![]() ![]() 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. 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. (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”. ![]() 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. The plot is original, and the writer does a good job with historic detail. This book was a struggle for me honestly. Pain kept her company, one kind or another, either bruises on her face or the growling in her stomach…" At one point she references another song she finds abhorrent: "…f- the Echo and the Shadow. 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. She's even bitter about the music of the day because she finds it too sunshine-and-rainbows positive. Miranda is just way too pessimistic about everything. 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). ![]() Hard-boiled, foul (FOUL)-mouthed, and foul tempered, Miranda Corbie is a former prostitute turned private investigator. WAY too much time wasted describing lighting and putting out cigarettesĢnd in Series, really not able to read out of order I won a copy of City of Secrets through Goodreads Firstreads. Miranda must learn the difference between reality and illusion, from despair to deceit and factual to fake, as she tries to get her life back. where she finds herself framed for a murder she never anticipated. 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 a ticket to Reno, Nevada, the Biggest Little City in the World. And playing along may get her a ticket to Blitz-bombed England, if she survives. State Department and the man who helped her get her license. 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.įor more information about Kelli's books, please visit her website at įor Miranda Corbie, private investigator and erstwhile escort, there are debts to be paid and memories-long-suppressed and willfully forgotten-to be resurrected.Įnter the U.S. Her debut novel, NOX DORMIENDA, won the Bruce Alexander Award for best historical mystery of 2008. Stanley also writes a highly-praised series set in Roman Britain, the latest of which is THE CURSE-MAKER. CITY OF GHOSTS-the long-awaited third Miranda Corbie book-will be published August 5th, 2014. CITY OF SECRETS, her second novel in the series, won the Golden Nugget Award for best mystery set in California. 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. 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.
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