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Mary Lentz
Beacon Correspondent
If you're a mystery buff who browses Borders' shelves from time to time, keep an eye out next February for a gal wearing a classic '40s fedora. It just might be author Kelli Stanley promoting her new noir thriller, 'City of Dragons.'
Kelli graduated from South Fork High School in 1982. Although she now calls San Francisco her home, she comes to visit family in Rio Dell often. Last December, Stanley spent a day autographing books and chatting with prospective readers about her first novel, a Roman mystery entitled 'Nox Dormienda.' She hopes to do a repeat performance at Borders early next year, introducing her second title, 'City of Dragons.'
While in Humboldt County, Stanley also likes to check out the local antique stores. One of her all-time favorite fedoras came from Fernbridge Antiques. “I love to buy hats and am always looking for vintage fedoras in good shape,” she admits. “When I write, I actually wear a beat-up old Champ fedora, because it not only helps get me in the mood, but it also tells my family not to talk to me because I'm writing!”
'City of Dragons' is set in San Francisco in 1940. The U.S. hadn't entered the war yet. People were struggling to emerge from the Great Depression, and the Sino-Japanese War was igniting a fierce animosity between the ethnic communities of Little Osaka and Chinatown. In the opening scene of the book, this hatred boils over when a young Japanese numbers runner is gunned down on the streets of Chinatown during a Chinese New Year celebration.
Kelli's newest noir protagonist, a young detective named Miranda Corbie, is an eyewitness to the murder. Miranda soon finds herself trying to keep afloat in a whirlpool of deceits. “I'd best describe Miranda as an extremely cynical, broken idealist.” Stanley says. “She was a volunteer nurse in the Spanish Civil War, graduated from Mills College. Her father is a professor. She became an escort, and when the book opens, is a relatively new private investigator in San Francisco.”
Stanley did a lot of historical research to make sure her scenes would ring true to the time and place. “I read a lot of newspapers from the era, combed through ephemera--post cards, catalogs, old photos--from the time, listened to radio shows, watched films...I read a few papers and, of course, Iris Chang's 'The Rape of Nanking.' As far as Chinatown itself, I spent a lot of time there, walking, looking, experiencing, and talking to people.”
Kelli's delighted that Thomas Dunne/ Minotaur Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers, picked up 'City of Dragons.' She adds, “I'm very, very lucky to have made the transition from small to major press, particularly in a bad economy. I adore my editor, my publicist, my publisher and my whole publishing team. They've expressed a great deal of faith and belief in me, and I want to work as hard as I can to make 'City of Dragons' a success.”
submitted photos
1. A native to southern Humboldt, Kelli Stanley has become a widely-read author having published two novels.
2. Cover of book, City of Dragons, published by Minotaur Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers.
