If you like your mysteries served up with a tall order of intrigue, romance, fascinating characters, and engrossing local color, try The Avalanche from author Gertrude Atherton. Set among the affluent upper classes in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, the novel delves into the relationship between a beautiful young woman from France and her ambitious American suitor. It's a satisfying, fully fleshed-out read in which the mystery is just one part of a well-wrought tale.