City of Secrets (Miranda Corbie Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Kelli Stanley (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 13, 2011 | Series: Miranda Corbie Mysteries (Book 2)

Miranda Corbie is back in this sequel to the Macavity Award-winning City of Dragons. "Impressive...Stanley's hard-boiled, strong female sleuth stalks Hammett's San Francisco and does the job with all the panache of Sam Spade. Readers will eagerly await the next installment in this exciting new series." --Booklist (starred)

About City of Dragons:
Stanley ... knows how to bring the past to life ... City of Dragons, with its brittle patter and its broken heart of gold, is a joy to read."--Tom Nolan, San Francisco Chronicle"
Beautifully imagined and beautifully written--this book does everything great fiction is supposed to." -- Lee Child
"Author Kelli Stanley has her eye on greatness." -- George Pelecanos

Macavity Award Winner
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
Shamus Finalist

When Pandora Blake is murdered at San Francisco's 1940 World Fair and her body marked with an anti-Semitic slur, Miranda is soon entangled in a web of deceit and betrayal that is only overshadowed by the threat of impending war. With a strong female protagonist more steel than silk and a mystery that will grip you until the last page, this sequel to the critically-acclaimed City of Dragons will appeal to fans of noir and historical mysteries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Stanley brings 1940s San Francisco to life with her meticulously detailed, hard-boiled novel ... It's neonoir in a classical five-act structure, starring one of crime's most arresting heroines: angry, big-hearted, and fearless Miranda Corbie." - Library Journal (starred review)

"Miranda continues to fight the good fight in Hammett's San Francisco, making Sam Spade proud and giving readers a treat." - Barbara Bibel, Booklist

"A superb mystery, a noir tale of high order ... This novel rings across the decades with an eerie truth." - T. Jefferson Parker, New York Times Bestselling Author

"Lean and mean, Kelli Stanley's gritty 1940s-set mystery series gives readers a compelling snapshot of the past--a past as smart, complex and jaded as her lead character, female P.I. Miranda Corbie. A razor-sharp, tightly-plotted noir page-turner." - Allison Brennan, New York Times Bestselling Author

"Kelli Stanley is a writer who knows her place. It's mid-20th century San Francisco, same place Hammett knew, and with a detective as unique and unyielding. If you haven't been reading Kelli Stanley you've been making a mistake and it's time to do yourself a favor: Grab up this book." - S. J. Rozan, Edgar-winning author of Ghost Hero

"The historical details shine in this perfectly drawn mystery.... This shows how historical mystery can not only re-create the sights but also the atmosphere of the time."
--RT Book Reviews (Top Pick!)

 

"Stanley's brittle prose and period touches effectively capture the feeling of ’40s noir."
--Kirkus Reviews

 

"In best pulp fiction style, suspects lounge about with slick hair and cheap suits, blondes are chain-smoking broads, and the nightclubs are smoky and languid."
--Publishers Weekly

 

"Engrossing.... Stanley brings 1940s San Francisco to life with her meticulously detailed, hard-boiled novel."
--Library Journal

About the Author

KELLI STANLEY is also the author of a critically acclaimed Roman Noir series. The first book in that series, Nox Dormienda, won the Bruce Alexander Award for best historical mystery. The second, The Curse-Maker, was also published by Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books. The first book in the Miranda Corbie series, City of Dragons, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was also named one of the 2010 Top Ten Mystery Thrillers by Oline Cogdill and one of the Top Ten Best Fiction by Bay Area Authors by the San Francisco Chronicle. Kelli lives in San Francisco, California.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 13, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312603614
• ISBN-13: 978-0312603618
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #888,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

An award-winning author of crime fiction, Kelli Stanley's first novel in the Miranda Corbie series, CITY OF DRAGONS, was met with overwhelming critical acclaim. It won the Macavity Award (Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award) and was a finalist for the prestigious Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Shamus Award. The newest novel in the series is CITY OF SECRETS.

Stanley also writes a highly-praised series set in Roman Britain, the latest of which is THE CURSE-MAKER. Her debut novel, NOX DORMIENDA, won the Bruce Alexander Award for best historical mystery of 2008.

She makes her home in Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco, earned a Master's Degree in Classics, and loves jazz, old movies, fedoras, Art Deco and speakeasies.

For more information about Kelli's books, please visit her website at http://www.kellistanley.com

About CITY OF SECRETS:

Pandora Blake wanted to be famous. Instead, she wound up working at a peep show on San Francisco's Treasure Island. And on May 25th 1940, opening day for the World's Fair, the stage hands find her stabbed through the breast, an anti-Semitic slur scrawled in blood across her white skin ...

Enter ex-escort and Spanish Civil War nurse Miranda Corbie, the one detective the carnies can count on. Summarily dismissed from the fair and the case, Miranda embarks on a quest for a new job and justice for Pandora Blake.

From dingy hotels in the shadow of San Francisco's City Hall to the bright, sunny spa town of Calistoga nestled in the Napa Valley, Miranda's follows the trail of a vicious murderer.

Is he a member of one of the American fascist groups that support Nazi Germany? Is he the brutal animal trainer who likes to brand women? Or is it, after all, the Irish cop who hates her--Gerald Duggan?

CITY OF SECRETS is a powerful, heart-pounding sequel to Kelli Stanley's scorching thriller and first-in-series CITY OF DRAGONS, which introduced her unique and unforgettable series heroine, Miranda Corbie.

Stanley writes 1940 without gloves on, without censorship, evoking the beauty of Benny Goodman swing and the brutality of a synagogue stained by a swastika.

Against the backdrop of a Europe defeated by Nazi Germany and an America unsure of where to turn, Miranda Corbie fights on, a lost soldier ... but never a lost soul.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It is the backdrop of the story and the characters that form the raison d'ętre to read and savor the novel from beginning to end November 2, 2011

By Bookreporter

Format:Hardcover

CITY OF SECRETS is the second of Kelli Stanley's award-winning Miranda Corbie novels, which begins within a few months after CITY OF DRAGONS ends. It is still 1940, the setting is still San Francisco, and there is yet another celebration taking place: the beginning of the second season of the Golden Gate International Exposition. Be warned: when you open the book and begin reading the first page, you are leaving the 21st century and wherever you happen to be behind. By page nine, you will be so thoroughly immersed in the San Francisco of the mid-20th century that your contemporary surroundings will seem to be the product of an inferior imagination.

Stanley's imagination, on the other hand, is anything but inferior. She conjures up a time far removed from our own and a place that was once real and is forever exotic. Her characters, from her tough-as-nails heroine to her villains and victims, are twisted archetypes, by turns readily identifiable as such and not so much, easily recognizable but never predictable. This is perhaps most true of Corbie, an escort turned private investigator, who would seem too tough to love without risk until she reveals, however momentarily and rarely, a haunting fragility that stays with the reader long after the tale is told.

So it is that Corbie, who is at times barely making ends meet in her new profession, finds herself compelled to once again take on a case pro bono that the powers-that-be want her as far away from as possible. Page one kicks off with a dead body, that of a model named Pandora Blake, who has been murdered and left with an anti-Semitic slur written in her own blood. Corbie is on the case immediately and is just as abruptly removed from it; she cannot let go of it, however, and when another woman of similar circumstances is found in...well, similar circumstances, Corbie investigates even more tenaciously.

Anti-Semitism was the rule rather than the exception at that time; Hitler and Stalin seemed to be in competition as to who could eradicate the Jewish people first. The United States was still on the sidelines of World War II, and many questioned the wisdom of intervening to stop the Holocaust; some resented and blamed the victims for the fact that the issue was even being raised.

So it is that Corbie follows a twisted trail that begins at a defaced Jewish synagogue, and twists and turns its way through the dark streets of the lower end of San Francisco, where tourists venture looking for thrills they won't find at home, then unexpectedly to a section of the Napa Valley that the out-of-towners don't even know exists. Along the way, Corbie discovers that, as wicked as the motivation behind the deaths of two young women may have been, a far worse act is planned, one that Corbie may not have enough power or time to stop. She is also subjected to an unexpected revelation that undoubtedly will have repercussions for future installments of the series.

As interesting and as original as the mystery that forms the heart of CITY OF SECRETS is, it is the backdrop of the story --- San Francisco in the year 1940 --- and the characters that form the raison d'ętre to read and savor the novel from beginning to end. There is no detail to escape Stanley's notice, and the descriptive power of her prose is such that you will find yourself --- as I did --- with a well-marked and underlined book by story's end. If Stanley can find the time and pursue the inclination, I would love to have her write a travel guide of San Francisco from the perspective of the year 1940. Until that might happen, though, CITY OF SECRETS is a more than suitable magic carpet to take you there.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost like being there! October 18, 2011

By Tulugaq

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Miranda Corbie comes to life again in Kelli Stanley's second "City of..." novel. Gorgeous, tough-minded (and tough-skinned) Miranda solves two murders and exposes an anti-Semitic eugenics ring (sounds extreme, but Stanley makes it believable) in 1940 San Francisco. Once again, she brings to life the Golden Gate International Exposition in all its tawdry excitement -- indeed, the period detail is incredibly vivid, placing the reader right THERE as Miranda runs all over the Bay area. An exciting and fascinating read, guaranteed to leave you breathless!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars blast-from-the-past March 5, 2012

By Mark P. Sadler VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

It's a man's world. San Francisco in the 1940s. No place for a dame. Yeah, don't tell that to Stanley's hard-boiled female PI, Miranda Corbie, fedora and all.
Two girls are dead, stabbed and left with the word `kike' drawn on their naked body with their own blood. Europe is at war and some factions in the States are dealing with their own anti-Semitic problems. Aryans in America. In this second of a series, following "City of Dragons," Stanley's noir masterpiece takes us into a dark realm of the American historical novel.
With a short, staccato beat, resounding like bullets launched from gangster's machine gun we are led into the world of Miranda Corbie, ex-escort, detective to the stars in the underbelly of the Gayway at The Golden Gate International Exposition of 1940. Corbie breathes in every tune from every juke joint in town, scouring the city with help from a local rag reporter and her Jewish attorney, as they battle to locate evidence to reverse a charge that has led the police to send one of their own to Riker's on a trumped up charge.
Running from an Italian mob boss looking to cut short her charmed life, and one-step ahead of a malevolent police force, Corbie unearths the Nazi's in the backwoods town of Calistoga, just north of town. Lead by an evil dentist, a group of professionals is doing their part to sterilize young Jewish women, by using the guise of abortion clinics.
This book is a blast-from-the-past as Stanley liberally intersperses name brands, musicians, and gangsters from long ago that brings to mind the Humphrey Bogart or Ava Gardner era we have witnessed in the movies. Recently nominated for a Golden Nugget, a special award to be given to the best mystery set in California, I hope this goes on to even more recognition for this very special author.