"I NEVER KNOW WHAT THE WOMAN'S GOING TO DO.": THE LOST COAST AND OTHER SHARON MCCONE STORIES' MARCIA MULLER

The Lost Coast and Other Sharon McCone Stories collects several stories of Marcia Muller's San Francisco private eye that shows the characters growth over the decades from working at The All Souls legal cooperative to going out on her own and finding a life partner. Marcia was find enough to discuss the collection and her character with us.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: Do you remember how Sharon McCone came to you as a character?

MARCIA MULLER: Sharon McCone came to me as I was reading the private eye novels of Ross Macdonald.  I loved the idea of an individual going off on his own to right wrongs and wanted to write something similar, but of course the detective would have to be a woman.  After all I was a woman, knew very little about being a man.  So I named her:  Sharon after my freshman college roommate; McCone after John McCone, former head of the CIA.  Years later I met John McCone’s niece, and she passed along the in-joke to him.  Fortunately, Mr. McCone was amused.

S.M.: What I always dug about her was she worked for the mostly downtrodden. How did All Souls come into the picture?

M.M.: All Souls Legal Cooperative was based on a number of such poverty law firms that were springing up in 1970s California.  It seemed the perfect venue for idealistic McCone and her cohorts.

S.M.: What three stories in the collection do you think best represent the overall series?

M.M.: “Somewhere in the City”, which depicts the catastrophic 1989 earthquake is a good example

of the day everything changed in San Francisco.  “The McCone Files”—“The First” and “The Last”--give an overview of her tenure at All Souls.

S.M.: San Francisco and the Bay Area are wonderfully utilized in the stories. What does the setting lend to you as a mystery writer?

M.M.: San Francisco, the Bay Area, and indeed all of Northern California are so diverse and such great places for crime and other wickedness to take place.  How could a writer resist?

S.M.: How has she changed to you over the years? 

M.M.: Sharon has changed a lot.  She started out as “a bit of a cheerleader” about her profession; now she’s tougher and more cynical about the wrongdoing she encounters.  She established her own firm, eventually merging it with Ripinsky International.  Oh, yes, and then there’s Hy Ripinsky:  she finally consented to marry him, and they flew off to Reno in their latest airplane.

She changes to me by always doing the unexpected.

S.M.: As a writer, what makes Sharon McCone a character worth returning to?

M.M.: That surprise factor again.  I never know what the woman’s going to do.  I may sit down at the computer with an idea of where I’m heading, but sooner or later she’ll be dragging me off in a different direction.