Kelli Stanley

Kelli is the 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). She has also written an award-winning “Roman Noir” series set in first century CE Roman Britain (NOX DORMIENDA; THE CURSE-MAKER).

Kelli was named a literary heir of Dashiell Hammett by his granddaughter in Publishers Weekly, and critics have compared her work to her icons Raymond Chandler and Norman Corwin. Her awards include the Macavity and Bruce Alexander for best historical mystery and the Gold Nuggest for best crime fiction set in California. She has been shortlisted for a Shamus and other awards and is a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. She was also awarded a Certificate of Merit from the City and County of San Francisco for her contributions to literature. Kelli was the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention’s Historical Mystery Guest of Honor in 2024.

In addition to novels, Kelli has published numerous short stories in various anthologies and magazines, as well as essays, including an analysis of an Agatha Christie classic in BOOKS TO DIE FOR: THE WORLD’S GREATEST MYSTERY WRITERS ON THE WORLD’S GREATEST MYSTERY NOVELS, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Classics, and was the founder and president of Nasty Woman Press, a non-profit publisher of the Anthony Award-winning anthology SHATTERING GLASS. THE RECKONING, Her next novel, is a thriller set in the cannabis-growing mountains of Humboldt County, California in 1985, and will be published by Severn House on 6 January, 2026.