Synopses & Reviews
June, 1940.
For the United States, war is on the horizon.
For Miranda Corbie, private investigator and erstwhile escort, there are debts to be paid and memories—long-suppressed and willfully forgotten—to be resurrected. Enter the U.S. State Department and the man who helped Miranda get her PI license. A man she owes. A man who asks her to track a chemistry professor here in San Francisco whom he suspects is a spy for the Nazis. Playing along may get Miranda a ticket to Blitz-bombed England and answers about her past…if she survives.
Through sordid back alleys and art gallery halls, from drag dress nightclubs to a Nazi costume ball, Miranda's journey into fear takes her on the famed City of San Francisco streamliner and to Reno, Nevada, the Biggest Little City in the World…where she finds herself framed for a murder she never anticipated. Forced to go underground, Miranda soldiers on alone, determined to find the truth about a murder, a Nazi spy, and her own troubling past.
But Miranda will have to learn the difference between reality and illusion, from despair to deceit and factual to fake, as she tries to get her life back…and navigates a City of Ghosts.
Miranda Corbie's back. Noir will never be the same.
And Kelli Stanley will once again mesmerize readers with the most thrilling novel yet in her award-winning series.
Review
"[Stanley] once again showcases her ability to transport the reader back in time. The atmosphere, character, dialogue and setting all feel authentic to the point that one wonders if Stanley has a device to go back in time, record events and come back to transcribe them. Fans and newcomers alike will be eager to see what happens to Miranda next."—
RT Book Reviews (4 stars)
"Stanleys protagonist looks like Rita Hayworth and talks like Sam Spade in pumps, but Miranda is nobodys fool, as she proves time and again."—Kirkus
Praise for City of Secrets
"Stanley's affection for San Francisco is obvious as she immerses her story in the sights, sounds and mood of 1940…Outstanding."—Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"Engrossing…Stanley brings 1940s San Francisco to life with her meticulously detailed, hard-boiled novel…Its neonoir in a classical five-act structure, starring one of crimes most arresting heroines: angry, big-hearted, and fearless Miranda Corbie."—Library Journal (starred review)
"Lean and mean, Kelli Stanleys 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
Praise for City of Dragons
"Big and ambitious, both reverent and original. Author Kelli Stanley has her eye on greatness."—George Pelecanos
"A stunning recreation of time and place."—Robert B. Parker
"Impressive…Stanley has vividly re-created the atmosphere of the era…Readers will eagerly await the next installment in this exciting new hard-boiled series."—Booklist (starred review)
"Set in San Francisco in 1940, Stanleys stunning first in a new series introduces a gutsy, independent heroine."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"Full of evocative detail (the scent of Hills Brothers Coffee, the sound of Artie Shaw's "Frenesi"),
City of Ghosts has the vigor and pace of a terrific Warner Bros. film noir…Ms. Stanley brings 1940 San Francisco to life in flamboyant language, reminiscent at times of such period prose-poets as radio's Norman Corwin and Bay Area newspaperman Herb Caen."—
The Wall Street Journal"A love of San Francisco—its flaws, strengths and eccentricities—permeates Kelli Stanleys intriguing novels about private detective Miranda Corbie.…The authors clear-eyed view of San Francisco and of Mirandas character adds to the strength of the novels engrossing historical fiction."—Associated Press
"[Stanley] once again showcases her ability to transport the reader back in time. The atmosphere, character, dialogue and setting all feel authentic to the point that one wonders if Stanley has a device to go back in time, record events and come back to transcribe them. Fans and newcomers alike will be eager to see what happens to Miranda next."—RT Book Reviews (4 stars)
"Stanleys protagonist looks like Rita Hayworth and talks like Sam Spade in pumps, but Miranda is nobodys fool, as she proves time and again."—Kirkus
"Stanleys tenacious research into time and place is evident in every sentence on every page, with the result being that anyone reading the book, as well as its two predecessors, surrenders the reality of the present for Stanleys presentation of the past. And what a past it is."—Bookreporter
Synopsis
PI Miranda Corbie will do anything to save her mother, but first she must clear her name of the murder of a Nazi spy
June 1940—Hitlers army has conquered France and is turning on England. While the United States is only now waking up to the war, it has been gnawing at Miranda Corbie for years—ever since she was a nurse in Spanish Civil War. Working in San Francisco as a PI years later, the war should seem a world away, but it might as well be on her doorstep now that shes learned that her mother—whom she hasn't seen in years—is trapped in England. There isnt much she can do until the State Department asks her to keep an eye on a chemistry professor who they suspect is a Nazi spy trafficking in information on allied forces armaments. The five grand fee that the state department is offering for the job is tempting, but what seals the deal is the chance to bring her mother home.
But that slim chance gets even slimmer when the professor turns up dead and Miranda tops the lists of suspects. Forced to go underground to find the killer and clear her name, Miranda Corbie soldiers on alone but determined in City of Ghosts, the most thrilling novel of Kelli Stanleys award-winning series.
About the Author
KELLI STANLEY is the author of two previous Miranda Corbie mysteries, most recently the award-winning City of Secrets. The first in her highly acclaimed series, City of Dragons, has won the Macavity and Bruce Alexander awards for best historical mystery and was a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a Shamus Award nominee. She lives in San Francisco, California.