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Miranda Corbie Mystery #2
City of Secrets
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.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2011
10 people are currently reading
526 people want to read
About the author
Kelli Stanley
20 books110 followersKelli Stanley is the multiple award-winning, critically acclaimed and bestselling creator of the Miranda Corbie series (CITY OF DRAGONS, CITY OF SECRETS, CITY OF GHOSTS, CITY OF SHARKS), noir novels set in 1940 San Francisco and featuring "one of crime's most arresting heroines" (Library Journal).
Kelli has also written an award-winning "Roman Noir" series set in Roman Britain (NOX DORMIENDA, THE CURSE-MAKER), and has published numerous short stories and essays.
Kelli also founded and was president of the non-profit publisher Nasty Woman Press, which published the award-winning anthology SHATTERING GLASS.
A winner of the Macavity, Bruce Alexander, Golden Nugget and Anthony awards (the latter as a publisher of SHATTERING GLASS), she was also a Shamus and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, while the City and County of San Francisco awarded her a Certificate of Merit for her contributions to literature. She was named a literary heir of Dashiell Hammett by his granddaughter in a Publisher's Weekly article, and critics have compared her work to her icons Raymond Chandler and Norman Corwin. She was by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention as its Historical Mystery Guest of Honor in 2024.
Her eagerly-anticipated next novel, THE RECKONING, is a thriller set in California's "Emerald Triangle" in 1985, and features the debut of new series character Renata Drake. THE RECKONING will publish in the US and UK on January 6, 2026, from Severn House.
Kelli holds a Master's Degree in Classics, and when she's not reading or writing, loves nature walks, jazz, classic film, travel, and, with her spouse, taking care of their two rescue cats. She's also honored to have served as faculty for the famed Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference for many years.
For more more information about Kelli and her work—including interactive, multimedia maps, videos, photos and ephemera—please visit her website at www.kellistanley.com.
Kelli has also written an award-winning "Roman Noir" series set in Roman Britain (NOX DORMIENDA, THE CURSE-MAKER), and has published numerous short stories and essays.
Kelli also founded and was president of the non-profit publisher Nasty Woman Press, which published the award-winning anthology SHATTERING GLASS.
A winner of the Macavity, Bruce Alexander, Golden Nugget and Anthony awards (the latter as a publisher of SHATTERING GLASS), she was also a Shamus and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, while the City and County of San Francisco awarded her a Certificate of Merit for her contributions to literature. She was named a literary heir of Dashiell Hammett by his granddaughter in a Publisher's Weekly article, and critics have compared her work to her icons Raymond Chandler and Norman Corwin. She was by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention as its Historical Mystery Guest of Honor in 2024.
Her eagerly-anticipated next novel, THE RECKONING, is a thriller set in California's "Emerald Triangle" in 1985, and features the debut of new series character Renata Drake. THE RECKONING will publish in the US and UK on January 6, 2026, from Severn House.
Kelli holds a Master's Degree in Classics, and when she's not reading or writing, loves nature walks, jazz, classic film, travel, and, with her spouse, taking care of their two rescue cats. She's also honored to have served as faculty for the famed Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference for many years.
For more more information about Kelli and her work—including interactive, multimedia maps, videos, photos and ephemera—please visit her website at www.kellistanley.com.
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May 18, 2014
I won a copy of City of Secrets through Goodreads Firstreads.
Pros:
Excellent sense of the time period
Some nice historic detail
Original plot
Cons:
HIGH F-word count
WAY too much time wasted describing lighting and putting out cigarettes
2nd in Series, really not able to read out of order
Hard-boiled, foul (FOUL)-mouthed, and foul tempered, Miranda Corbie is a former prostitute turned private investigator. She’s also a serious chain-smoker who can’t make up her mind if she’s really trying to quit or not (AND a war vet, AND the child of an alcoholic abusive father and an absentee mother, AND struggling with love lost – all just a little much for me). Miranda is just way too pessimistic about everything. She's even bitter about the music of the day because she finds it too sunshine-and-rainbows positive. One of her favorite phrases is that it's about to be "the end of the f*ing world", people are just trying to enjoy each other before "the end of the f*ing world…" She goes on some seriously lengthy and angry diatribes. At one point she references another song she finds abhorrent: "…f- the Echo and the Shadow. Pain kept her company, one kind or another, either bruises on her face or the growling in her stomach…"
This book was a struggle for me honestly. The plot is original, and the writer does a good job with historic detail. But, even though this is hard-boiled noir fiction, I’m pretty sure the F-word usage is high for the time period, and it’s used in a modern way, as having all kinds of uses and meanings. (Dashiell Hammet didn't need this kind of profanity to write classic noir.) Also, I cannot count the number of times sentences were wasted describing lighting up or putting out a “stick”. Honestly, every time Miranda lights a cigarette, we get two sentences about it; every time we have to know where she pulled the cigarette from, what she lit it with, what brand the lighter was or what name was on the matchbook, if she lit it herself, or if a man held the light for her, if he struck the match with his thumb, or if she held his hands steady as she lit up. Putting out a cigarette required a little less detail, but not much… And unfortunately, Miranda would light up a cigarette, then literally five sentences or less later, put it out – honestly I don’t know how anyone smokes that fast! Then five sentences later her hands were trembling cause she needed another cigarette – so she’d light up again. At the points where she decided maybe she was trying to quit smoking, we get a lot of detail about popping lifesavers instead – where she bought them, how many rolls were in her purse, what flavor they were, and how many she popped in her mouth, and how they just made her want a cigarette more.
I cannot even begin to think how many pages shorter this book would have been if you took out all the references to lighting up and putting out cigarettes - no exaggeration.
I had trouble with the constant use of sentence fragments. At places it made sense. It set the scene in flashes, especially the murder scenes, giving it almost a graphic novel kind of feel. But even as a writing style, it isn’t consistent. The sentence fragment stuff is much more prevalent in the first half than the second half. The ones that got me most were things like: “Trembling all over. Rubbed his face into his blue work shirt, mouth contorted, tears on weathered skin.”, and “Duggan, sad-faced siamang, long hairy arms helpless, large hands, covered in scars, weak, white, empty. Flare of energy when he met her eyes. Recognition.”
The middle of the story felt kind of empty, but I really got into the last 100 pages or so. The plot picked up, the profanity dropped off significantly, and the sentence fragment writing style slacked off. If the smoking descriptions and F-words were cropped down significantly, and the middle of the story made a little more concise, I would have really liked this book. It would have been better as a shorter, more concise story - maybe 200 pages as opposed to 290.
Pros:
Excellent sense of the time period
Some nice historic detail
Original plot
Cons:
HIGH F-word count
WAY too much time wasted describing lighting and putting out cigarettes
2nd in Series, really not able to read out of order
Hard-boiled, foul (FOUL)-mouthed, and foul tempered, Miranda Corbie is a former prostitute turned private investigator. She’s also a serious chain-smoker who can’t make up her mind if she’s really trying to quit or not (AND a war vet, AND the child of an alcoholic abusive father and an absentee mother, AND struggling with love lost – all just a little much for me). Miranda is just way too pessimistic about everything. She's even bitter about the music of the day because she finds it too sunshine-and-rainbows positive. One of her favorite phrases is that it's about to be "the end of the f*ing world", people are just trying to enjoy each other before "the end of the f*ing world…" She goes on some seriously lengthy and angry diatribes. At one point she references another song she finds abhorrent: "…f- the Echo and the Shadow. Pain kept her company, one kind or another, either bruises on her face or the growling in her stomach…"
This book was a struggle for me honestly. The plot is original, and the writer does a good job with historic detail. But, even though this is hard-boiled noir fiction, I’m pretty sure the F-word usage is high for the time period, and it’s used in a modern way, as having all kinds of uses and meanings. (Dashiell Hammet didn't need this kind of profanity to write classic noir.) Also, I cannot count the number of times sentences were wasted describing lighting up or putting out a “stick”. Honestly, every time Miranda lights a cigarette, we get two sentences about it; every time we have to know where she pulled the cigarette from, what she lit it with, what brand the lighter was or what name was on the matchbook, if she lit it herself, or if a man held the light for her, if he struck the match with his thumb, or if she held his hands steady as she lit up. Putting out a cigarette required a little less detail, but not much… And unfortunately, Miranda would light up a cigarette, then literally five sentences or less later, put it out – honestly I don’t know how anyone smokes that fast! Then five sentences later her hands were trembling cause she needed another cigarette – so she’d light up again. At the points where she decided maybe she was trying to quit smoking, we get a lot of detail about popping lifesavers instead – where she bought them, how many rolls were in her purse, what flavor they were, and how many she popped in her mouth, and how they just made her want a cigarette more.
I cannot even begin to think how many pages shorter this book would have been if you took out all the references to lighting up and putting out cigarettes - no exaggeration.
I had trouble with the constant use of sentence fragments. At places it made sense. It set the scene in flashes, especially the murder scenes, giving it almost a graphic novel kind of feel. But even as a writing style, it isn’t consistent. The sentence fragment stuff is much more prevalent in the first half than the second half. The ones that got me most were things like: “Trembling all over. Rubbed his face into his blue work shirt, mouth contorted, tears on weathered skin.”, and “Duggan, sad-faced siamang, long hairy arms helpless, large hands, covered in scars, weak, white, empty. Flare of energy when he met her eyes. Recognition.”
The middle of the story felt kind of empty, but I really got into the last 100 pages or so. The plot picked up, the profanity dropped off significantly, and the sentence fragment writing style slacked off. If the smoking descriptions and F-words were cropped down significantly, and the middle of the story made a little more concise, I would have really liked this book. It would have been better as a shorter, more concise story - maybe 200 pages as opposed to 290.
March 15, 2014
Set in San Francisco in 1940, this story is a reminder that the good old days had some pretty horrific stuff happening. Racism and sexism were rampant, eugenics was regarded as cutting edge science, domestic terrorists both left and right were blowing things up to prove their points. Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford and a lot of other folks thought the Nazis were on the right track and we should leave them alone. Father Coughlin was spewing race hatred over the airwaves.
In the midst of this,private detective Miranda Corbie is trying to find out who murdered two women, marking their bodies with anti-Semitic slurs. She breaks all the rules, of course, puts herself in jeopardy, also of course, and eventually figures it out.
The descriptions of the city scenes, the atmosphere and the historic details are very well done, as are the insights into the politics of the time and place. I'm not so fond of the main character - the hard-boiled but vulnerable broad private eye has one or two more chapters in her back story than necessary, I think - Spanish Civil War vet, ex-escort, horrible alcoholic father, vanished mother, dead lover...and a partridge in a pear tree?
In the midst of this,private detective Miranda Corbie is trying to find out who murdered two women, marking their bodies with anti-Semitic slurs. She breaks all the rules, of course, puts herself in jeopardy, also of course, and eventually figures it out.
The descriptions of the city scenes, the atmosphere and the historic details are very well done, as are the insights into the politics of the time and place. I'm not so fond of the main character - the hard-boiled but vulnerable broad private eye has one or two more chapters in her back story than necessary, I think - Spanish Civil War vet, ex-escort, horrible alcoholic father, vanished mother, dead lover...and a partridge in a pear tree?
October 4, 2011
The second of Kelli Stanley's noir series featuring private investigator Miranda Corbie begins on May 25, 1940, the opening day of the second season of the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco.
Miranda is called to the discovery of a murdered performer, a young model by the name of Pandora Blake, who was stabbed and then had an anti-Semitic insult written on her chest with her own blood. Even though Miranda is an employee of Sally Rand Enterprises, fair management tell her she's a "security risk" (because of the incidents in City of Dragons) and ask her not to return to the site.
Out of work, Miranda calls the paper to run her usual ads, but when her own lawyer, Meyer Bialik, asks her to investigate on behalf of his new client who has been arrested for Pandora Blakes's murder, she agrees.
Pleased that she can officially continue to delve into the case, Miranda begins immediately. In her usual style, Miranda approaches her investigation obliquely, and digs up a lot more corruption than she expected.
Kelli Stanley is such a master of noir one could swear that she's Raymond Chandler reincarnated, and Miranda Corbie is the epitome of hardboiled. Unusual for a female character perhaps, but completely believable nonetheless.
And Ms. Stanley makes of San Francisco during the early years of World War II come alive as though the she had actually been there. The amount of research this would have required is mind-boggling, and it's no surprise that she has a scholarly background.
FTC Full Disclosure: Kelli Stanley was kind enough to send me an ARC of City of Secrets. I've done my best to write an impartial review.
Miranda is called to the discovery of a murdered performer, a young model by the name of Pandora Blake, who was stabbed and then had an anti-Semitic insult written on her chest with her own blood. Even though Miranda is an employee of Sally Rand Enterprises, fair management tell her she's a "security risk" (because of the incidents in City of Dragons) and ask her not to return to the site.
Out of work, Miranda calls the paper to run her usual ads, but when her own lawyer, Meyer Bialik, asks her to investigate on behalf of his new client who has been arrested for Pandora Blakes's murder, she agrees.
Pleased that she can officially continue to delve into the case, Miranda begins immediately. In her usual style, Miranda approaches her investigation obliquely, and digs up a lot more corruption than she expected.
Kelli Stanley is such a master of noir one could swear that she's Raymond Chandler reincarnated, and Miranda Corbie is the epitome of hardboiled. Unusual for a female character perhaps, but completely believable nonetheless.
And Ms. Stanley makes of San Francisco during the early years of World War II come alive as though the she had actually been there. The amount of research this would have required is mind-boggling, and it's no surprise that she has a scholarly background.
FTC Full Disclosure: Kelli Stanley was kind enough to send me an ARC of City of Secrets. I've done my best to write an impartial review.
August 31, 2012
“City of Secrets” by Kelli Stanley, published by Minotaur Books.
Category – Mystery/Thriller
Miranda Corbie was a prostitute; she is now a Private Investigator.
The story is set in 1940 during the World’s Fair in San Francisco. Pandora Blake, a model/performer, is found dead and her body is marked with the word “Jew”. This becomes significant in the light that Hitler is now marching towards Paris and the world is becoming aware of his hatred for the Jews.
Miranda finds herself practically alone when no one but her seems to be interested in who murdered Pandora. The clues are few and far between and seem to be leading no where. She is also bothered with the realization that the mob may be after her for revenge on a previous case of hers.
As Miranda closes in on the case, it is quite possible that this may not be the work of a killer but an institution that may have ties or at least believes the philosophy of Hitler.
A wonderful read of you like noir and pulp fiction. Miranda is quite unusual for the time, a hard drinking and chain smoking woman that has invaded the sacrosanct position of men.
The book contains strong language and mild sexual content.
Category – Mystery/Thriller
Miranda Corbie was a prostitute; she is now a Private Investigator.
The story is set in 1940 during the World’s Fair in San Francisco. Pandora Blake, a model/performer, is found dead and her body is marked with the word “Jew”. This becomes significant in the light that Hitler is now marching towards Paris and the world is becoming aware of his hatred for the Jews.
Miranda finds herself practically alone when no one but her seems to be interested in who murdered Pandora. The clues are few and far between and seem to be leading no where. She is also bothered with the realization that the mob may be after her for revenge on a previous case of hers.
As Miranda closes in on the case, it is quite possible that this may not be the work of a killer but an institution that may have ties or at least believes the philosophy of Hitler.
A wonderful read of you like noir and pulp fiction. Miranda is quite unusual for the time, a hard drinking and chain smoking woman that has invaded the sacrosanct position of men.
The book contains strong language and mild sexual content.
December 10, 2024
City of Secrets by Kelli Stanley is the second book of the Miranda Corbie mystery series set in 1940 San Francisco. After reading the first book, City of Dragons, I didn't expect to want to read another. But I did enjoy the minutiae of 1940 San Francisco...just not the protagonist.
In the sequel, she's as offensive as ever, still smoking non-stop (she tries to stop, but her hands shake, so she lights up again). She stabbed out the Chesterfield on his desk, rolling around the stub until the paper splintered and tobacco spilled out. "How long do I have to stay here? I can't wait long enough for you to find an idea. World doesn't have that much time left."
Her foul mouth! I totally concur with another Goodreads reviewer: Dashiell Hammett didn't need this kind of profanity to write classic noir. As well as the reviewer who suggests all the words about her cigarettes are filler (padding the story to novel length). Who cares if it's her second-to-last or third-to-last Chesterfield in the pack?
To be fair, she shows kindness to those who are struggling to make ends meet, or down-and-outs. Her tips are generous even when she doesn't have a steady income. There may be a kind person locked away, deep down inside the brash, abrasive personality with which she confronts power and authority.
Sexism & racism were rampant in 1940. Focus of this book is anti-Semitism, felt even by a simple food vendor at the fair. "You say there's a retreat goin' on in France? Not from the Follies Ber-gaire. Who gives a d--- about the frogs and the krauts, anyway, been fightin' each other for years. You want salted peanuts with that hot dog, lady?"
Women are murdered, then labeled "kike" with their own blood. Miranda is dismissed from her security job at the fair, in an effort to suppress public knowledge. Of course that spurs her to investigate, heedless of warning. Newspaperman Rick Sanders helps, despite her ambivalent friendship.
“I appreciate your help. But you don’t own me. No one does—and no one will.” He fell back to the table, cheeks red. She cared about the half-Irish bastard, maybe even loved him in a way, loved him like a lost memory, a grade-school kiss. But he wanted more, always did.
Historical details of San Francisco are plentiful and delightful - tidbits to enjoy despite Miranda. Each street she travels on, cable car she rides, building she enters or admires, brands of cigarettes smoked, songs playing in bars, perfumes worn, cost of food in diners...a treat for SF fans.
Bente’s eyes focused on her friend. “Honey, I worry about you. Sometimes all we can expect out of life is a well-cooked steak and a good f---. That’s what men are after, and it’s high time women started following suit.”
Slow elevator, creaks and groans. Miranda wished the Monadnock still used operators. She used to enjoy conversations with the old man on the stool, wink and a smile, tell her to call him “Pops” like something out of an Andy Hardy movie. A year ago. A year was a long time.
Laughter high and shrill, mixed with the baritone beat of the foghorn off the Headlands, white wool blanket on the way, muffled lights, wispy ghosts, forever dancing the tarantella down Market Street. Live through another quake, San Francisco. Climb your green hills, make your babies, build your schools. A hundred years from now you might be docile and domestic and fit for the families, magic gone, gamblers no longer welcome. You might tame your people, might be the lady you pretended to be. But Miranda didn’t think so.
“So don’t f--- up his life any more than it has been. Dreams are goddamn hard to live on, lady. He’s still got a few that can come true.” Lucinda ground out the cigarette with a violent twist.
Miranda dropped the Chesterfield on the sidewalk. Stared up at the two-story Edwardian, cream colored, brown trim, one of a series on this stretch of Haight. Old houses huddled together, comparing scars, dreaming of a single family again, servants’ quarters downstairs and men with handlebar mustaches shouting for more port.
Girls who worked perfume cultivated an air, a radio voice, necessary to sell women on the idea of allure through scent and to persuade men that buying it for their wives would make them smell and look like the woman who sold it.
Information was coming fast and thick, overwhelming her. Duggan as brutal, dirty cop she recognized. Duggan as lover would take more than a glass of ten-year-old gin to make sense.
“Roast pork, potatoes and sauerkraut, beer or coffee, apple pie for dessert. Thirty-five cents.”
Politicians and attorneys drove by in long, low cars, on their way to meetings with developers and factory owners to figure out who was next in line to get his. City Hall gleamed with old money, new money, money any way you liked it, testament to the city of the phoenix, the city that rose from the dead and came back twice as rich. SAN FRANCISCO, O GLORIOUS CITY OF OUR HEARTS, THAT HAST BEEN TRIED AND NOT FOUND WANTING, read the inscription inside the rotunda. GO THOU WITH LIKE SPIRIT TO MAKE THE FUTURE THINE.
“Christ, Miranda, you make more enemies in a year than most gumshoes do in ten.” She smiled. “It’s a gift."
The story's pace accelerates to breakneck speed by the end. She heads to Calistoga following up clues, presenting herself as bait. That drags a bit...then she takes unthinkable risks, survives only by a miraculous save.
Back in SF, she confronts a mobster from LA.
Climb a stairway to paradise called Los Angeles. Movie stars and movie palaces and wide boulevards with even wider cars, weather always an even seventy-two degrees.Until they got lost.
Until the boulevards dead-ended in small, cramped hotel rooms off Wilshire. Vast, empty. All make-believe. A desert disguised as paradise. Better you should stay in Kansas, little girl. Live in a real city, where the predators can’t promise you eternal life, forever young. Forever beautiful.
Next, she intuits the true killer, as well as the killer's motivation for each murder...based on the killer's childhood taunting. Seriously? How would she know? Was the killer's backstory edited out of a previous manuscript version?
The reader is teased by a postcard Miranda receives...could mean learning more of her past, next time.
In the sequel, she's as offensive as ever, still smoking non-stop (she tries to stop, but her hands shake, so she lights up again). She stabbed out the Chesterfield on his desk, rolling around the stub until the paper splintered and tobacco spilled out. "How long do I have to stay here? I can't wait long enough for you to find an idea. World doesn't have that much time left."
Her foul mouth! I totally concur with another Goodreads reviewer: Dashiell Hammett didn't need this kind of profanity to write classic noir. As well as the reviewer who suggests all the words about her cigarettes are filler (padding the story to novel length). Who cares if it's her second-to-last or third-to-last Chesterfield in the pack?
To be fair, she shows kindness to those who are struggling to make ends meet, or down-and-outs. Her tips are generous even when she doesn't have a steady income. There may be a kind person locked away, deep down inside the brash, abrasive personality with which she confronts power and authority.
Sexism & racism were rampant in 1940. Focus of this book is anti-Semitism, felt even by a simple food vendor at the fair. "You say there's a retreat goin' on in France? Not from the Follies Ber-gaire. Who gives a d--- about the frogs and the krauts, anyway, been fightin' each other for years. You want salted peanuts with that hot dog, lady?"
Women are murdered, then labeled "kike" with their own blood. Miranda is dismissed from her security job at the fair, in an effort to suppress public knowledge. Of course that spurs her to investigate, heedless of warning. Newspaperman Rick Sanders helps, despite her ambivalent friendship.
“I appreciate your help. But you don’t own me. No one does—and no one will.” He fell back to the table, cheeks red. She cared about the half-Irish bastard, maybe even loved him in a way, loved him like a lost memory, a grade-school kiss. But he wanted more, always did.
Historical details of San Francisco are plentiful and delightful - tidbits to enjoy despite Miranda. Each street she travels on, cable car she rides, building she enters or admires, brands of cigarettes smoked, songs playing in bars, perfumes worn, cost of food in diners...a treat for SF fans.
Bente’s eyes focused on her friend. “Honey, I worry about you. Sometimes all we can expect out of life is a well-cooked steak and a good f---. That’s what men are after, and it’s high time women started following suit.”
Slow elevator, creaks and groans. Miranda wished the Monadnock still used operators. She used to enjoy conversations with the old man on the stool, wink and a smile, tell her to call him “Pops” like something out of an Andy Hardy movie. A year ago. A year was a long time.
Laughter high and shrill, mixed with the baritone beat of the foghorn off the Headlands, white wool blanket on the way, muffled lights, wispy ghosts, forever dancing the tarantella down Market Street. Live through another quake, San Francisco. Climb your green hills, make your babies, build your schools. A hundred years from now you might be docile and domestic and fit for the families, magic gone, gamblers no longer welcome. You might tame your people, might be the lady you pretended to be. But Miranda didn’t think so.
“So don’t f--- up his life any more than it has been. Dreams are goddamn hard to live on, lady. He’s still got a few that can come true.” Lucinda ground out the cigarette with a violent twist.
Miranda dropped the Chesterfield on the sidewalk. Stared up at the two-story Edwardian, cream colored, brown trim, one of a series on this stretch of Haight. Old houses huddled together, comparing scars, dreaming of a single family again, servants’ quarters downstairs and men with handlebar mustaches shouting for more port.
Girls who worked perfume cultivated an air, a radio voice, necessary to sell women on the idea of allure through scent and to persuade men that buying it for their wives would make them smell and look like the woman who sold it.
Information was coming fast and thick, overwhelming her. Duggan as brutal, dirty cop she recognized. Duggan as lover would take more than a glass of ten-year-old gin to make sense.
“Roast pork, potatoes and sauerkraut, beer or coffee, apple pie for dessert. Thirty-five cents.”
Politicians and attorneys drove by in long, low cars, on their way to meetings with developers and factory owners to figure out who was next in line to get his. City Hall gleamed with old money, new money, money any way you liked it, testament to the city of the phoenix, the city that rose from the dead and came back twice as rich. SAN FRANCISCO, O GLORIOUS CITY OF OUR HEARTS, THAT HAST BEEN TRIED AND NOT FOUND WANTING, read the inscription inside the rotunda. GO THOU WITH LIKE SPIRIT TO MAKE THE FUTURE THINE.
“Christ, Miranda, you make more enemies in a year than most gumshoes do in ten.” She smiled. “It’s a gift."
The story's pace accelerates to breakneck speed by the end. She heads to Calistoga following up clues, presenting herself as bait. That drags a bit...then she takes unthinkable risks, survives only by a miraculous save.
Back in SF, she confronts a mobster from LA.
Climb a stairway to paradise called Los Angeles. Movie stars and movie palaces and wide boulevards with even wider cars, weather always an even seventy-two degrees.Until they got lost.
Until the boulevards dead-ended in small, cramped hotel rooms off Wilshire. Vast, empty. All make-believe. A desert disguised as paradise. Better you should stay in Kansas, little girl. Live in a real city, where the predators can’t promise you eternal life, forever young. Forever beautiful.
Next, she intuits the true killer, as well as the killer's motivation for each murder...based on the killer's childhood taunting. Seriously? How would she know? Was the killer's backstory edited out of a previous manuscript version?
The reader is teased by a postcard Miranda receives...could mean learning more of her past, next time.
February 27, 2015
Sometimes, I am amazed by what I do not know, and the eugenics in the United States during the 1930's to 1950's has really shocked me. I know about the terrible treatment of the blacks in the South, but this points to the perils of being Jewish in America, while Hitler exterminates European Jews. Miranda has not lost her grit and stamina, but her smoking has diminished, a little. Parts of the story sends chills up my spine, to think of the suffering of the oppressed. Stanley presents a San Francisco rich in history, crime, passion, and beauty. The characters are rich in detail from No-Legs to Duggan to Blind Willie to Ozzie. I enjoy the friendship among Miranda and Bente and Gladys and Allen. Little by little, the reader learns Miranda’s history, but still much needs to be told.
May 19, 2014
I won this book on Goodreads. I hate to be negative about a book that was a freebie by a relatively unknown author, but this book was not my cup of tea. I liked the idea of a mystery set in San Francisco in the 1940s featuring a female detective. But the writing and narrative didn't work for me. The story was very fragmented and the writing seemed choppy. I also found the detective Miranda somewhat irritating and unrealistic for a character set in the 1940's. But I see that this book has received many positive reviews, so I will chalk my reaction up to differing tastes. Clearly others have enjoyed Stanley's style and detective.
April 13, 2012
I picked up this book with high expectations, looking for a taut storyline and an engaging plot. The bitter, angry tone of the protagonist starts off being refreshing, but becomes grating very quickly. The portrayal of San Francisco is interesting.
My main issue with the book is that the plot never really delivers a punch, though you keep hoping for one till the end.
My main issue with the book is that the plot never really delivers a punch, though you keep hoping for one till the end.
February 21, 2012
I liked this one marginally better than the first in the series, although the same complaints apply: the heroine is too enigmatic for me and the hard-boiled style gets a bit over the top!
July 14, 2012
Enjoyed the mystery and the main character. Hated that every other line she either smoked drank whiskey or popped multiple life savers. That got annoying after awhile
May 28, 2020
More like a 3.5... when is goodreads gonna allow halvsies? I liked The character and the world the author created, but she doesn’t leave enough Easter eggs to be able to figure out the mystery. She also references the other book a lot, so it would probably be beneficial to have read that prior to this one (I had not and spent a lot of time trying to keep the characters straight and piece together what happened to Miranda in the first book).
June 3, 2025
The protagonist is hard to like even though she's trying to solve the mystery for the underdog. I get that the author is trying to make her seem tough and competitive to the male detectives of the detective noir genre, but it falls flat.
Also, was the author trying to quit smoking while writing this book? The main character is either always smoking or thinking about smoking.
Also, was the author trying to quit smoking while writing this book? The main character is either always smoking or thinking about smoking.
October 3, 2022
While I enjoyed the sights and the plot was intricate, I still don't like the language - it flips me out of the story instead of bringing me in.
I borrowed a copy from the library large print collection.
I borrowed a copy from the library large print collection.
March 6, 2012
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.
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.
January 7, 2012
Miranda Corbie, the character at the heart of Kelli Stanley’s “City of Secrets,’’ combines the tropes of femme fatale and wisecracking private dick. She’s a hard drinking, chain smoking, spunky dame who would shoot me as soon as look at me for calling her spunky.
This sequel to Stanley’s “City of Dragons’’ is set in 1940 in San Francisco at the World’s Fair where Miranda provides private security. There, Sally Rand runs the cooch tent and calls Miranda “the best protection my girls got on the Gayway.’’ But Miranda fails to prevent the murder of a dancer, who was discovered stabbed to death on the spotlit stage, an anti-Semitic slur written on her naked body in her own blood.
Against a backdrop of Nazis invading Europe and Americans in a state of denial trailing an unmistakable scent of anti-Semitism, cops and World’s Fair management are determined to hush up the murder. But that only makes Miranda more determined to investigate.
Stanley has a distinctive writing style, conveying thoughts and ambience with poetic brush strokes. She describes downtown San Francisco: “Cable cars panted, slow climb uphill, last gasp and a bell at the top, salesman from East Los Angeles hanging off the side while his wife holds the camera, kids chasing tracks down Powell Street.’’ These telegraphic riffs can be mesmerizing, but when they go on for too long they bog down an otherwise briskly paced story.
This sequel to Stanley’s “City of Dragons’’ is set in 1940 in San Francisco at the World’s Fair where Miranda provides private security. There, Sally Rand runs the cooch tent and calls Miranda “the best protection my girls got on the Gayway.’’ But Miranda fails to prevent the murder of a dancer, who was discovered stabbed to death on the spotlit stage, an anti-Semitic slur written on her naked body in her own blood.
Against a backdrop of Nazis invading Europe and Americans in a state of denial trailing an unmistakable scent of anti-Semitism, cops and World’s Fair management are determined to hush up the murder. But that only makes Miranda more determined to investigate.
Stanley has a distinctive writing style, conveying thoughts and ambience with poetic brush strokes. She describes downtown San Francisco: “Cable cars panted, slow climb uphill, last gasp and a bell at the top, salesman from East Los Angeles hanging off the side while his wife holds the camera, kids chasing tracks down Powell Street.’’ These telegraphic riffs can be mesmerizing, but when they go on for too long they bog down an otherwise briskly paced story.
November 30, 2011
Kelli Stanley has come out with the second in her Miranda Corbie mystery series set in San Francisco in the 30’s and 40’s—this time someone’s killing Jewish women, women whose place on the edges of society makes them particularly vulnerable. No one’s going to step up and bring them justice—or so the powers that be hope. They didn’t count on Miranda.
Previously I’ve reviewed Kelli’s Roman series, which I love (Nox Dormienda and The Curse-Maker ), but City of Dragons and now City of Secrets are just as compelling. Kelli is a rising star in the world of mystery authors: Nox won the Bruce Alexander Award, City of Dragons was an LA Times Book Prize Finalist and, most impressively, the Macavity Award Winner for the Best Historical Mystery of 2010. Her tough, noir style, brings us multi-layered characters, fast-paced unpredictable action and a setting that makes you feel like surely your armchair has been transported to San Francisco at that intriguingly rough period at the very end of the 30’s.
If somehow you haven’t made Miranda’s acquaintance yet, you have a double delight ahead. For those of you who read City of Dragons, your next fix is available.
Previously I’ve reviewed Kelli’s Roman series, which I love (Nox Dormienda and The Curse-Maker ), but City of Dragons and now City of Secrets are just as compelling. Kelli is a rising star in the world of mystery authors: Nox won the Bruce Alexander Award, City of Dragons was an LA Times Book Prize Finalist and, most impressively, the Macavity Award Winner for the Best Historical Mystery of 2010. Her tough, noir style, brings us multi-layered characters, fast-paced unpredictable action and a setting that makes you feel like surely your armchair has been transported to San Francisco at that intriguingly rough period at the very end of the 30’s.
If somehow you haven’t made Miranda’s acquaintance yet, you have a double delight ahead. For those of you who read City of Dragons, your next fix is available.
December 14, 2011
If you love San Francisco and noir this is the book for you. Ms. Stanley knows and appreciates the character of the City and as a result the landscape is a secondary character.
{San Francisco} "redolent and glistening with sing and lamplight, forever a girl you didn't take home to Mother.
"She knew better, of course. San Francisco didn't belong to anybody but her."
"Steamships and sailing ships, pale billows puffing on wind ripped through the gate, more green than golden. Muddy streets, horse manure. Hammer and saw, hammer and saw. Cement trucks nd bricklayers, dusty, gray hands, Barbary Coast glittering, casinos and electric lights. San Francisco whores spilling into pools of blood on Market Street, cops fighting over which one gets the payoff." The City, 1912
Noted that it's not a perfect 4 but it was an excellent noir read. More like a 3.8--there were some instances of "woman out of time" instances that I didn't care for--I don't think that a 1940s woman even if she is as edgy as Miranda Corbie would use the "f" word. It was rarely used in that time period at all. Also while the smoking is of the period and makes for strong characterization a few more words for cigarettes is needed--"sticks" over and over again. Small complaints.
Can not wait for the next--until then I'll go back to #1 as this writer and the series is a new one.
{San Francisco} "redolent and glistening with sing and lamplight, forever a girl you didn't take home to Mother.
"She knew better, of course. San Francisco didn't belong to anybody but her."
"Steamships and sailing ships, pale billows puffing on wind ripped through the gate, more green than golden. Muddy streets, horse manure. Hammer and saw, hammer and saw. Cement trucks nd bricklayers, dusty, gray hands, Barbary Coast glittering, casinos and electric lights. San Francisco whores spilling into pools of blood on Market Street, cops fighting over which one gets the payoff." The City, 1912
Noted that it's not a perfect 4 but it was an excellent noir read. More like a 3.8--there were some instances of "woman out of time" instances that I didn't care for--I don't think that a 1940s woman even if she is as edgy as Miranda Corbie would use the "f" word. It was rarely used in that time period at all. Also while the smoking is of the period and makes for strong characterization a few more words for cigarettes is needed--"sticks" over and over again. Small complaints.
Can not wait for the next--until then I'll go back to #1 as this writer and the series is a new one.
December 25, 2014
Disclosures: This was a giveaway on Goodreads. I also have not read the first book in the series.
The beginning of this one was a bit up and down for me. I had trouble getting into the language and feel, perhaps because while I am a mystery lover, noir is not one of my favorite styles. This was likely compounded by the fact that I didn't read the first book in the series and missed a lot of background. The narrative jumps around with the main character's thoughts a bit, is sometimes a bit disjointed and leaps to events in the past but not deeply enough to totally pick up on what was happening.
All that being said, I liked the book more as it progressed. In particular, I appreciated the author finding a way to bring a dark part of our country's history to life, one of those episodes you are never taught in school because it is not something that can be easily twisted into a virtue. I adapted to, and even began to enjoy, much of the author's style. I wish I could rate a 3 for the writing and a 4 for the subject.
As it so often is in American mystery fiction, the main character is bitter and unhappy but still somehow willing to fight for her ideals. Even though that is such a standard profile, the author does it well. I am happy enough with the book that I plan to check out the first book in the series.
The beginning of this one was a bit up and down for me. I had trouble getting into the language and feel, perhaps because while I am a mystery lover, noir is not one of my favorite styles. This was likely compounded by the fact that I didn't read the first book in the series and missed a lot of background. The narrative jumps around with the main character's thoughts a bit, is sometimes a bit disjointed and leaps to events in the past but not deeply enough to totally pick up on what was happening.
All that being said, I liked the book more as it progressed. In particular, I appreciated the author finding a way to bring a dark part of our country's history to life, one of those episodes you are never taught in school because it is not something that can be easily twisted into a virtue. I adapted to, and even began to enjoy, much of the author's style. I wish I could rate a 3 for the writing and a 4 for the subject.
As it so often is in American mystery fiction, the main character is bitter and unhappy but still somehow willing to fight for her ideals. Even though that is such a standard profile, the author does it well. I am happy enough with the book that I plan to check out the first book in the series.
February 4, 2016
Tough talking, cigarette smoking, whiskey drinking, good with a gun P.I., who is a stunner in a skirt—Miranda Corbie. Comparable with the likes of Sam Spade, Philip Marlow and Mike Shayne, Miranda can hold her own while digging for the real story behind the framing of a cop she has no like for but is getting paid for her work.
Miranda not only deals with the violence of two murders, but also the characters that inhabit the under world of the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, the gangsters and the corrupt in high places, she also faces memories of her difficult childhood, life as an escort, the news of the Nazi invasions in Europe and the loss of a lover in that war theatre: all with a tough and determined attitude.
The plot is twisted and detailed but the action keeps moving and keeps pulling you along. Sitting to read a chapter I found I read more chapters. This is book 2 of the series, and I think I need to find book 1 (City of Dragons). Book 3 (City of Ghosts) should be out soon.
Miranda not only deals with the violence of two murders, but also the characters that inhabit the under world of the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, the gangsters and the corrupt in high places, she also faces memories of her difficult childhood, life as an escort, the news of the Nazi invasions in Europe and the loss of a lover in that war theatre: all with a tough and determined attitude.
The plot is twisted and detailed but the action keeps moving and keeps pulling you along. Sitting to read a chapter I found I read more chapters. This is book 2 of the series, and I think I need to find book 1 (City of Dragons). Book 3 (City of Ghosts) should be out soon.
September 19, 2014
A solid book with the same exacting historical detail that makes Stanley's books so intriguing. I liked the political background, but since it was stuff I'd encountered before, it didn't pull me in as much as City of Dragons. Also, the scope of the book started out larger and then narrowed considerably as it reached its conclusion.
Although I liked Miranda previously, she started growing thin on me in this sequel. She's still got a feisty attitude, which is great, but she seemed to deliberately and recklessly put herself in danger without any real cause. Her attitude about men also started to grate on me--yes, she's had traumatic experiences, but there are a few stellar guys in the world (and her reaction to the lawyer and news reporter seemed really harsh).
The novel still provided a lot of twists and turns and action. I continued to root for Miranda to extract herself out of dangerous situations. However, it seemed a little less original (plot and theme-wise) than its predecessor.
Although I liked Miranda previously, she started growing thin on me in this sequel. She's still got a feisty attitude, which is great, but she seemed to deliberately and recklessly put herself in danger without any real cause. Her attitude about men also started to grate on me--yes, she's had traumatic experiences, but there are a few stellar guys in the world (and her reaction to the lawyer and news reporter seemed really harsh).
The novel still provided a lot of twists and turns and action. I continued to root for Miranda to extract herself out of dangerous situations. However, it seemed a little less original (plot and theme-wise) than its predecessor.
April 25, 2012
I have read "City of Dragons" as well as a short story that featured Miranda Corbie. "City of Secrets" was good. I have to say that I was more drawn into "city of dragons" but I still liked this one. Being a native to SF, it was really neat to read about the scene in 1940 San Francisco. I liked the world fair environment that Miranda's world is in. I like Miranda and that she is tough but not invincible. I like the drinking and smoking and dialogue. Kelli Stanley did a fine follow up to the first novel.
In Dragons, the mystery surrounds the Chinese and Japanese but this one is about the Jewish community and American nationalist. I also like that the impending WWII sets the stage for the action.
Good read.
In Dragons, the mystery surrounds the Chinese and Japanese but this one is about the Jewish community and American nationalist. I also like that the impending WWII sets the stage for the action.
Good read.
June 2, 2015
More fairly, 3.5. This is the second book in Stanley's Miranda Corbie series. It's as noir as Stanley's earlier Corbie mystery, both set in San Francisco at the outbreak of WWII.
This book takes place during the spring of 1940 and finds Miranda investigating the murders of two women who were found with a Jewish slur written on their naked bodies. Though the situation for Jews in the US during WWII, and in particular in SF, is of interest, the real focal point is Miranda herself, a tough female private eye who takes no prisoners and never gives up no matter what punishment comes her way.
I have to say that I found the mystery--and its explanation--a bit unconvincing, but I really like Miranda. It's her moxie and motivation that keep things moving, and interesting.
This book takes place during the spring of 1940 and finds Miranda investigating the murders of two women who were found with a Jewish slur written on their naked bodies. Though the situation for Jews in the US during WWII, and in particular in SF, is of interest, the real focal point is Miranda herself, a tough female private eye who takes no prisoners and never gives up no matter what punishment comes her way.
I have to say that I found the mystery--and its explanation--a bit unconvincing, but I really like Miranda. It's her moxie and motivation that keep things moving, and interesting.
October 1, 2011
2.5
This is the sophomore entry in this series featuring Miranda Corbie, P.I. The best thing about this series is the authentic feel of the 1940's San Francisco that Stanley creates. Corbie is a tough broad with an interesting past (a former "escort", a socialist who fought in Spain).
Corbie is working security at the Treasure Island World's Fair when several girls turn up dead. A decent who-dunit with a cast of suspects including anti-semitic Nazi-sypathizers and mobsters.
Points off for misspelling Nero Wolfe and Erle Stanley Gardner...almost unforgivable for a mystery writer. Nevertheless, I will look for the next in the series.
This is the sophomore entry in this series featuring Miranda Corbie, P.I. The best thing about this series is the authentic feel of the 1940's San Francisco that Stanley creates. Corbie is a tough broad with an interesting past (a former "escort", a socialist who fought in Spain).
Corbie is working security at the Treasure Island World's Fair when several girls turn up dead. A decent who-dunit with a cast of suspects including anti-semitic Nazi-sypathizers and mobsters.
Points off for misspelling Nero Wolfe and Erle Stanley Gardner...almost unforgivable for a mystery writer. Nevertheless, I will look for the next in the series.
February 13, 2019
A wonderfully written mystery, it kept me suspended in case of a tragic event. The life of Miranda Corbie is dramatic it will come off the pages if you allow it. So come hope aboard along with this sassy lady who doesn't know when to give up. She's the justice we strive for, the justice that defeats our so called "justice". A woman in a man's world but Ms.Corbie will make you think differently, this world is for both men and women and the rotten eventually get their due justice served right in their face. So watch your back and keep your doors open when reading this thrilling mystery.
June 28, 2015
I liked this book, but was a teensy put off by how hard-boiled the female main character is. She is Humphrey Bogart in drag--in fact, I believe she eats one meal in a restaurant featured in one of Dashiell Hammett's mysteries. That is a minor quibble, though. I enjoyed reading the book and getting to know San Francisco and Miranda Corbie. Don't read it if you do not like coarse language; she swears like a sailor.
October 18, 2011
All the fun of character and city are still there. The subject and the crime are very interesting and different from other books. I thought that at the end the author just had to punt and make up a murderer as the solution just kind of came out of the blue. I will read some more of Miranda when it is available.
June 7, 2014
Story is good and book is enjoyable. I wish there was a little more character development within main characters and sub-characters. At times I felt like there were pieces of missing within the story for me to know why the main character came to her conclusions. But all in all, it was an enjoyable read.
July 23, 2016
I received my copy via a Goodreads.com giveaway. This detective story was a very pleasant surprise, and I found myself charmed by the main character, the private detective, Miranda Corbie. Any reader who is familiar with the Bay Area (in California), where the novel is set, will receive extra pleasure.
October 31, 2011
This is the second book in the Miranda Corbie series, and as full of noir-ish goodness as the first. I actually found Miranda's state of mind easier to follow in this one, and again enjoyed Stanley's portrayal of 1930s-40s San Francisco.
November 23, 2011
Miranda Corbie is a tough broad. Stanley's second book with this character delves a little deeper into her character. She continues to explore the lives of the people of San Francisco who not welcome in the Greatest Generation. I look forward to where this character is going in future books.
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