Kelli

The Story So Far …

Follow Kelli

Kelli Stanley is a critically-acclaimed, multiple award-winning, bestselling author of crime fiction (novels and short stories). She was also the founder of an Anthony award-winning, non-profit publisher, Nasty Woman Press.

She earned a Master’s Degree in Classics, a double BA in Art History and Classics, and credits Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck and Thomas Hardy as some of her major influences. Her life heroes include Rosa Parks, Jane Goodall, the Roosevelts (Eleanor, Franklin and Theodore), Dan Rather and Barbara Jordan. A fan of Art Deco, speakeasies and fedoras, she also enjoys jazz, comic books, nature hiking and theater and film.

Kelli is best known for the bestselling and critically-acclaimed Miranda Corbie series of historical noir novels and short stories set in 1940 San Francisco. The first novel of the series, CITY OF DRAGONS, introduced Miranda, the unforgettable protagonist Library Journal calls one of crime’s most arresting heroines.”

CITY OF DRAGONS won the Macavity Award for Best Historical Novel, and was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Shamus Award, a Bruce Alexander Award and an RT Book Reviews Award, was a Mystery Guild selection of the month, and placed on many “best of the year” lists.

In addition to the Miranda Corbie novels, Kelli has penned a number of short stories, including “Children’s Day”, a prequel to CITY OF DRAGONS, published in the bestselling anthology, FIRST THRILLS: HIGH-OCTANE STORIES FROM THE HOTTEST THRILLER WRITERS.

Kelli’s career launched with her first book (and first attempt at writing a book), NOX DORMIENDA, a historical mystery in the style of noir and set in Roman Britain, a genre she invented and labeled as “Roman noir.” NOX, first published by Five Star Publishing, was nominated for a Macavity and won the Bruce Alexander Award for Best Historical Mystery. The City and County of San Francisco also awarded Kelli a Certificate of Honor for her literary achievement. She was the Historical Mystery Guest of Honor for the 2024 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention.

Other published fiction includes several stand-alone short stories for various anthologies, including the first Nasty Woman Press anthology, SHATTERING GLASS, as well as UNLOADED: CRIME WRITERS WRITING WITHOUT GUNS and SCOUNDRELS: TALES OF GREED MURDER AND FINANCIAL CRIMES. Her story “Folk Song” was included in the Anthony Award-winning TALES OF MUSIC, MURDER AND MAYHEM: BOUCHERCON ANTHOLOGY 2024. Her most recent was “Levees”, published in BLOOD ON THE BAYOU — CASE CLOSED: The Official Bouchercon Anthology 2025.

In addition to fiction, Kelli has contributed a number of essays about writers and writing to various anthologies. She is proud to have been a contributor to the Edgar-nominated and Agatha-winning BOOKS TO DIE FOR: THE WORLD’S GREATEST MYSTERY WRITERS ON THE WORLD’S GREATEST MYSTERY NOVELS, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke. Kelli chose to write about one of her surprisingly major influences, Agatha Christie, in an essay on MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.

She has also penned essays on various aspects of writing for Sister in Crime’s WRITES OF PASSAGE, edited by Hank Phillippi Ryan, NOW WRITE! MYSTERIES: SUSPENSE, CRIME, THRILLER AND OTHER MYSTERY FICTION EXERCISES FROM TODAY’S BEST WRITERS AND TEACHERS, and MAKING STORY: TWENTY-ONE WRITERS ON HOW THEY PLOT.

Kelli is a faculty member of the famed Book Passage Mystery Conference in Marin County, California, where she enjoys helping other writers with craft and publishing goals.

Kelli’s next novel is THE RECKONING, a thriller set in the Humboldt County, California of 1985, at the height of the marijuana wars that characterized the decade. THE RECKONING marks the debut of series protagonist Renata Drake, and will be published in the US and the UK by Severn House, releasing January 6, 2026.

Kelli hasn’t forgotten Miranda Corbie … she’s also working on the next chapter in Miranda’s adventurous life. In fact, Kelli’s always writing … more “Roman noir” and a UK-based mystery are also in the works.

A member and former Northern California Vice-President and President of Mystery Writers of America, Kelli is also a member of the International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, the Authors Guild, and the Crime Writers Association.

For rights queries, please contact Stacia Decker at Dunow, Carlson and Learner. For film rights, please contact Cinelit Representation.