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Back to topCity of Dragons: A Miranda Corbie Mystery (Paperback)
February 2010 Indie Next List
“Kelli Stanley makes 1940s San Francisco shine in the first book of her new series, City of Dragons. Miranda Corbie is a noir detective complete with feminine wits and ingenuity. Kinsey, VI, and Aimee Leduc should watch out. There's a new girl in town!”
— Linda Dewberry, Whodunit? Books, Olympia, WA
Description
February, 1940. In San Francisco's Chinatown, fireworks explode as the city celebrates Chinese New Year with a Rice Bowl Party, a three day-and-night carnival designed to raise money and support for China war relief. Miranda Corbie is a 33-year-old private investigator who stumbles upon the fatally shot body of Eddie Takahashi. The Chamber of Commerce wants it covered up. The cops acquiesce. All Miranda wants is justice--whatever it costs. From Chinatown tenements, to a tattered tailor's shop in Little Osaka, to a high-class bordello draped in Southern Gothic, she shakes down the city--her city--seeking the truth.
About the Author
Kelli Stanley is an award-winning author of crime fiction (novels and short stories). She makes her home in Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco, a city she loves to write about. She is the author of two crime fiction series, including the Miranda Corbie Mysteries (City of Ghosts, City of Secrets).
Kelli earned a Master's Degree in Classics, loves jazz, old movies, battered fedoras, Art Deco and speakeasies. She is walked daily by a Springer Spaniel named Bertie.
She credits Raymond Chandler, Ernest Hemingway, Cornell Woolrich, Dashiell Hammett and Thomas Hardy as some of her major influences.
Praise For…
“Beautifully imagined and beautifully written, this book does everything great fiction is supposed to.” —Lee Child
“A stunning recreation of time and place that I greatly enjoyed...as will everyone who reads it.” —Robert B. Parker
“Big and ambitious, both reverent and original. Author Kelli Stanley has her eye on greatness.” —George Pelecanos
“A powerful crime novel that perfectly captures the noir mood of San Francisco in the 40's. Stanley's dialogue bristles with attitude, the atmosphere is thick as the bay fog, and her protagonist is a great new dame in crime fiction. A smart, stunning thriller.” —Linda Fairstein
“Evocative and taut…bursts with dark atmosphere. Fans of Raymond Chandler and Megan Abbott should add Stanley to their list of must-read authors.” —Tasha Alexander
“Blew me to ribbons. From the opening chapter, we're rooting for Miranda, a marvelous, feisty, compassionate heroine who is my favorite P.I. to come down the mean streets in oh, so long. Polish up the Shamus, I know where it's heading this year.” —Ken Bruen
“Stunning, pitch-perfect noir...conjures forth a lost, poignant, and darkly luminous San Francisco in which Hammett - and LA's Chandler - would feel immediately at home.” —Cornelia Read, author of A Field of Darkness
“Come...rush headlong into 1940's San Francisco. You'll be smoking two packs of Chesterfields and drinking Old Taylor straight from the bottle by the time you're done. Take a sip. I dare you.” —Louise Ure, Shamus Award-winning author of The Fault Tree
“One of my favorite novels of all time. Watch out, Sam Spade, Miranda Corbie is a woman hardboiled and feminine enough to keep you in line!” —Rebecca Cantrell, author of A Trace of Smoke
“An explosive, important book...imbued with the colors, sounds, emotions and excitement of true history. The best part is an ending that will blow you away.” —Laura Benedict, author of Isabella Moon
