The War at Home Trilogy

1942. San Francisco.  All the usual conflicts over power, privilege, and prestige intensify as the city goes to war and new residents challenge the old order. Tony Bosco, former police commissioner and president of the archbishop's Catholic Action men's organization works behind the scenes as a special investigator for the mayor and police chief while fighting off false charges that he and his Catholic Action colleagues are fascist sympathizers.

The War at Home trilogy aims to recover the lost history of how the diverse people of the city coped with the stresses and strains of going to war. The city’s neighborhoods, and its downtown and waterfront districts come alive in fast-moving tales of murder and political intrigue. 

The books are available in paperback and eBook at Amazon.com. Click on the book cover images above to order.

Coit Tower: "A riveting murder mystery that takes you into a time and place that is both familiar and strikingly different from today . . . unflinchingly captures the zeitgeist of 1940s San Francisco." Barbara Berglund Sokolov, author of Making San Francisco American

Traitors: "So what do you do with a time bomb in a briefcase? Fiction with the ring of truth, Bill Issel's novel Traitors will keep you on the edge of your seat."
Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, award-winning author of The Nazi Spy Ring in America, The FBI: A History, and In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence

Patriots: “Patriots is not only a fast-paced thriller situated in World War II-era San Francisco, but also an observant, lively and disturbing commentary on race relations, policing, and racial justice in the city by the Bay. Patriots is an excellent work of fiction, and Issel’s knowledge of San Francisco’s black community and its key leaders is exceptional.” Albert S. Broussard, author of Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900-1954

William (Bill) Issel is professor of history emeritus at San Francisco State University and three-time Fulbright scholar in England, Hungary, and Romania. His books, articles, and reviews on twentieth century US political and social history have been published in the US, the UK, and Europe, and he has won awards for his scholarship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Catholic Historical Association, the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada, and the San Francisco Historical Society. He lives in Berkeley with his wife, clinical psychologist and early childhood mental health specialist Dr. Mary Claire Heffron.