» John Michael Cummings reads an excerpt from The Night I Freed John Brown.

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San Francisco can't be beat. I grew up three hundred miles to the south, in Santa Barbara. I lived in the Bay Area during college and law school. And from the time I was a kid, San Francisco was the most exotic, exciting place in California. It had Chinatown. Hippies. Fog. My introduction to both Szechwan food and drag queens came during a high school journalism conference in the city. San Francisco's where I learned that glitter eyeshadow and Lynyrd Skynyrd-style hair and beards should never, ever mix. And they should definitely not be worn with gold platform shoes. It's where I learned that no matter how hard you sprint, the cable car you're trying to board will outrace you up Powell Street. I never get tired of San Francisco.

And the city can seem all out front, and in your face. It's bright, it's loud, it's full of clashing noises. But it also has plenty of California history - old money, quietly guarded lives.

In this environment, where do secrets dwell?

That's why I set The Dirty Secrets Club in San Francisco.

Turning the city into the setting for a thriller was a joy. You doubt that it's a great place for a fast-paced story? Watch Bullitt. Any place that works for Steve McQueen and a 1967 Mustang is ready-made for excitement. Besides, it has the most beautiful natural setting of any city in the USA. (Sorry, Seattle. You're a close second.) And beneath the beauty runs a current of danger.