in this series that is a turn-of-the-century answer to Legally Blonde.
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 séance 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 Francisco's elite as well as a less-than-respectable gossip columnist, who ends up dead as the séance 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. Bibel, Barbara
Even as a small child, Shirley Tallman dreamed of being a writer. Born in Los Angeles, California, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area as a teenager, where she attended junior high and high school. She obtained her BA degree in Radio and Television at San Jose State University, while working as Traffic Manager, script writer and director for KNTV, a local ABC affiliate station.
After college, Shirley flew to the Orient and the South Pacific as a flight attendant for Pan American World Airlines. Never one to waste a great opportunity, she used her travels to fill notebooks with ideas, story-lines and snap shots for future novels.
Juggling marriage, children and her new writing career, Shirley wrote a syndicated newspaper column while working up the courage to tackle that first novel. To her surprise when she finally did write it, it actually sold! To date she's written fifteen books, including ten contemporary Harlequin/Silhouette romances published under the pseudonym Erin Ross. During her "romance" years, she placed #6 on Waldenbooks' national bestseller list, and was nominated as "Best Desire of the Year," by "Romantic Times"!
Currently, Shirley is writing an historical mystery series for St. Martin's Press. The books -- MURDER ON NOB HILL, THE RUSSIAN HILL MURDERS, and the THE CLIFF HOUSE STRANGLER -- feature Sarah Woolson, a feisty nineteenth-century female attorney who squares off against an all-male legal establishment. The fourth book in the series, SCANDAL ON RINCON HILL, will be released on January 5, 2010.
Together with her screenwriting partner, Nancy Hersage, Shirley has written and sold television scripts to NBC, CBS, and ABC. Their movie, "THE BABYSITTER'S SEDUCTION", originally aired on NBC and continues to play regularly on the Lifetime Channel. Their current project, "THE WAR MAGICIAN", was bought for Tom Cruise by Paramount Studios and their story, "LILI", is being produced for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.
Among other groups, Shirley is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Novelist's Inc., Sisters In Crime, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Association, Willamette Valley Writers and the Oregon Writer's Colony.
Shirley welcomes visitors to her website: www.shirleytallman.com. Check it out for great monthly giveaways, plus some exciting contests coming up to celebrate the release of SCANDAL ON RINCON HILL!!
This review is from: The Cliff House Strangler (Sarah Woolson Mysteries) (Hardcover)
THE CLIFF HOUSE STRANGLER is a fast-paced, intriguing mystery with authentic historical details that make you feel like you're actually there. Set in 1880s San Francisco, female attorney Sarah Woolson is a brave, outspoken, caring heroine who will go to any lengths to help her clients, in contrast to some of her opinionated and prejudiced male colleagues. I loved the psychic sub-plot, which reflects the obsession with spiritualism during this time period. Tallman kept me guessing whodunit until the very end of the book! A real page turner. I highly recommend this third book in the Sarah Woolson historical mystery series. In my opinion, it's the best one yet!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: The Cliff House Strangler (Sarah Woolson Mysteries) (Hardcover)
_The Cliffhouse Strangler_, Shirley Tallman's third Sarah Woolson mystery, revolves around a murder at a seance. As Sarah attempts to solve the mystery several participants (and suspects) are murdered, thickening the plot even as the list of possible murderers is narrowed down. While working on "who done it", a charming sub-plot develops between Woolson and her earstwhile love interest, Robert Campbell, as they represent opposing sides in a divorce settlement. What appear to be red-herrings are not necessicarily so, as divergent characters and tangents are in one way or another related to the mystery at hand. This story will keep you guessing to the end.
The historical fiction elements of the book are great- from the descriptions of 1880's San Francisco to the details of dress, an atmosphere of authenticity is lent to the larger mystery itself. Tallman tends to lay on the gender and social inequalities of the period a bit thick at times, ("women are physically and emotionally incapable of comprehending such matters. Go home and knit something and leave business like this to your betters.") but it is exactly the intelligence and strength of characters like Sarah Woolson facing and overcoming these attitudes that draw me to the series.
In the final analysis, its a great summer (or airplane) read - the loose ends are tied up, the wrong-doers get their due, and gradually (begrudgingly) the heroine gets some respect.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: The Cliff House Strangler (Sarah Woolson Mysteries) (Hardcover)
The Cliff House Strangler continues the Sarah Woolson series with a great story that provides the many twists & turns that we have come to expect from Ms. Tallman. Her characters & settings convey a story that makes you feel as if you have returned to San Francisco of yesteryear!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
