It is mystery month in San Francisco in June as we welcome two local writers whose detectives are a long way from anything that Dashiell Hammett ever imagined.

Deborah Grabien’s most famous fiction is the Kinkaid Chronicles series. Her detective, J.P. Kinkaid, is the ageing guitarist with a hugely successful rock band. Kinkaid suffers from multiple sclerosis, a condition he shares with his creator whose personal experience informs her writing. Grabien has also written a number of supernatural thrillers. Her latest novel, Dark’s Tale, is a middle grade book about a young cat who is abandoned in Golden Gate Park and has to fend for himself.

Seanan McGuire’s detective is even more unusual. October Daye is a fairy changeling. The criminals she chases down often have more than a few tricks up their sleeves. McGuire burst onto the scene last year with Rosemary and Rue, a book that won her a place on the ballot for the prestigious John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. A second October Daye novel, A Local Habitation, is now available, with An Artificial Night coming soon. Meanwhile, masquerading as Mira Grant, McGuire has produced FEED, a hard-bitten political thriller set in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.

Both ladies have a love of cats, and both are accomplished musicians. We can’t wait to see them together.