Earthquake Shack

Sadie García Miller is in her office in San Francisco's Mission District when her cousin, Al, who she has not seen since childhood, walks in looking to hire her. She has no intention of helping him because she promised her grandfather years ago not to have anything to do with the Jewish gangster side of the family.

When Al offers both money and information about her father’s mysterious death years before, Sadie says she will at least listen to his request. His daughter Ruth’s house has disappeared—completely vanished! It was one of the original cottages, or earthquake shacks, built by the Army and the Parks Commission after the 1906 quake to provide housing for displaced people. About 5,000 tiny wooden homes were constructed, all with redwood walls, fir flooring and cedar shingles. They need Sadie’s help to find it.

Intrigued by the case and desperate to learn more about her father’s possible murder, Sadie agrees to investigate the situation despite the family “business,” which Al claims is completely legit these days. Soon she discovers a tangle of intergenerational family conflicts, meets an obsessed housing activist and stumbles into a romance with a femme PI on the same trail. And when Sadie finds herself tied up in a dark warehouse, she realizes there’s much more at stake than just a missing building! Featuring a half-Mexican, half-Jewish investigator, this entertaining mystery uncovers a little-known aspect of American history.