San Francisco has had more than its share of truly fascinating and historic homicides. The city and its Bay Area can stand proudly with Paris, London, and New York in the splendor of its misdeeds -- murders that have suspense, horror, audacity, and flair. The homicides chronicled in Murders by the Bay, have been selected because a convergence of personality, circumstance, character, and geography makes them peculiarly San Franciscan. Each of these crimes illustrates an historic importance, each has impacted its times -- either in the course or application of the law or in the manner in which the affair revealed a shortcoming in society.