I've tried to read this book a few times and it doesn't seem to stick with me. I definitely believe this is a case of the reader and not the book.

This is not the book for me. It starts off vulgar and sets the stage for the entire book to be about San Francisco. This isolates a huge chunk of potential audience, because people who haven't lived in/visited/done extensive research on San Francisco won't be able to relate.

I love true crime, but this majorly missed the mark for me. The storytelling was out of left field and just entirely too quirky for my taste.

I'm sure people who are fascinated with San Francisco will enjoy The Murders That Made Us more than I did. Not every book can be a winner for every reader and that's okay.

Thank you so much to ECW Press, Bob Calhoun, and NetGalley for the ARC of The Murders That Made Us!

I absolutely loved this book. It’s a bit of a whistle stop tour of San Francisco through the infamous murders committed there. But it’s more than that, it also evokes a sense of what the city itself was like during the time periods.

This was a great book. I was hooked from the first page. When I was in high school I swore that I was going to go into forensic scientists so true crime was my go-to reads. It has been a while since I read a true-crime book but this one did not let me down! I loved it from beginning to end and have no complaints at all!

Excellent read ! Was a page turner from the start to finish . Was able to finish it in one sitting , cant wait to hear more from this author.

A great book for fans of true crime! I really enjoyed this one and have recommended to a few friends!

The Murders That Made Us: How Vigilantes, Hoodlums, Mob Bosses, Serial Killers and Cult Leaders Built the San Francisco Bay Area by Bob Calhoun was an interesting read filled with history about the San Francisco history. Must read for true crime and California fans! #TheMurdersThatMadeUs #NetGalley

The Murders That Made Us is a great book for those who enjoy true crime, history or have lived in the San Francisco Bay area. I have never visited or lived in the area so I feel like I lost some of the nostalgic aspect to the book. I think the book becomes much more rich if know the locations that are being talked about. Calhoun takes you through some key events throughout the history of the San Francisco Bay area, pretty much in chronological order from the 1800's to present day. Some you may have heard of, others you may not have. Overall, I found the book to be engaging, easy to read and full of interesting information.

I love True Crime and for me, this book didn't disappoint. It tells the stories of crime in San Francisco starting in the late 1800s. I thought it was really interesting to hear about the different crimes that occurred, from famous serial killers, to the less known crimes and unsolved cases. It was also an entertaining and included some humor in the storytelling. I would have liked some of the stories/cases to have been discussed in more detail but overall, the flow of the book was great and kept me interested. If you're into true crime and want to known more about the crimes that shaped the San Francisco area, definitely check this one out!

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

I lived in San Francisco and the surrounding area for 20 or so years. So when I saw this book on NetGalley I wanted to pick it up. And I am glad I did.

I have heard of some of these murders but not all of them. But even the ones I heard of I was happy to read about to get more details or even correct info. We all know how stories get blown out of proportion as years go by. Some information gets changed or some omitted, so I was thrilled to read this.

And I am so glad I did. We have all heard about “drinking the kool-aid”. And who hasn’t heard of Charles Manson? And the assassination of Harvey Milk was heartbreaking for the gay community when it happened. And each story I was fascinated with. I did learn things I didn’t know, which I had really hoped I would.

This is a great read for anyone from the area or any fan of true crime. Maybe Miami will be next… hint hint!

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who is currently writing a dissertation on California literature, I couldn’t wait to pick up Bob Calhoun’s The Murders that Made Us: How Vigilantes, Hoodlums, Mob Bosses, Serial Killers, and Cult Leaders Built the San Francisco Bay Area (ECW Press, 2021). My work focuses mostly on Southern California, so I was eager to see what Calhoun had to say about Northern California. Part social history, part California history, part true crime, The Murders that Made Us serves a wide variety of interests. Calhoun discusses crimes that occurred in and around San Francisco from the mid-nineteenth century all the way through to the 1990s. Some of the more notable cases and topics he discusses are the creation of Alcatraz Island Prison and the capture of Al Capone, the murder of Elizabeth Short (the Black Dahlia), the murder of Harvey Milk, the Jonestown Massacre, the Manson murders, and the Zodiac killings. Calhoun summarizes these cases, as well as more obscure ones, in a casual, humorous tone —Calhoun never seems to forget that he is, above everything else, here to tell his reader a story. While reading The Murders that Made Us, I felt as though I was sitting across from Calhoun, a native San Franciscan, as he told me all he knew about the Northern California crime world. The book’s conversational tone is bound to draw in readers of all backgrounds and interests.

Calhoun intrigued me as a reader within his introduction. He cements the cultural landscape of San Francisco, a city that he claims is always just beyond our grasp:

San Francisco seems to hold that a more real version of itself existed sometime before you got there, poured into its very concrete and seeping out of the wood of its old Victorians. The city that was is the city that is, inseparable but kept apart of by the chasm of time. (1)

The idea that the “real” San Francisco occurred and existed in the past is a thematic concern of Calhoun’s text, coming in as early as the book’s dedication, wherein he thanks his father for “showing me around the neighbourhood that was while driving through the streets that weren’t there” (v). The stories that Calhoun shares only add to the feeling that the real San Francisco has not only already happened but has already happened in a way you know nothing about. After reading Calhoun’s accounts of well-known cases, I realized I knew little about how most of these cases related to the city of San Francisco. His chapter on Jonestown, for example, contains a wealth of San Francisco-related knowledge that I discovered for the first time. Calhoun’s sardonic delivery makes you feel as though you are coming into this well-trodden territory from a direction you never have before.

In chapter one, “My Mother, the Murder Suspect”, Calhoun relays a crime that occurred in San Francisco that his own mother was suspected of committing. This was one of my favorite chapters in the book—it is detailed, personal, and funny. Calhoun had the challenge of discovering the truth about what occurred after his mother had passed away, and so in some ways, it is a tribute to her. Calhoun’s
section on the murder of Elizabeth Short (the Black Dalilah) was another one of my favorites. He speaks sensitively and truthfully about the murder—this is especially refreshing since so much misinformation surrounds this case. Calhoun mentions that “Elizabeth was labeled a prostitute and an actress in stag flicks, even though she wasn’t. She was a young girl who fell on hard times and wasn’t above dating a guy to get a meal out of him. That was all, but reporters and their sources were still overcome with the need to embellish” (102). The respect he has for victims who have been written unfairly into true crime history is admirable and refreshing to read.

The sections on both the Patricia Hurst kidnapping, as well as Edmund Kemper were extremely intriguing for me. I hadn’t known much about the Hurst kidnapping and Calhoun gets into every gritty detail. I knew a good deal about Kemper and his Co-ed killings, but again, Calhoun has a way of telling a story that makes you feel as though you’ve never heard it before. The same is true for Calhoun’s sections on Harvey Milk and his tragic murder. Calhoun tells the story of both Milk and his murderer Dan White, somehow lightening it all with his particular brand of dark humour. Calhoun’s humor is balanced; however, with moments of genuine sincerity, such as this moment after Calhoun has explained the uprising that occurred after Milk’s death:

“San Francisco’s gays and lesbians weren’t able to take power with their siege on City Hall, but they would never be truly powerless again. Milk had given his life to win them a seat at the table. They weren’t giving it back.” (220)

There are as many insightful and provocative moments in Calhoun’s book as there are humorous and sarcastic ones. This is a balance not easily or often struck within the genre of true crime, and it makes Calhoun’s book a stand-out in the genre. This book is for fans of history, of humour, of true crime, and of plain good storytelling.

True crime is one of my favorite genres, and I was so intrigued by this one.

Bob Calhoun takes you back to the early days of San Francisco and the murders that took place. I’ve never been to San Francisco, but it was still super interesting learning about its history. I loved the short chapters, because it allowed me to easily take a break and come back to it later. There were also multiple cases covered in each chapter, and they mostly went in order from the date they occurred. Unfortunately I found myself losing interest multiple times while I was reading — and I’m not really sure why. There were some cases that I wish were explored in more depth — some were more detailed than others. However, it was certainly interesting to learn about cases that I had never heard of, and I enjoyed the personal connections that the author was able to make to one of the cases. The Murders That Made Us is packed with a 170-year history of the San Francisco Bay Area told through its crimes.

Fantastic take on the history of true crime in San Francisco. Bob Calhoun has a grasp on the Bay Area and the many stories of murder and crime.

This book is a well-written and thorough look at the true crime history of San Francisco and how it is woven into the very fabric of the city's social and political scenes. A subject like this could have been dry to read, but the author kept it interesting for even the most casual of nonfiction readers.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to read and review.

In The Murders That Made Us, Bob Calhoun tells the story of the San Francisco Bay Area through its most violent and depraved acts. The ‘golden gate city’ has been more infamous in recent years for OJ Simpson and mass school shootings, but it seems the city has been infamous from its earliest incarnations, where vigilantes hung perps from buildings and newspaper publishers shot it out on Market Street, to the kidnapping of Patty Hearst and the Zodiac Killer. Murder and mayhem are intertwined with the city's art, music, and politics. The Great 1906 Earthquake that burned down the old Barbary Coast shook a city that was already teetering on the brink of a massive prostitution scandal. The Summer of Love ended with a pair of ghastly acid dealer slayings that made the Haight too violent for even Charles Manson. The '70s ground to a halt with San Francisco pastor Jim Jones forcing his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch in Guyana, and the assassination of gay icon Harvey Milk. With each tale of true crime, The Murders That Made Us is compelling, gruesome, and historically entertaining in equilibrium. Each chapter tells a true crime story, and this chronological account by author Bob Calhoun (himself a San Francisco native) is a must for any true crime aficionado. Bob's narrative is a newspaper report format with some local knowledge and insight thrown in, so you know this is the real deal. Fascinating stuff. Thanks to NetGalley for the read!

Bob Calhoun is a San Francisco Bay Area author, journalist, and former wrestler and peepshow emcee. Since 2015, he has recounted his city’s most gruesome and lurid events in his regular SF Weekly column, "Yesterday’s Crimes." His punk wrestling memoir, Beer, Blood & Cornmeal (ECW Press), is a national bestseller

This book was a true crime rarity that mixed well-placed humor with some pretty terrible crimes.

Being city-focused, it follows a variety of crimes in San Francisco, both well-known and lesser recognized. I think this is a great choice for newer true crime readers who might need a little break between the rough stuff.

It also combines the overall cultural history of the city throughout different time periods and connects them to crimes.

An interesting and informative book regarding the criminal history of San Francisco and its surrounding areas. From crimes to capture and sentencing even death row.
An illuminating read I found it fascinating.

This was a well researched read into the history of San Francisco & some of the murders that defined the city. From corruption & vigilantism to serial killers, the author has a tongue-in-cheek way of delivering the information so that it is never boring. He also has the best description of Charles Manson that I've ever read - a failed folk singer and inept pimp who smelled like hot garbage. This is a good read for true crime fans.

This story is an intriguing one for all fans of true crime. I enjoyed how the author wrote about different cases in San Francisco that I wasn’t aware of. While I wish some do them had more details or were discussed more, it was still quite a read.

The Murders That Made Us: How Vigilantes, Hoodlums, Mob Bosses, Serial Killers and Cult Leaders Built the San Francisco Bay Area. Bob Calhoun brings us the story of the San Francisco Bay Area unfolds through its most violent and depraved acts. From the city's earliest days, where vigilantes hung perps from buildings and newspaper publishers shot it out on Market Street, to the kidnapping of Patty Hearst and the Zodiac Killer, crime has made the people of San Francisco who they are. Murder and mayhem are intertwined with the city's art, music, and politics.
This was a really interesting read. Covering a lot of popular topics that I was aware of but also a lot of stories that I had never heard of before. Such a wide range of aspects of true crime covered from vigilantes, hoodlums, mob bosses, serial killers and cult leaders, there is plenty to keep any true crime fan intrigued; but I feel like some of the smaller stories could have been fleshed out a bit more.
My favourite aspect was the personal touch on which he started the book with a murder that his own mother was a suspect for, but unfortunately he never spoke to her about it before she passed. I also really enjoyed ready about Patty Hearst, the early day vigilantes and the riots after Harvey Milk’s assassination.
Some dark but informative stories creating a perfect read for any true crime fan.
TW: child death, death, gun violence, rape, violence and murder, police brutality, kidnapping, mass shooting and suicide attempts.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
3.5/5