National Public Radio (NPR) correspondent Mandalit del Barco concluded the NPR Morning Editon series “Crime in the City” with an August 13, 2010 interview with Marcia Muller. Muller, a 2005 Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, is the author of a long-running mystery series that features San Francisco-based private investigator Sharon McCone.
del Barco describes McCone as “the first liberated female detective of the modern era.” In creating McCone, Muller broke away from the depiction of female detectives like Agatha’s Christie’s Miss Marple who were part of the cozy mystery tradition and instead moved closer to the hard-boiled school of detective fiction.
NPR’s “Crime in the City” series emphasizes the relationship between fictional detectives and the cities with which they are associated. Consequently, Muller and del Barco spend the interview touring Sharon McCone’s local haunts.
They head first to Pier 24 by San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, a location near the imaginary Pier 24 1/2 where McCone now runs her detective agency. Later Muller and del Barco stop in Bernal Heights. Muller used a Victorian House there as the location for All Souls, the legal cooperative where McCone worked in the series debut novel, Edwin of the Iron Shoes (1977).
Muller admits she thinks of McCone as her “alter ego," one who, she adds, is both thinner and taller. She also confesses to being more cautious than her protagonist. When scouring San Francisco for locations to use in her books, Muller says, “I don't walk the mean streets. You know, I'll stay in the car with the doors locked and send her [McCone] out."
But Sharon McCone is not immune to danger either. In Muller’s last novel, Locked In (2009), a 2010 Shamus and Barry Award nominee, McCone suffered an almost fatal gunshot wound as she left her office on Pier 24 1/2. In Coming Back, due out on October 28, 2010, McCone will gradually recovery from her injuries. NPR provides an excerpt from this upcoming work on its website.
NPR’s full interview with Marcia Muller is embedded below. A print summary can also be obtained on the NPR website.
For More Information:
Bouchercon 2010: Shamus Awards presented
Private Eye Writers of America selects 2010 Shamus Award nominees
2010 Barry Award nominations include new Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade category
MWA chooses Dorothy Gilman as its 2010 Grand Master
More mystery series titles appear on NPR and Seattle Times lists of 2009’s best books
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