Author draws on UCSD experience for mystery novel ‘Winter’ set in San Diego

What started as a fleeting idea on a Maine beach in 1984 has blossomed into a four-book mystery series that chronicles both crime and cultural change in San Diego. 

Author H. N. Hirsch, a former UC San Diego professor, recently released “Winter,” the latest installment in his acclaimed series featuring crime-solving couple Bob and Marcus as they navigate murder mysteries and relationship challenges across nearly two decades.

The series chronicles the relationship between attorney Bob Abramson and professor Marcus George, beginning with their 1985 meeting in Massachusetts and continuing through their move to California. After Boston-set debut novel “Shade,” the subsequent three novels — “Fault Line,” “Rain” and “Winter” — unfold in San Diego, inspired by Hirsch’s cross-country move and 14 years teaching political science at UCSD.

“Some of the cases the books deal with derive from Marcus being involved in UCSD,” Hirsch said. “A lot of the plots come from Bob being an attorney in San Diego and various investigations.”

In “Winter,” set in 2004, Marcus becomes entangled in a murder investigation after he finds a UCSD colleague dead in a faculty office. Meanwhile, his partner Bob grapples with a family tragedy and personal demons as his 40th birthday approaches.

Beyond mystery elements, the novel explores both the positive and problematic aspects of university life, drawing from Hirsch’s exposure to different academic environments throughout his career. The series also serves as a cultural time capsule, tracing the evolving experience of gay men in America. 

“When the series starts in 1985, it’s the middle of the AIDS crisis,” Hirsch said. “Over the period portrayed in the series, there’s been progress in the acceptance of gay people in various roles in society. Certainly, it’s become easier for gay academics like Marcus.”

This cultural dimension reflects Hirsch’s personal experience as an openly gay faculty member, which he said was “big news on campus” when he arrived at UCSD in 1986. His characters reveal both the gay community’s progress and the ongoing reality of discrimination.

Hirsch said the genesis of the Bob and Marcus series can be traced back to a disappointing summer read. In 1984, he discovered a mystery series by an academic author whose fictional detective mirrored her own university life. While enjoying most of her books, one particular novel left Hirsch underwhelmed. Finishing the book on a Maine beach, he slammed it down on the sand and declared to friends nearby, “Well, we could do better than that.”

What followed was an impromptu brainstorming session with his fellow academics, producing an outline for a novel about a murdered student. This literary sketch would lie dormant for nearly 40 years, surviving countless moves and career transitions with the persistence that only an academic’s filing system could provide. 

“The thing about professors is we never throw anything away, whether it’s books or notes,” Hirsch said. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”

The COVID-19 pandemic became the catalyst for Hirsch’s path to published author. As a newly retired professor in spring 2020, Hirsch found himself homebound with time to pursue long-deferred dreams. 

“I thought, well, if I’m ever going to write a novel, now is the time,” he said. Pulling out that decades-old outline, he was surprised to find it still compelling. 

“You know, this isn’t bad,” he thought, and began the journey from academic to novelist.

Hirsch’s approach to mystery writing mirrors his priorities as a reader. Influenced by writers such as Dorothy Sayers and Stuart Woods, he gravitates toward emotional depth over puzzle-solving mechanics. 

“It’s not so much the whodunit, although that can be interesting and fun. It’s the personal life of the detective or the detectives,” he said. “When the characters are real to me, when the relationship between the detective and their spouse is interesting, that’s what keeps me reading.”

Though Hirsch now teaches at Oberlin College in Ohio, San Diego remains a vital creative wellspring. His fondest memories center on the city’s distinctive coastal atmosphere.

“The Pacific is much wilder than the Atlantic. Everything is more intense — the waves, the feeling in the air from the ocean. That’s what I enjoyed the most.”

Currently working on a fifth book set in 2010, Hirsch continues developing his characters’ relationship through time while capturing the shifting dynamics of American culture — and of course, weaving in another gripping mystery.

More information about “Winter” and the previous books in the Bob and Marcus series is available at hnhirsch.info.