The Filbert Steps (The Telegraph Hill Mysteries Book 1)

A body on the steps. A neighborhood that saw nothing.

Vivian Salvatore came back to Telegraph Hill with a cat, a divorce settlement, and a book she cannot seem to write. At fifty-two, she is not starting over so much as learning how to belong to herself again, one foggy morning, one espresso, one walk along the Filbert Steps at a time.

Then she finds a man dead on the third landing.

The police are ready to call it a fall. But Vivian spent years as a teacher, and she knows what people look like when they are hiding something. A coat buttoned wrong. A cigarette ground out where it should not be. Neighbors who saw too little, said too much, or suddenly had somewhere else to be.

As Vivian begins asking questions, the beautiful stairway she thought she knew becomes a map of old grudges, quiet betrayals, family loyalties, and real estate deals no one wants examined too closely. In a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone’s business, the truth may be the one thing no one can afford to tell.

The Filbert Steps is the first book in The Telegraph Hill Mysteries, a literary cozy mystery series set in San Francisco, perfect for readers who love midlife women sleuths, fair-play puzzles, found family, local secrets, and mysteries with a strong sense of place.