City of Dragons

City of Dragons

Also by Kelli Stanley

Nox Dormienda

City of Dragons

KELLI STANLEY

Minotaur Books

A Thomas Dunne Book

New York

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.

CITY OF DRAGONS. Copyright © 2010 by Kelli Stanley. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

[http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com] www.thomasdunnebooks.com

[http://www.minotaurbooks.com] www.minotaurbooks.com

Design by Kathryn Parise

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Stanley, Kelli.

City of dragons / Kelli Stanley. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Thomas Dunne book.”

ISBN 978-0-312-60360-1

1. Women private investigators—California—Fiction.

2. San Francisco (Calif.)—History—20th century—

Fiction. 3. Chinatown (San Francisco, Calif.)—Fiction.

I. Title.

PS3619.T3657C58 2010

813’.6—dc22

2009039817

First Edition: February 2010

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Mom, Dad, and Tana—

and the friends I made and the family I found

at Bouchercon 2007 (Anchorage)

Acknowledgments

I
took a gentle ribbing for the lengthy acknowledgments in my first book, and so will try to be less loquacious, if not exactly terse … I have a lot of people to thank!

First, heartfelt gratitude to my editor, the wise and wonderful Marcia Markland, at Thomas Dunne. She is my dream editor, a soul mate, a tireless advocate, and a great teacher. My protagonist, Miranda, and I are blessed to have such a home and such a friend.

Countless thanks to my publisher and terrific publishing team: Andrew Martin of Minotaur Books, for his vision and support; the brilliant and charming Sarah Melnyk, my publicist; Courtney Fischer, stellar marketing maven; the much-missed and indefatigable Diana Szu, Marcia’s former assistant, and the equally invaluable Kat Brzozowski. Special thanks to David Rotstein, Senior Art Director and cover design genius, who rendered Miranda’s world so beautifully and evocatively. Great thanks to Kathryn Parise, whose beautiful and evocative interior design is a book lover’s dream. And with thanks to Elizabeth Curione, my production editor, who successfully and skillfully midwifed the finished book through a short delivery time.

Thanks, too, to Sally Richardson, Thomas Dunne, and Hector DeJean, and all the amazing people at St. Martin’s, who go to the Flatiron Building every day and dedicate themselves to the tough and exhausting business of publishing. You are all heroes.

And that brings me to another hero in my life … my amazing, supportive, and fantastic agent, Kimberley Cameron, without whom none of this would be possible. She is a shining light in the lives of her clients and all who know her, and I am blessed to have her represent my work. She is the epitome of all good things, and I can’t thank her enough. Kimberley,
je t’adore
!

Big thanks, too, to my foreign rights agent, Whitney Lee, Dutch-language agent, Walter Soethoudt, French-language agent, Lora Fountain, and my film agents, Mary Alice Kier and Anna Cottle of Cine/Lit Representation. I count myself as incredibly lucky to work with you all!

My journey has been filled with helping hands. From the International Thriller Writers to Mystery Writers of America to Sisters in Crime and the Private Eye Writers of America and Mystery Readers International, the friends, colleagues, readers, bloggers, librarians, and fans of the crime fiction community have been tremendously and incredibly supportive. The best part about being a writer is the company you keep!

Special thanks to friends Rebecca Cantrell, Ken Bruen, Laura Benedict, Jordan Dane, Bill Cameron, Rhodi Hawk, Jennie Bentley (who also kindly allowed me to use her real name for one of my characters), Sophie Littlefield, CJ Lyons, Alexandra Sokoloff, Heather Graham, Margery Flax, Andrew Peterson, Julie Kramer and Robert Gregory Browne. And a huge thank-you to Kay Thomas, who helped come up with the title.

Profound thank-yous to the extraordinarily generous colleagues who took the time—the scarcest commodity in a writer’s life—to read and blurb
City of Dragons.
The list includes Louise Ure, Lee Child, Linda Fairstein, Robert B. Parker, Tasha Alexander, Cornelia Read, George Pelecanos, Michael Koryta, and Otto Penzler.

Great thanks to the Latinist and all-around wonderful Wilda Williams, the amazing Janet Rudolph of
Mystery Readers International
, fabulous media gurus and stalwart supporters Jon and Ruth Jordan of
Crimespree
, Kate and Brian Skupin of
Mystery Scene
, and George Easter of
Deadly Pleasures
, and the many reviewers, readers, and bloggers who dedicate enormous amounts of time and energy to talking about books.