Customer Reviews

City of Dragons

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

The year is 1940 in San Francisco.

Private investigator Miranda Corbie is attending the Rice Bowl in Chinatown. It is an event that celebrates the Chinese New Year. While attending, Miranda stumbles upon a body. The victim is identified as Eddie Takahashi. He was no good. The cops don't really have an interest in the case and close it. Miranda is the only one, who is out to seek the truth about Eddie's murder. Miranda better watch her back as the police may not be interested but someone is and they don't like Miranda sticking her nose in places where it doesn't belong.

City of Dragons is a really good book. I started this book right before bed, which was a bad idea as I couldn't stop reading it. Miranda is a hard core, nose to the grind, blood hound, who doesn't give up till the case is solved. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep the mystery fan in my happy. All of the characters that Miranda encountered were intriguing as well as engaging. You could tell how much research and hard work the author did on Chinatown and what the place looked like back in the forties. It was like I could see everything through Miranda's eyes from...the vivid colors of the buildings to the smell of rotten beer and cigarettes. I only have one last comment to make and that is...I want more Kelli Stanley.

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

I imagine that a book may strike a different chord for different readers. For me, "City of Dragons" was an interesting read but not a compelling one. Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for a while I enjoyed the local flavor of the SF setting in the 1940's. I could actually see and feel the streets that protagonist Miranda Corbie walked. However, the case of Eddie Takahashi's murder and the mysterious secondary case it was tied to never really hooked me. It didn't spark any tension or the need for me to keep on reading to find out what comes next. Perhaps it was author Kelli Stanley's over-wrought descriptions of SF and Miranda's personal habits that slowed the pace of the storyline. Or perhaps it was just that I couldn't identify with the Miranda character who I found to be somewhat disagreeable. In any event, "City of Dragons" was still a good read but one that I had no trouble putting down for a while and picking back up later. Others seemed to have enjoyed this novel a lot so pick it up for yourself to see if it strikes the right chord for you.

Stanley lovingly recreates San Francisco prior to WWII in her latest thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed walking the streets of a bygone era with her one-of-a-kind heroine, PI Miranda Corbie. I noticed that some of the reviews refer to this character as a "man-hater," but what they leave out is that thanks to her background, going back to childhood, Corbie has good reason to be leery of men. For me, it was a fascinating change to see a woman treading the ground initially staked out by Hammett. Yes, she chain-smokes, but that was part and parcel of that time period. Dive in and enjoy a trip back in time.

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.

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.
[..]

The author, Kelli Stanley, says she did a lot of research in order to capture the era of City of Dragons. She has done a masterful job. Her references to the culture of 1940 -- the current affairs, the music, the consumer products, the relations between sexes and races -- is spot on.

The location of her story, downtown San Francisco and, in particular, China Town, involves sites still extant (Ms. Stanley could offer tours based on the book). As someone who lives in the area, I thought she did an especially good job of describing how the city lives with and what it looks like during episodes of fog.

I am not a fan of noir fiction. Hard boiled detectives are of no interest. But the other aspects in the telling of this story overrode my usual distaste. And I thought the plot hung together better than in some noir work.

Two small criticisms. There were too many details of Miranda's life before the start of this story. That backstory was so rich I kept checking for a book that MUST have come before this one. And, although three cheers for the way Miranda was able to take out the bad guys at the end, was it really, really believable?

If you have recently quit smoking, be warned. Everyone smokes all the time. This is true to the era, certainly, but darn if it didn't start me thinking of how good a ciggie would taste although I haven't smoked, nor wanted to, for 25+ years.

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.

I had the privilege of reading this book in manuscript, and loved it then. With the actual book in hand, I read it again and this time enjoyed it even more. Stanley writes with a potent grasp of time and place, and with a deep understanding of the legacy of her chosen genre. Stanley's San Francisco Chinatown of 1940 is as alive and vibrant, and starkly dangerous, as our world today. Miranda is tough and brittle, bitter yet idealistic, a product of her time who also finds ways to transcend it.

The best books not only give to us, but ask something of us in return. Stanley challenges us to look past our own preconceptions to see into a world very different from our own, and to learn something important about what its darkness can reveal of our own. Miranda is not some enlightened 21st century anachronism plopped down out of time and place, she's a woman of her time, when the Depression still lingered for too many, when the world was inching toward turning upside down forever. She is both fascinating and at times difficult to love, but profoundly genuine. This beautiful, painful book is a must-read.