The Last Good Place
Streets of San Francisco • Book 1
by Robin Burcell
Why You'll Love This
A cop-turned-forensic-artist revives a landmark San Francisco crime series — and she clearly knows exactly how a real investigation unravels.
- Great if you want: classic procedural tension with two detectives who genuinely clash
- The experience: fast, tightly plotted, with a gritty street-level atmosphere
- The writing: Burcell's law enforcement background makes the procedural details feel lived-in
- Skip if: you prefer psychological depth over plot-driven police work
About This Book
San Francisco has always been a city where beauty and darkness share the same address, and Robin Burcell knows both intimately. In The Last Good Place, veteran detective Sgt. Al Krug and his college-educated partner Casey Kellogg are hunting a strangler whose victims keep turning up in the city's most iconic corners — until a shocking twist at a crime scene forces them to question everything they think they know. Burcell draws on real experience as a cop, hostage negotiator, and FBI-trained forensic artist, and it shows in every interrogation room and back-alley detail. The stakes feel urgent because the world feels true.
What rewards readers here is Burcell's precision — she writes procedural tension without ever letting it flatten her characters. Krug and Kellogg push against each other in ways that feel earned rather than formulaic, their friction generating genuine heat. The prose is clean and propulsive, the pacing disciplined, and the San Francisco setting does actual narrative work rather than serving as backdrop. For readers who want crime fiction grounded in authenticity without sacrificing momentum, this opening installment announces itself with quiet confidence.