A tour to die for

Capri Sanzio's San Francisco Killer Crime Tours continue to explore crime scenes in the city's historic past--and, for better or worse, in its present as well. Fifth-grade teacher Lorraine Kostricka, a participant in Capri Sanzio's Barbary Coast Gold Rush Tour, is convinced that she saw a woman being attacked in a residential building along the route. But no one else spotted anything amiss, and Officer Robles, responding to a call, finds no one in the apartment in question. Even so, Capri can't believe it's a coincidence when artist Leeya Styles, the tenant of that apartment, is reported officially missing and later turns up strangled outside the building. The leading suspects are all people close to her: her sister, Jenna; her best friend, Quinn Shovani; her abusive boyfriend, Zach Haines, who strained their relationship even further when he came on to Quinn; her mother, Trisha Schlesinger; and Trisha's fiancé, Roger Prentiss, an ex-con businessman who swears he's gone straight. The real center of interest, though, is the Min-Pan, a trinket that's supposed to contain coded information identifying the location of a cache of vintage gold from 1850. Chouinard ladles on the historical backstory, some of it parceled out in tour-guide broadsides, without ever overwhelming the present-day mystery, including a highly predictable second murder, or Capri's obligatory romance with Inspector Dan Petito of SFPD Homicide. So conscientiously plotted that its heroine, who researches every suspect online before interviewing them, would approve. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.