City of Dragons

In her careful attention to detail and flawless command of the English language, author Kelli Stanley brings to life San Francisco, 1940 in "City of Dragons." Miranda Corbie is a complex character who has beat the odds and become a self-made woman who can give the men a run for their money. I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading the book and anticipating my next chance to sit down and read more of the story. It is suspenseful to say the least, and I never questioned any of Stanley's choices in the story. Someone here complained that Stanley hates men. Speaking as a man myself, I don't think so. I think if I had been treated by men all my life the way Miranda was, I would be a little wary of them too. Furthermore, Stanley is anything but racist. If anything, the character of Miranda works to break down racial barriers and show that everyone has value. All in all, this is one of the best mystery thrillers I have read in a while. I put Kelli Stanley in the same category as Sue Grafton and Stieg Larsson for the caliber of her writing. There are laughs to be had, lessons to be learned, and even a few nails to be bitten while reading this most engaging novel.

The thing about a great book is that it must take you somewhere, it must be more than book, it must be a vessel to transport you to a different place and in many cases a different time. City of Dragons does it with style. After reading several chapters of this book you are not just reading it, you are breathing it, feeling it, living it. And it's not just in the details, the Chesterfield cigarettes etc., it's in the voices of the characters and the writers voice as well. Having not read much Noir aside from the Maltese Falcon, the style of writing took a moment for me to get used to, much like watching a period movie done right: Miller's Crossing comes to mind, or Chinatown to which this book has been compared. Once you have settled into the rhythm, it becomes a large part of the artistry. I won't go into the plot details, others have already and besides uncovering them as you go along is a huge part of the fun, but the perspective of the Chinese in San Francisco with a war going on against Japan made an incredibly interesting historical backdrop. Anyway if you like PI stories, noir mysteries, or just good old fashioned hard-nosed characters in a stylish environment, then grab this book. It's a trip worth taking.

Before I picked up Kelli Stanley's novel, I had never been to San Francisco and the only Chinatown I knew lay on Canal Street in New York City. Now that I've finished Kelli Stanley's novel, I feel as if I've been given a tour by the most sly and masterful of guides. That this tour took place in 1940 only made the experience stranger, richer, and all the more fabulous. The tour began with a drop-in on a Chinatown murder as witnessed by Miranda Corbie, a private investigator so hard-boiled she makes the Pinkertons look like scrambled eggs. But was even she steely enough to navigate the mobster politics of 1940s Chinatown, itself a violent microcosm of war-torn 1940s East Asia? It was such a pleasure going on this vibrant journey with her, watching her mettle be tested and watching the puzzle pieces be slowly assembled, all in an effort to solve a mysterious murder the police didn't want her to solve. And I've not even mentioned some of the memorable minor characters met along the way. In true noir fashion, they were both larger-than-life and almost always duplicitous. Take, for example, the son of an herbalist, who...but that would be telling. And then there were the allies, such as Inspector Gonzales, whose chivalrous nature and...well, you'll see. And I haven't even started on the pristine prose, not a sentence wasted, not a landmark ignored, not a flavor left untasted. I've now been to 1940s San Francisco, and I long to return.

In 1940 San Francisco, the Chinese are very much aware of what the Japanese are doing to their homeland. In a relief effort, leaders are putting on a Rice Bowl party to send aid to the beleaguered Chinese back home. Thirty-three year old private investigator Miranda Corbie is in Chinatown enjoying the gala when she sees a man lying in the street; she goes to help him, but is too late as he was shot to death. She learns the name of the victim is Eddie Takahashi and she intends to identify his killer. Although Miranda works hard on the case on spite of the police wanting it closed due to international implications, she makes little progress. Meanwhile the private investigator takes on another case; that of Helen Winters who wants to know whether her recently deceased husband allegedly died from a heart attack as the cops insist or murder as she believes. Corbie soon finds the last thing she expected, a link between her two inquiries through drug trafficking, but though obstinate and intrepid, she knows she will uncover the identity of the killer, but could do so as the third victim. This is a dark gritty historical female Noir starring a woman who is trying to make a life for herself following the death of her beloved in the Spanish Civil War (described in flashbacks by Corbie who was there too). Whereas the two crimes mirror what is happening in China with the Japanese invasion, readers will thoroughly enjoy this fabulous historical mystery especially those who appreciate a strong sense of the era even if at times Corbie's Noir voice feels too Chandlerish. Harriet Klausner

City of Dragons introduces Miranda Corbie, a former Spanish Civil War nurse, ex-escort, and now private investigator in San Francisco. During the 1940 Rice Bowl Party in Chinatown to raise money to send to China for war relief, Miranda stumbles over young Eddie Takahashi, dying of a gunshot wound. When Eddie dies in her arms, Miranda feels compelled to find his killer but everyone else seems to want to sweep the whole thing under the rug. Meanwhile, a well-paying client hires Miranda to investigate the death of her husband, presumed dead of a heart attack while enjoying the favors of a prostitute. The wife is sure her husband was murdered, and that his death has something to do with the disappearance of her drug-addicted step-daughter. Living mainly on whiskey and Chesterfields, Miranda juggles both investigations while trying to cope with her loneliness after the death of her lover in Spain. Syncopated prose echoes the jazz lyrics that punctuate Miranda's journey from nightclub to tenement to bordello in this intense series opener. [..]