Kelli Stanley

Kelli Stanley is the author of last year's acclaimed City of Dragons, set in San Francisco, and the recently released The Curse-Maker, set in late first century Roman Britain.

From author J. Sydney Jones' interview with Stanley:

What things about San Francisco and classical Britain make them unique and good physical settings in your books?

Well, San Francisco is a unique, fabled city of unmatched physical beauty, a torrid, fascinating and colorful history, and a sophisticated and diverse melting pot of cultural influences. It’s also captured the imagination of countless creative people—writers, artists, actors. Most people can recognize it immediately—the Golden Gate Bridge is as iconic as the Empire State Building, and more films have been shot here than just about any location outside Los Angeles or New York.

There’s simply no place like it!! As many people in the crime fiction community discovered when they attended Boucheron in 2010.

As for Britain—again, we’re dealing with a land that gave birth to an incredible coterie of creative individuals. If “ley lines” exist, they must run through the UK and San Francisco. And of course, the physical landscape can be breathtaking … when I first saw an English river, I felt like Tolkein had come to life. All the fairy tales and legends and literature, the cultural influences, the history, the mother-country feeling, even the tradition of superb mystery writers … for me, England—or Roman Britain—was as natural a choice as San Francisco.

Did you consciously set out to use your location as a “character” in your books, or did this grow naturally out of the initial story or stories?

As a writer, I try to root myself in reality as much as possible, so setting—and authenticity of setting—is...[read on]

Kelli Stanley's website and blog.

My Book, The Movie: Nox Dormienda.

The Page 69 Test: City of Dragons.

My Book, The Movie: City of Dragons.

Coffee with a Canine: Kelli Stanley & Bertie.

The Page 69 Test: The Curse-Maker.

--Marshal Zeringue