I communicated by email with Kelli Stanley and like her a lot. I didn't like the second book as much, but will try the third. Think of all the old detective stories and movies with male private eyes and cops, lots of smoking and profanity. I think people can tolerate these traits more in men and male characters than in women. It was in December 1937.Īside from that, I thought this book a good one, and I liked Miranda Corby, a realistic character. What's called "the rape of Nanking" significies a horrific siege by Japan of the then-capital of China, in which over 10,000 Chinese were killed, thousands raped. Japan had superior air, naval and land power and higher-tech weapons, but the Chinese, a mostly very poor peasant army fought very hard, often without adequate food or shoes. By 1940, Japan had been waging a horrific war in China and the Chinese suffered terribly. I liked this book a lot and learned some things, including the hostility between Japanese and Chinese people in LA, which seems quite truthful.
My husband has read all three books in the series and will be purchasing book 4 when it comes out. I want to follow her in her story and I plan to read the next book in the series. Nevertheless, I was involved with the story and admired the heroine. And I should warn readers that there is a lot of profanity, although I felt it fit the context.
Many readers complained about the many, many references to smoking, which did not bother me. We are reminded too often about the unhappiness and confusion that Miranda is experiencing. I will not pretend that this was the perfect reading experience for me. At other times, the writing is very beautiful, lovely descriptions and straightforward prose. Sometimes her thinking and reactions read like a stream of consciousness, with short sentences and choppy delivery.
She is clearly still suffering from these experiences, and seems to take out her pain on friends and foes alike.Īlthough the story is told from Miranda's point of view it is not in first person. I always enjoy a story set in Chinatown (of any city) but I don't think I have ever read one that was set before World War II.ĭue to the writing style we are privy to Miranda's thoughts at times, and get glimpses of her background as a nurse in the Spanish Civil War, and the loss of her boyfriend in that war. I learned much about Chinatown and the US attitude toward the war at that time. Kelli Stanley makes San Francisco of the 1940's come alive, and she describes the tensions within Chinatown due to the war in Asia and Europe very well. The handling of the setting in time and place is fantastic. She does pick up a second, paying case investigating the suspicious death of Lester Winters, and the disappearance of his daughter, Phyllis. Miranda Corbie chooses to investigate Eddie Takahashi's death.
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