Miranda Corbie confronts her own City of Ghosts

A love of San Francisco - its flaws, strengths and eccentricities - permeates Kelli Stanley's intriguing novels about private detective Miranda Corbie. Stanley's novels capture San Francisco - and the United States - in the years just before World War II.

War has been on Miranda's mind since she was a nurse in the Spanish Civil War. In City of Ghosts, set in 1940, Miranda cautiously watches what's happening in London, especially when it appears that her long-lost mother may be living in England. The private detective has little hope that she could bring her mother back to the US until James MacLeod, an agent with the US State Department, enlists her help. He wants her to investigate Huntington Jasper, a chemistry professor suspected of being a Nazis spy. The US won't acknowledge Miranda's assignment if she's caught, but the job comes with hefty pay and a ticket to England.

Miranda's case leads her to dealers specializing in artworks stolen by the Nazis from their Jewish owners. Complications arise when Miranda is implicated in a series of murders, including that of a wealthy client and an acquaintance.