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The Golden Gate
In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth―not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings―Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth―not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings―Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2023
About the author
Amy Chua
8 books705 followersAmy Chua is a Professor at Yale Law School and author of the debut novel THE GOLDEN GATE, coming 9/19/2023. She is also the bestselling author of numerous nonfiction books, including World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability (2003), which was selected by both The Economist and the U.K.’s Guardian as a Best Book of 2003, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall (2007); The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America (2013); and Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations (2018). Her 2011 memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother was a runaway international bestseller that has been translated into over 30 languages.
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October 4, 2023
4⭐️
In 1940s San Francisco, former presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson is found murdered in his room at the Claremont Hotel. Eyewitness accounts are indicative of a woman’s presence in his room before the murder. Three young women from an affluent and well-connected family - Nicole and Cassie Bainbridge and their cousin Isabella Stafford - are among the suspects. In 1930 Isabella’s sister Iris, seven years old at the time, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in the same hotel. Coincidence, or is the recent murder somehow connected to the family tragedy?
Detective Al Sullivan of Berkeley P.D., who is half Mexican but passes for white – a fact that helped him secure his position, is tasked with the investigation. A deep dive into Wilkinson’s life reveals his personal connections to key political figures, affluent families, including the Bainbridge family, as well as some shady dealings. Who killed Walter Wilkinson and why? Political rivalry or personal grudges?
Combining elements of historical fiction, family drama and classic detective fiction, The Golden Gate by Amy Chua is a skillfully crafted novel with well-thought-out characters (a combination of fictional as well as those based on real people) and meticulously researched and vividly described historical backdrop of WWII era America/ 1940s California- the politics, the socio-economic divide, the racism and class distinction and much more. The 1940s timeline is shared from the perspective of Detective Sullivan with the deposition of the girls’ grandmother, Genevieve Bainbridge as she is questioned about her granddaughters’ possible involvement in the murder, interspersed throughout the narrative along with past events from multiple timelines. The pacing is a tad uneven but not so much that detracts from the overall reading experience. The author weaves these multiple threads, characters and timelines into an atmospheric and absorbing narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would not hesitate to recommend it to fans of historical fiction and/or fans of hardboiled detective fiction set in that era.
Do read the Author’s Note wherein she discusses the research that went into crafting this story and the different people and historical events that inspired this novel.
I combined my reading with the audiobook narrated by Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell, who have done an incredible job of voicing the characters and bringing the story to life.
Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the digital review copy and the ALC of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
In 1940s San Francisco, former presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson is found murdered in his room at the Claremont Hotel. Eyewitness accounts are indicative of a woman’s presence in his room before the murder. Three young women from an affluent and well-connected family - Nicole and Cassie Bainbridge and their cousin Isabella Stafford - are among the suspects. In 1930 Isabella’s sister Iris, seven years old at the time, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in the same hotel. Coincidence, or is the recent murder somehow connected to the family tragedy?
Detective Al Sullivan of Berkeley P.D., who is half Mexican but passes for white – a fact that helped him secure his position, is tasked with the investigation. A deep dive into Wilkinson’s life reveals his personal connections to key political figures, affluent families, including the Bainbridge family, as well as some shady dealings. Who killed Walter Wilkinson and why? Political rivalry or personal grudges?
Combining elements of historical fiction, family drama and classic detective fiction, The Golden Gate by Amy Chua is a skillfully crafted novel with well-thought-out characters (a combination of fictional as well as those based on real people) and meticulously researched and vividly described historical backdrop of WWII era America/ 1940s California- the politics, the socio-economic divide, the racism and class distinction and much more. The 1940s timeline is shared from the perspective of Detective Sullivan with the deposition of the girls’ grandmother, Genevieve Bainbridge as she is questioned about her granddaughters’ possible involvement in the murder, interspersed throughout the narrative along with past events from multiple timelines. The pacing is a tad uneven but not so much that detracts from the overall reading experience. The author weaves these multiple threads, characters and timelines into an atmospheric and absorbing narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would not hesitate to recommend it to fans of historical fiction and/or fans of hardboiled detective fiction set in that era.
Do read the Author’s Note wherein she discusses the research that went into crafting this story and the different people and historical events that inspired this novel.
I combined my reading with the audiobook narrated by Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell, who have done an incredible job of voicing the characters and bringing the story to life.
Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the digital review copy and the ALC of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
August 10, 2023
The Golden Gate is a debut historical mystery that at times reads like a hard boiled crime novel and at others like a ghost story and at others like a family drama.
A former presidential candidate, a hard core capitalist, is killed at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California in 1944. His murder is investigated by Al Sullivan. The crime seems to hark back to another death in the hotel - one from ten years earlier of a seven year old girl, Iris, one of a pair of twins of the wealthy Bainbridge family.
I loved the writing style. At times brusque, reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett, but Chua also has the ability to throw in intriguing historical facts without disrupting the flow of the story. Chua’s writing has a trait of dark, snarky humor with a vein of realism. “You can’t trust newspapers, but there’s one subject they’re good at - hate. First they whip it up, then they report on it.”
The story alternates between Al’s investigation, the deposition of Mrs. Genevieve Bainbridge, the girl’s grandmother, and Iris’s visits to her sister, Issy, during different time periods. It works to keep the reader off balance, trying to see how everything will come together. And it did work. Right up until the end, and then, it’s one unbelievable plot point after another. Still I, awarding this four stars as it was so good up until the last 5% of the story.
Chua has obviously done her research. I’m a gal who loves to learn something when I read. I’m always pleasantly surprised when that occurs in a mystery. The Author’s Note spells out the stories (events, people) that the book is loosely based on. Chua crams a lot of social issues into the story - passing, bigotry, child labor, social, monetary and racial divisions. I thought this worked well. But people looking for just an entertaining mystery may find it all a bit too much.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.
A former presidential candidate, a hard core capitalist, is killed at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California in 1944. His murder is investigated by Al Sullivan. The crime seems to hark back to another death in the hotel - one from ten years earlier of a seven year old girl, Iris, one of a pair of twins of the wealthy Bainbridge family.
I loved the writing style. At times brusque, reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett, but Chua also has the ability to throw in intriguing historical facts without disrupting the flow of the story. Chua’s writing has a trait of dark, snarky humor with a vein of realism. “You can’t trust newspapers, but there’s one subject they’re good at - hate. First they whip it up, then they report on it.”
The story alternates between Al’s investigation, the deposition of Mrs. Genevieve Bainbridge, the girl’s grandmother, and Iris’s visits to her sister, Issy, during different time periods. It works to keep the reader off balance, trying to see how everything will come together. And it did work. Right up until the end, and then, it’s one unbelievable plot point after another. Still I, awarding this four stars as it was so good up until the last 5% of the story.
Chua has obviously done her research. I’m a gal who loves to learn something when I read. I’m always pleasantly surprised when that occurs in a mystery. The Author’s Note spells out the stories (events, people) that the book is loosely based on. Chua crams a lot of social issues into the story - passing, bigotry, child labor, social, monetary and racial divisions. I thought this worked well. But people looking for just an entertaining mystery may find it all a bit too much.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.
September 19, 2023
3.5 stars
This review was first posted on Mystery & Suspense Magazine. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/th...
The San Francisco area is a turbulent place in 1944. World War II is raging; Japanese-Americans are interned in detention camps; labor strikes cause clashes between workers and police; Mexicans, Asians, and Blacks are the target of severe discrimination; hatred of communists is widespread; fear of Japanese spies is rampant; food is rationed; and more. In this atmosphere, the murder of presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson in the high-end Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California causes quite a stir.
San Francisco circa 1944
Wealthy business mogul Wilkinson is found shot in his hotel room, with his pants pulled down and his mouth stuffed with a Chinese jade seal, chocolates, flowers, and other miscellanea.
Berkeley homicide detective Al Sullivan leads the murder investigation.......
........and is pressured to solve the case quickly by District Attorney Dugan, who aspires to be governor.
Detective Sullivan and his team interview everyone in the Claremont Hotel, and a Mexican cleaning lady named Juanita says she saw a blonde girl with the candidate around midnight, shortly before a shot was heard.
Juanita is certain the blonde is one of the Bainbridge girls, who sometimes visit the hotel with their grandmother, but the maid can't say which Bainbridge girl it is.
The affluent Bainbridge family is part of Berkeley high society, and the Bainbridge girls are Isabella and her twin cousins, Cassie and Nicole - all of whom are twenty years old. In an effort to discover which blonde was with Wilkinson, District Attorney Dugan pressures the girls' grandmother, grande dame Genevieve Bainbridge, to identify the culprit. Dugan goes so far as to threaten to hang all three granddaughters if Genevieve doesn't turn in the perpetrator.
Genevieve insists her granddaughters are innocent, and provides a lengthy written deposition about the history of the Bainbridge family. Excerpts from Genevieve's testimony alternate with Detective Sullivan's narration of events.
The Bainbridges experienced a tragedy in 1930, when Genevieve's granddaughters, Isabella and her sister Iris, were playing hide-and-seek in the Claremont Hotel. Iris was killed when she fell down a laundry chute, and Isabella, who was six at the time, didn't speak for months. The Claremont Hotel is now said to be haunted by Iris's ghost, who is supposedly heard crying.
As Detective Sullivan's inquiries go forward, one Bainbridge girl after another comes to the attention of the authorities. Nicole, a college student and avowed communist, is suspected of killing Wilkinson because he was a capitalist who exploited workers;
Cassie, a sport hunter who has Japanese friends, is thought to have killed Wilkinson for his anti-Japanese rhetoric;
and Isabella, a fashionista and coquette, shamelessly flirts with Detective Sullivan to divert suspicion from her family.
The Wilkinson murder inquiry gets even more complicated when a Chinese call girl, who was also seen with the candidate, is found dead with a hatchet in her throat.
This is thought to be a Chinese Tong killing, and Detective Sullivan interviews people in the Chinese community, including China's first lady, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, who's living in Berkeley at the moment.
The murder investigation goes forward with many zig and zags until the killer(s) of Wilkinson and the Chinese prostitute are revealed.
One of the most interesting characters in the book is Detective Al Sullivan, who was born Alejo Gutiérrez, the son of a half-Jewish Mexican father and a White mother. In 1931, when Alejo was seventeen, his father and two half-brothers were deported to Mexico during the Mexican Repatriation.
Alejo went on to serve in the Army and attend college, then changed his name to Al Sullivan (his mother's maiden name) when he joined the Berkeley police department. Al feels guilty about sending Japanese-Americans to detention camps; is helping raise his eleven-year-old niece Miriam; and is easily swayed by beautiful Isabella's womanly wiles.
In addition to the murder mystery, author Amy Chua infuses the story with historical snippets. These include descriptions of the building and dedication of the Golden Gate Bridge;
Golden Gate Bridge
information about the California gold rush;
California Gold Rush
references to the Lincoln Highway, which extended from New York City to San Francisco;
Lincoln Highway
descriptions of California's Kaiser Shipyards, where the United States rebuilt its naval fleet after the bombing of Pearl Harbor;
Kaiser Shipyards
mentions of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which forbid immigration of Chinese laborers to America;
Chinese Exclusion Act
references to building the magnificent 115-room Hearst Castle in San Simeon, which was designed by female architect Julia Morgan; and more.
Hearst Castle
Chua, a law professor at Yale University, clearly did extensive research for the book.
The plot, which gets a bit complicated, requires careful attention, but this is a fine historical mystery in a picturesque setting.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell, who do an excellent job.
Thanks to Netgalley, Amy Chua, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of the book.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
July 6, 2023
I was pleasantly surprised by this historical thriller set in the Bay area!
It’s a murder mystery set in 1944 and centered around a wealthy family in Berkley, California. Chua highlights the Claremont Hotel and a grandmother, an unreliable narrator, as she learns that one of her three granddaughters is a murderer. This provides the author a chance to unveil the darker side of San Fransisco’s past; the racism and bigotry, the impact of capitalism on the different ethnic and immigrant groups, and the political/societal changes happening at this time.
Chua brilliantly explores family secrets and costly legacies in addition to the pressure people often feel to conform or hide their true identity.
My only frustration:
✔️ There’s A LOT to unpack
I really feel I would benefit from a second reading!
I loved learning about:
✔️ The phenomena of ‘covering’ and ‘code-switching’
✔️ The christening of the Golden Gate Bridge
✔️ The Chinese Exclusion Act
✔️ The Japanese Internment
✔️The Mexican deportations of the 1930s
✔️Bloody Thursday
✔️The Port Chicago Disaster
✔️ The Diablo wind
✔️Labour unrest at the Kaiser shipyards
✔️Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (and her connection to Chua’s family)
✔️August Vollmer (and his forensic pioneering/role as ‘father of modern policing’)
✔️Dr. Margaret ‘Mom’ Chung (and her contributions as the first Chinese American doctor)
✔️Julia Morgan (a trailblazing architect)
✔️Anne Sexton (poet whose work is woven throughout the book)
If you love the Bay area and its history, learning as you read, court cases and/or historical mysteries, this is one book you’ll want to investigate.
I was gifted this copy by St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
It’s a murder mystery set in 1944 and centered around a wealthy family in Berkley, California. Chua highlights the Claremont Hotel and a grandmother, an unreliable narrator, as she learns that one of her three granddaughters is a murderer. This provides the author a chance to unveil the darker side of San Fransisco’s past; the racism and bigotry, the impact of capitalism on the different ethnic and immigrant groups, and the political/societal changes happening at this time.
Chua brilliantly explores family secrets and costly legacies in addition to the pressure people often feel to conform or hide their true identity.
My only frustration:
✔️ There’s A LOT to unpack
I really feel I would benefit from a second reading!
I loved learning about:
✔️ The phenomena of ‘covering’ and ‘code-switching’
✔️ The christening of the Golden Gate Bridge
✔️ The Chinese Exclusion Act
✔️ The Japanese Internment
✔️The Mexican deportations of the 1930s
✔️Bloody Thursday
✔️The Port Chicago Disaster
✔️ The Diablo wind
✔️Labour unrest at the Kaiser shipyards
✔️Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (and her connection to Chua’s family)
✔️August Vollmer (and his forensic pioneering/role as ‘father of modern policing’)
✔️Dr. Margaret ‘Mom’ Chung (and her contributions as the first Chinese American doctor)
✔️Julia Morgan (a trailblazing architect)
✔️Anne Sexton (poet whose work is woven throughout the book)
If you love the Bay area and its history, learning as you read, court cases and/or historical mysteries, this is one book you’ll want to investigate.
I was gifted this copy by St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
August 21, 2023
Years ago a child Iris Stafford, was killed at the Claremont Hotel. Now ten years later, another tragedy seems to have occurred as a presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson, is found dead in his room and could be a target of many political groups. The world was at war and as Ms Chua points out feelings against Japanese people were running at a fevered pitch, so much so that many Japanese felt the need to change their names to Chinese ones.
Detective Al Sullivan is put on the case and soon learns that there is a strong connection to the uber wealthy, well connected Bainbridge family, that was aligned with Iris Strafford.
Now the investigation seems to lead back to the remaining Bainbridges, Isabella (sister to the Iris), and Cassie and Nicole (cousins to Isabella.) Also among the family is the grandmother, a powerfully connected one at that! Determined to get his man (or woman) even the presence of Grandma, a very savvy mobile District Attorney, and even Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (first lady to the Chinese leader), will not deter Al Sullivan.
This was an intense story showing well the various signs of the times, the wealth that seems to always wind up on top, and the atmosphere of a glittering famous hotel, to set the mood of this saga. Definitely recommended to those who enjoy that Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall type drama. The only thing missing was the mood music in the background!
Thank you to Amy Chu, Macmillan Audio, narrated by Robb Moreir, Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell and NetGalley for the ability to listen to this tale.
Detective Al Sullivan is put on the case and soon learns that there is a strong connection to the uber wealthy, well connected Bainbridge family, that was aligned with Iris Strafford.
Now the investigation seems to lead back to the remaining Bainbridges, Isabella (sister to the Iris), and Cassie and Nicole (cousins to Isabella.) Also among the family is the grandmother, a powerfully connected one at that! Determined to get his man (or woman) even the presence of Grandma, a very savvy mobile District Attorney, and even Madame Chiang Kai-Shek (first lady to the Chinese leader), will not deter Al Sullivan.
This was an intense story showing well the various signs of the times, the wealth that seems to always wind up on top, and the atmosphere of a glittering famous hotel, to set the mood of this saga. Definitely recommended to those who enjoy that Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall type drama. The only thing missing was the mood music in the background!
Thank you to Amy Chu, Macmillan Audio, narrated by Robb Moreir, Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell and NetGalley for the ability to listen to this tale.
September 27, 2023
The Publisher Says: Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.
In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth―not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings―Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Let's deal with the baggage first: Yale Law professor; defender of indefensible scum Brett Kavanaugh; author of polarizing memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in 2011, and Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations, an ambitious, polarizing take on why cultural identity must be considered in all political calculus, in 2018. She challenges her readers in her non-fiction, and not all y'all like that.
Ready to set all that baggage down now? Okay, let's go.
California has a long history of racist nastiness. There are strands of that history in this historical mystery. The author's own racialized identity gives her, IMnever-remotelyHO, the insight and standing to imagine the life of a half-Latino, half-Irish (believe it or not, Irishness was in that time also a looked-down-on ethnic identity) talented observer with a strong thirst for Justice to be Done no matter how that end ends up looking. Unusually for a guy from his not-WASP background, Al Sullivan (took mom's name to avoid the most easily deployed prejudice) got into and graduated from UC-Berkeley, which is how he came to the attention of the factual-but-used-fictionally police chief and "father of modern policing" August Vollmer, thus in a position to investigate this high-profile case.
Now that the detective's in front of your mental eyes, let's talk about the mystery. A polarizing politico is murdered at Berkeley's fancy hotel, the Claremont. Super-easy to come up with suspects since he was not nice to much of anyone, as well as rumored to have been intimately involved with Madame Chiang Kai-shek, then resident in Berkeley. Virulently anti-Japanese and fully on board with Executive Order 9066, to boot. There are links in all of these strands to people present in the Claremont that night, giving them motives for killing the scumbag (another mystery wherein the police just shoulda shrugged when he was found shot and said "whatcha gonna duuu" TBH). What Al discovers as he searches for the real answers is that even people officially on his side, like the DA, are ready to bury truth for expediency, and shed-loads of people whose own paths have twists and turns they want to keep hidden are also on every side. In the end, there are a lot of names and identities to keep track of, and the pace is slightly slackened by the multiplicity of strands interweaving to make a net that can only catch a certain party. These are issues common to new-to-police-procedural writers. They aren't fatal flaws, either. The author's note at the end of the book leaves little doubt about her abilities as a researcher and as a fiction writer. She details the sources and inspirations for the fictionalized people, explains her choices well, and makes a darn good case that this crime could have been solved in just this way in reality.
What kept me reading was the sense that the real world of 1944. with all its bloody horrors, its dirty deals done to serve a "greater good," its regular people struggling with their life-stuff and with the sheer, pervasive nightmare of prejudice unmuted, was just like this.
That is one of the highest compliments I can pay a writer: I believe you.
In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth―not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings―Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Let's deal with the baggage first: Yale Law professor; defender of indefensible scum Brett Kavanaugh; author of polarizing memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother in 2011, and Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations, an ambitious, polarizing take on why cultural identity must be considered in all political calculus, in 2018. She challenges her readers in her non-fiction, and not all y'all like that.
Ready to set all that baggage down now? Okay, let's go.
California has a long history of racist nastiness. There are strands of that history in this historical mystery. The author's own racialized identity gives her, IMnever-remotelyHO, the insight and standing to imagine the life of a half-Latino, half-Irish (believe it or not, Irishness was in that time also a looked-down-on ethnic identity) talented observer with a strong thirst for Justice to be Done no matter how that end ends up looking. Unusually for a guy from his not-WASP background, Al Sullivan (took mom's name to avoid the most easily deployed prejudice) got into and graduated from UC-Berkeley, which is how he came to the attention of the factual-but-used-fictionally police chief and "father of modern policing" August Vollmer, thus in a position to investigate this high-profile case.
Now that the detective's in front of your mental eyes, let's talk about the mystery. A polarizing politico is murdered at Berkeley's fancy hotel, the Claremont. Super-easy to come up with suspects since he was not nice to much of anyone, as well as rumored to have been intimately involved with Madame Chiang Kai-shek, then resident in Berkeley. Virulently anti-Japanese and fully on board with Executive Order 9066, to boot. There are links in all of these strands to people present in the Claremont that night, giving them motives for killing the scumbag (another mystery wherein the police just shoulda shrugged when he was found shot and said "whatcha gonna duuu" TBH). What Al discovers as he searches for the real answers is that even people officially on his side, like the DA, are ready to bury truth for expediency, and shed-loads of people whose own paths have twists and turns they want to keep hidden are also on every side. In the end, there are a lot of names and identities to keep track of, and the pace is slightly slackened by the multiplicity of strands interweaving to make a net that can only catch a certain party. These are issues common to new-to-police-procedural writers. They aren't fatal flaws, either. The author's note at the end of the book leaves little doubt about her abilities as a researcher and as a fiction writer. She details the sources and inspirations for the fictionalized people, explains her choices well, and makes a darn good case that this crime could have been solved in just this way in reality.
What kept me reading was the sense that the real world of 1944. with all its bloody horrors, its dirty deals done to serve a "greater good," its regular people struggling with their life-stuff and with the sheer, pervasive nightmare of prejudice unmuted, was just like this.
That is one of the highest compliments I can pay a writer: I believe you.
September 9, 2023
3.5 stars
Amy Chua’s debut novel The Golden Gate is an ambitious work of historical fiction that weaves together many threads spun around the murder of a politician named Walter Wilkinson at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California in 1944. Al Sullivan is the police detective on the case and he gets to work quickly, following one clue after another that mysteriously keeps leading him to the Bainbridge family (one of the wealthiest families in San Francisco) as well as another death that occurred at the same hotel 14 years ago. As the investigation unfolds, several other possible “angles” emerge that attempt to throw Sullivan (and us as readers) off track, but of course, the truth prevails in the end.
This historical mystery was an enjoyable read overall, but due to the broad scope of issues (social, political, and everything else in between) that Chua tries to cover here, it felt like the story was all over the place at times. Chua also incorporated a lot of historical facts throughout the story, many of which were fascinating (especially to a history buff like me), but didn’t seem to have much relevance to the plot. In fact, there were moments where I felt like I was reading a history textbook rather than mystery novel (which felt even more awkward considering the sections with the most historical facts were largely narrated from Sullivan’s first person perspective). There were also large segments where Sullivan would go into spiels relating to his background — again, interesting, but felt kind of off-topic since much of it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the case he was investigating.
The part of the story’s structure that I thought worked really well was the deposition from the Bainbridge family’s matriarch Genevieve, which was interspersed throughout the narrative. The way that these sections were written — with just enough information yet not revealing too much — combined with the other clues from the investigation, had me wondering and second- guessing certain things (as a mystery novel should).
Overall, this one was definitely entertaining, but I think it would’ve been more effective if the irrelevant historical facts were left out, as this distracted from the story at times. With mysteries / thrillers, I prefer for them to be more tightly-plotted — this one went off on too many tangents, which made the plot harder to follow. This was a good first effort though and I appreciate all the research that Chua put into this one. I actually didn’t realize until I read up on the author afterwards that Chua also wrote the nonfiction book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother — her 2011 memoir that I’ve had on my TBR for ages but still have not yet read. I guess this is as good a reminder as any to find time to get to that one at some point.
Received ARC from Minotaur Books via NetGalley.
Amy Chua’s debut novel The Golden Gate is an ambitious work of historical fiction that weaves together many threads spun around the murder of a politician named Walter Wilkinson at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California in 1944. Al Sullivan is the police detective on the case and he gets to work quickly, following one clue after another that mysteriously keeps leading him to the Bainbridge family (one of the wealthiest families in San Francisco) as well as another death that occurred at the same hotel 14 years ago. As the investigation unfolds, several other possible “angles” emerge that attempt to throw Sullivan (and us as readers) off track, but of course, the truth prevails in the end.
This historical mystery was an enjoyable read overall, but due to the broad scope of issues (social, political, and everything else in between) that Chua tries to cover here, it felt like the story was all over the place at times. Chua also incorporated a lot of historical facts throughout the story, many of which were fascinating (especially to a history buff like me), but didn’t seem to have much relevance to the plot. In fact, there were moments where I felt like I was reading a history textbook rather than mystery novel (which felt even more awkward considering the sections with the most historical facts were largely narrated from Sullivan’s first person perspective). There were also large segments where Sullivan would go into spiels relating to his background — again, interesting, but felt kind of off-topic since much of it didn’t seem to have anything to do with the case he was investigating.
The part of the story’s structure that I thought worked really well was the deposition from the Bainbridge family’s matriarch Genevieve, which was interspersed throughout the narrative. The way that these sections were written — with just enough information yet not revealing too much — combined with the other clues from the investigation, had me wondering and second- guessing certain things (as a mystery novel should).
Overall, this one was definitely entertaining, but I think it would’ve been more effective if the irrelevant historical facts were left out, as this distracted from the story at times. With mysteries / thrillers, I prefer for them to be more tightly-plotted — this one went off on too many tangents, which made the plot harder to follow. This was a good first effort though and I appreciate all the research that Chua put into this one. I actually didn’t realize until I read up on the author afterwards that Chua also wrote the nonfiction book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother — her 2011 memoir that I’ve had on my TBR for ages but still have not yet read. I guess this is as good a reminder as any to find time to get to that one at some point.
Received ARC from Minotaur Books via NetGalley.
October 17, 2023
“If I told a jury that Japs killed Santa Claus, I could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Everything changes, Sullivan, once you’ve got a different color defendant in the box. There isn’t a jury in this state that wouldn’t send a Jap to the gas chamber if they had a chance.”
4.5 stars, rounded upward.
‘The Golden Gate marks the authorial debut for Amy Chua, a badass author whose stories will be read for a long, long time. My thanks go to Net Galley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for the review copies. This book is for sale now.
Our story is set during two time periods, 1930 and 1944, in Berkeley, California. Detective Al Sullivan is investigating a murder whose roots are inextricably tangled with those of another, in 1930. Our point of view shifts often, both in time period and narrator. Most of it is told in the first person, either by Sullivan or by the elderly Genevieve Bainbridge, grandmother of the victim in the 1930 murder, now ready, in full Mama Bear protective mode, to do whatever she must to protect what family she has left.
The narrative has a strong noir flavor, and I halfway expect to find Humphrey Bogart around the corner, smoking and looking pensive. However, there is something Chua brings to the story that Bogart never did: a frank look at the injustices of the period, from the immense disparity of wealth among the denizens of Northern California, to the shameless victimization of people of color, who were much fewer in number in this part of the world then, than now.
I put this information up front, because in the early portion of the novel it isn’t obvious that the racism isn’t being highlighted, rather than propagated. I nearly discontinued reading this book because the “J” word is a hot button for me, and I initially believed that it was being used as a lazy way to depict the culture of Anglo Caucasians during this time period. I’ve seen it done many times, the use of the racial slur against Japanese because the author believed it increased the story’s authenticity. In Chua’s case, it’s the opposite.
The solution provided at the end relies overmuch on the journal of Mrs. Bainbridge, and in places, the details of the murder, and the motivation for same, are a stretch. For that reason, I initially rated this fine novel four stars. In the end, though, I realized that the social justice component more than makes up for it.
I was fortunate enough to have both the audio and digital galleys. Although the readers do a creditable job, the complexity of the story, including frequent changes of place, time period, and point of view, make for a confusing listening experience. For that reason I recommend the print version over the audio, unless both are available together.
Highly recommended.
4.5 stars, rounded upward.
‘The Golden Gate marks the authorial debut for Amy Chua, a badass author whose stories will be read for a long, long time. My thanks go to Net Galley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for the review copies. This book is for sale now.
Our story is set during two time periods, 1930 and 1944, in Berkeley, California. Detective Al Sullivan is investigating a murder whose roots are inextricably tangled with those of another, in 1930. Our point of view shifts often, both in time period and narrator. Most of it is told in the first person, either by Sullivan or by the elderly Genevieve Bainbridge, grandmother of the victim in the 1930 murder, now ready, in full Mama Bear protective mode, to do whatever she must to protect what family she has left.
The narrative has a strong noir flavor, and I halfway expect to find Humphrey Bogart around the corner, smoking and looking pensive. However, there is something Chua brings to the story that Bogart never did: a frank look at the injustices of the period, from the immense disparity of wealth among the denizens of Northern California, to the shameless victimization of people of color, who were much fewer in number in this part of the world then, than now.
I put this information up front, because in the early portion of the novel it isn’t obvious that the racism isn’t being highlighted, rather than propagated. I nearly discontinued reading this book because the “J” word is a hot button for me, and I initially believed that it was being used as a lazy way to depict the culture of Anglo Caucasians during this time period. I’ve seen it done many times, the use of the racial slur against Japanese because the author believed it increased the story’s authenticity. In Chua’s case, it’s the opposite.
The solution provided at the end relies overmuch on the journal of Mrs. Bainbridge, and in places, the details of the murder, and the motivation for same, are a stretch. For that reason, I initially rated this fine novel four stars. In the end, though, I realized that the social justice component more than makes up for it.
I was fortunate enough to have both the audio and digital galleys. Although the readers do a creditable job, the complexity of the story, including frequent changes of place, time period, and point of view, make for a confusing listening experience. For that reason I recommend the print version over the audio, unless both are available together.
Highly recommended.
August 20, 2023
Part crime drama, murder mystery, historical fiction novel, and family saga, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦 is an interesting book that weaves in bits of California history throughout its plot. Set primarily in Berkeley in 1944, the story follows Detective Al Sullivan as he investigates the gruesome death of controversial politician Walter Wilkinson. It also includes the deposition of Genevieve Bainbridge, a socialite and prominent local figure whose three granddaughters appear to be tied to the case. The novel moves back and forth between the two perspectives and touches on important issues like racism, classism, poverty, and privilege. I did enjoy the historical elements and was initially engaged with the mystery, but eventually there were too many red herrings and plot twists for my liking. It seemed like there was a new suspect every other chapter and I grew weary of the constant misdirections, especially in the last third of the book. This novel is likely better suited for a more patient mystery reader. 3.75 stars rounded up.
Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
August 14, 2023
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: September 19, 2023
“The Golden Gate” is the debut novel by author, Amy Chua. Chua has commendations for her non-fiction work, but her foray into fiction is equally deserving. “Gate” is a deep-dive into the broken immigration system that existed in California during the Second World War (not that it has improved much, today) with deep rooted themes of Communism and classism, all set to an engaging plot of intrigue, murder and a police investigation.
It is 1944 and Detective Al Sullivan finds himself on the investigative team for the assassination of presidential candidate, Walter Wilkinson, who was shot dead in his hotel room at the glamorous Claremont hotel. As Sullivan investigates, he finds himself caught in political turmoil when witnesses admit that a young woman was seen leaving Wilkinson’s room late at night. Not just any young woman, however, but a member of the Bainbridge family, and the heiress to their fortune. Sullivan is told by the D.A to silence the investigation and follow the leads that have Sullivan pointing blame at the local Chinese community, to align with the nations’ current biased opinions. When Sullivan discovers that one of the Bainbridge heiresses died on the Claremont grounds when she was a young child, the connections become even more entangled and Sullivan’s doubts only grow as his suspect pool increases.
The story is divided into three parts, and Detective Sullivan narrates the novel entirely. Although there are some segments that are told from the matriarch of the Bainbridge family, through a written deposition, the majority explores Sullivan’s experiences. Sullivan is a unique character in his own right with his own prejudicial experiences and trauma, as a young half-Mexican child and also as an adult who intentionally covers up his nationality to his friends and colleagues. To endear the young detective even more to his readers, Sullivan takes in his mixed-race young niece, after her mother abandons her. If there was a better hero for a novel like this, I have yet to meet him.
Chua takes some time away from the plot to detail the history of San Francisco, both in its architecture and its relationship with immigrants. Not only is this informational, but it provides a background to the characters and to the political setting at the time, which only emphasizes the tension and creativity of Chua’s engaging plot.
“Gate” is based loosely on characters that existed in that location during the War, and Chua outlines these details in the “author’s notes”. There are plenty of characters, and all of them are related through interconnected channels in one way or the other, but they all serve a necessary purpose so if you can keep track of all of the goings-on, “Gate” is sure to delight. This is the debut novel that will be talked about for its poignancy and relevance, and I look forward to anything more Chua has to offer.
Expected publication date: September 19, 2023
“The Golden Gate” is the debut novel by author, Amy Chua. Chua has commendations for her non-fiction work, but her foray into fiction is equally deserving. “Gate” is a deep-dive into the broken immigration system that existed in California during the Second World War (not that it has improved much, today) with deep rooted themes of Communism and classism, all set to an engaging plot of intrigue, murder and a police investigation.
It is 1944 and Detective Al Sullivan finds himself on the investigative team for the assassination of presidential candidate, Walter Wilkinson, who was shot dead in his hotel room at the glamorous Claremont hotel. As Sullivan investigates, he finds himself caught in political turmoil when witnesses admit that a young woman was seen leaving Wilkinson’s room late at night. Not just any young woman, however, but a member of the Bainbridge family, and the heiress to their fortune. Sullivan is told by the D.A to silence the investigation and follow the leads that have Sullivan pointing blame at the local Chinese community, to align with the nations’ current biased opinions. When Sullivan discovers that one of the Bainbridge heiresses died on the Claremont grounds when she was a young child, the connections become even more entangled and Sullivan’s doubts only grow as his suspect pool increases.
The story is divided into three parts, and Detective Sullivan narrates the novel entirely. Although there are some segments that are told from the matriarch of the Bainbridge family, through a written deposition, the majority explores Sullivan’s experiences. Sullivan is a unique character in his own right with his own prejudicial experiences and trauma, as a young half-Mexican child and also as an adult who intentionally covers up his nationality to his friends and colleagues. To endear the young detective even more to his readers, Sullivan takes in his mixed-race young niece, after her mother abandons her. If there was a better hero for a novel like this, I have yet to meet him.
Chua takes some time away from the plot to detail the history of San Francisco, both in its architecture and its relationship with immigrants. Not only is this informational, but it provides a background to the characters and to the political setting at the time, which only emphasizes the tension and creativity of Chua’s engaging plot.
“Gate” is based loosely on characters that existed in that location during the War, and Chua outlines these details in the “author’s notes”. There are plenty of characters, and all of them are related through interconnected channels in one way or the other, but they all serve a necessary purpose so if you can keep track of all of the goings-on, “Gate” is sure to delight. This is the debut novel that will be talked about for its poignancy and relevance, and I look forward to anything more Chua has to offer.
October 24, 2023
Netgalley audio given for an honest review
Debut novel written by author of several non-fiction books, particularly know for Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom.
San Francisco has always held a warm place in my heart. I lived in the area for many years and am sadden by the recent problems in this Golden city. So I was interested to listen to a book that combined a historical perspective and a good mystery. I did get a print copy of the book to refer to while listening to it primarily in the audio.
Stuck between 3 and 4 stars. Rounded up for the ending
A mystery with strong Historical fiction overtones. The mystery was a good one. It had me guessing during most of the story though the identity of the murderer was one I suspected many times but there were enough red herrings placed well that I questioned my own choices multiple times. In the end the story and the many pieces came together well. The solution was well thought out and was a good story in itself. I did enjoy how the author crafted a multiple faceted story with many elements that show how problems and prejudices of the past are still with us. I also found much of the true history that was woven in added an extra dimension. There is much here about San Francisco during WWII that is uncovered and kept me reading.
The plot of the story concerns two deaths, one an obvious murder of a statesman and one a possible accidental death of a child that happen 14 years apart in the beautiful Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. A prominent family and especially a grandmother and her three surviving granddaughters figure as possible suspects. Around them swirls political intrigue and problems of the time, including the wife of Chiang-Kai-Shek living in Berkeley, Japanese interment camps, child labor and so much more.
The detective, Al Sullivan, half Jewish, half hispanic is on the case and carries baggage of his own. The granddaughters are rich and beautiful and each with their own reasons for wanted the statesman dead. These well known mystery elements are well used but that also makes them somewhat predictable.
There were several times I felt the author overworked the historical facts she layered in the story. Several times the information about the building the Golden gate bridge or info about the Redwoods did little to move the story forward and instead brought me away from the action at hand. It was obvious she enjoyed her research and wanted impart this these facts to the reader but these had little to do with the story at hand.
In all I felt it was a great first effort for a novice mystery writer. It felt a little long and a little meandering into historical fact at times but the story in its completion had much more positives than negatives and I did love the ending. Even though it confirmed my suspicions the solution was an excellent one, often hard to do in a mystery. I imagine this might be the beginning of a mystery series and I would definitely be there for the next one.
P.S. a few words about the audio. The narration has a cast of three, Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren and Tim Campbell. I am not a big fan of multiple narrator audio. That is a personal taste. I don't like the book to interpret too much of the emotion for me. Moreira was great as the detective voice and Toren fit the grandmother perfectly. Tim Campbell was excellent. The narration at times sounded too much like a radio drama at times for my taste but others may love this. The other comment was the director chose to use a type of dialogue interview between Moreira and the author at the end to talk about book background and the elements of narration. This was interesting but became a little of a love fest between the two and it was used rather than the historical background in the Author's note given at the end of the print. I felt the Author's note would be a much better use of this space on the recording.
Thank you to NetGalley for supplying this recording.
Debut novel written by author of several non-fiction books, particularly know for Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom.
San Francisco has always held a warm place in my heart. I lived in the area for many years and am sadden by the recent problems in this Golden city. So I was interested to listen to a book that combined a historical perspective and a good mystery. I did get a print copy of the book to refer to while listening to it primarily in the audio.
Stuck between 3 and 4 stars. Rounded up for the ending
A mystery with strong Historical fiction overtones. The mystery was a good one. It had me guessing during most of the story though the identity of the murderer was one I suspected many times but there were enough red herrings placed well that I questioned my own choices multiple times. In the end the story and the many pieces came together well. The solution was well thought out and was a good story in itself. I did enjoy how the author crafted a multiple faceted story with many elements that show how problems and prejudices of the past are still with us. I also found much of the true history that was woven in added an extra dimension. There is much here about San Francisco during WWII that is uncovered and kept me reading.
The plot of the story concerns two deaths, one an obvious murder of a statesman and one a possible accidental death of a child that happen 14 years apart in the beautiful Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. A prominent family and especially a grandmother and her three surviving granddaughters figure as possible suspects. Around them swirls political intrigue and problems of the time, including the wife of Chiang-Kai-Shek living in Berkeley, Japanese interment camps, child labor and so much more.
The detective, Al Sullivan, half Jewish, half hispanic is on the case and carries baggage of his own. The granddaughters are rich and beautiful and each with their own reasons for wanted the statesman dead. These well known mystery elements are well used but that also makes them somewhat predictable.
There were several times I felt the author overworked the historical facts she layered in the story. Several times the information about the building the Golden gate bridge or info about the Redwoods did little to move the story forward and instead brought me away from the action at hand. It was obvious she enjoyed her research and wanted impart this these facts to the reader but these had little to do with the story at hand.
In all I felt it was a great first effort for a novice mystery writer. It felt a little long and a little meandering into historical fact at times but the story in its completion had much more positives than negatives and I did love the ending. Even though it confirmed my suspicions the solution was an excellent one, often hard to do in a mystery. I imagine this might be the beginning of a mystery series and I would definitely be there for the next one.
P.S. a few words about the audio. The narration has a cast of three, Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren and Tim Campbell. I am not a big fan of multiple narrator audio. That is a personal taste. I don't like the book to interpret too much of the emotion for me. Moreira was great as the detective voice and Toren fit the grandmother perfectly. Tim Campbell was excellent. The narration at times sounded too much like a radio drama at times for my taste but others may love this. The other comment was the director chose to use a type of dialogue interview between Moreira and the author at the end to talk about book background and the elements of narration. This was interesting but became a little of a love fest between the two and it was used rather than the historical background in the Author's note given at the end of the print. I felt the Author's note would be a much better use of this space on the recording.
Thank you to NetGalley for supplying this recording.
September 6, 2023
Al Sullivan is the lead detective investigating the murder of a presidential candidate at the Claremont Hotel in San Francisco in 1944. A witness states one of the three wealthy Bainbridge girls was leaving his hotel room around the time of the murders. The question is, which one?
This is a phenomenal book that grabbed me from the get-go and had me hooked to the last page. There is so much more to this book than just a murder mystery, though. It's a history lesson on class, racism, homophobia, gender discrimination, and Japanese internment. The characters are very well rounded, and the story is well plotted with good pacing. The story is told in dual timelines, one being the murder mystery and the other set in 1930, giving the backstory of the Bainbridge family, as told by the Matriarch.
Al, our main character is flawed but sympathetic. At times, both likable and unlikable. I really enjoyed the time I spent with these characters. Also, please read the author's note at the end and check out the author's recommended reads to learn more about the history of the time and place that the story takes place in.
My appreciation to Saint Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, author Amy Chua, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.
This is a phenomenal book that grabbed me from the get-go and had me hooked to the last page. There is so much more to this book than just a murder mystery, though. It's a history lesson on class, racism, homophobia, gender discrimination, and Japanese internment. The characters are very well rounded, and the story is well plotted with good pacing. The story is told in dual timelines, one being the murder mystery and the other set in 1930, giving the backstory of the Bainbridge family, as told by the Matriarch.
Al, our main character is flawed but sympathetic. At times, both likable and unlikable. I really enjoyed the time I spent with these characters. Also, please read the author's note at the end and check out the author's recommended reads to learn more about the history of the time and place that the story takes place in.
My appreciation to Saint Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, author Amy Chua, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.
August 26, 2023
Amy Chua's The Golden Gate is set in Berkeley and environs during WWII. The view it offers of life during wartime and the characters it features make it a stand-out in a genre that's glutted with the same old-same old. The novel operates on two timelines and two deaths: the recent murder in the Claremont Hotel of a major politician and the death a decade before of the young daughter of a wealthy family. The politician's death and the staging of his body suggest both political and personal motive for the murder, with the path of neither particularly clear. The death of the child whose neck is broken when she slides down a laundry chute may be murder or it may be a tragic accident.
The detective in this case, Berkeley homicide investigator Al Sullivan is Irish Catholic on his mother's side and a Mexican on his father's side from a family that includes both Jews and Catholics. His father was extradited from the US during one of its periodic purges of Mexicano laborers. Al has taken his mother's name as a way of evading the racism prevalent in the Bay Area at that time. He graduated from UC Berkeley, but was continually aware of his status as an outsider both during and after those years. His move to the Berkeley Police Department was facilitated by Police Chief August Vollmer, well known in the history of policing for making forensic work a central part of investigations.
The mystery/mysteries at the heart of The Golden Gate is full of surprises: changes of direction, conflicting evidence, unreliability among suspects and witnesses. Sullivan is pulled into the investigation of the politician's murder by a self-serving DA who is eager to win publicity by placing blame for the politician's death on anyone vulnerable. The first suspects are marginal, but the DA and Sullivan both begin to believe that one of the members of the family of the girl who died in the Claremont is connected to the crime. The DA has fervent hopes of bringing down this powerful family, and shifts his focus from one family member to another as convenience dictates.
Sullivan is smart, politically and historically aware, full of knowledge about immigration law, organizing among low-paid workers, and the waves of racism that focus on different groups of "others." This knowledge informs his policing. He holds himself to high standards, trying to find the real truth rather than the convenient one—so his relationship with the DA is uneasy.
Politics of two types also play into the murder investigation. The politician was rumored to be having an affair with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, who actually lived in Berkeley during this time, trying to maintain support for her husband's war with Mao and his revolutionaries. Is his death part of a game of global politics? Closer to home, Japanese-Americans on the west coast have been sent to internment camps. Sullivan is deeply uneasy about the work he's done supporting the internment and is concerned that Given the times, his investigation may be used to build up anti-asian sentiment.
Sullivan has a young niece who spends a great deal of time with him because her mother (his half-sister) is frequently and erratically involved in drug use and repeatedly involved with men whose marginal lives do nothing to improve her own. His feelings toward her are ambivalent: he loves her whole-heartedly, but is terrified of taking on more responsibility in raising her. She's a smart child, already disillusioned with formal education, even though she's still in grade school. Unlike Sullivan, she's dark-skinned, can't pass for white, and is deeply conscious of the doors that are closed to her because of the color of her skin.
As I read this book, I was frequently reminded of Naomi Hirahara's Evergreen, which like The Golden Gate is being released this August. Both books see WWII through a Californian perspective. Both books look at the lives of those who are seen as expendable and who can played off against one another in whatever ways serve to enrich those above them.
Whether you're a fan of mystery fiction, WWII fiction, California fiction and history, or some mix of these genres, you'll find The Golden Gate an engaging novel, full of unexpected twists in plot and characters.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
The detective in this case, Berkeley homicide investigator Al Sullivan is Irish Catholic on his mother's side and a Mexican on his father's side from a family that includes both Jews and Catholics. His father was extradited from the US during one of its periodic purges of Mexicano laborers. Al has taken his mother's name as a way of evading the racism prevalent in the Bay Area at that time. He graduated from UC Berkeley, but was continually aware of his status as an outsider both during and after those years. His move to the Berkeley Police Department was facilitated by Police Chief August Vollmer, well known in the history of policing for making forensic work a central part of investigations.
The mystery/mysteries at the heart of The Golden Gate is full of surprises: changes of direction, conflicting evidence, unreliability among suspects and witnesses. Sullivan is pulled into the investigation of the politician's murder by a self-serving DA who is eager to win publicity by placing blame for the politician's death on anyone vulnerable. The first suspects are marginal, but the DA and Sullivan both begin to believe that one of the members of the family of the girl who died in the Claremont is connected to the crime. The DA has fervent hopes of bringing down this powerful family, and shifts his focus from one family member to another as convenience dictates.
Sullivan is smart, politically and historically aware, full of knowledge about immigration law, organizing among low-paid workers, and the waves of racism that focus on different groups of "others." This knowledge informs his policing. He holds himself to high standards, trying to find the real truth rather than the convenient one—so his relationship with the DA is uneasy.
Politics of two types also play into the murder investigation. The politician was rumored to be having an affair with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, who actually lived in Berkeley during this time, trying to maintain support for her husband's war with Mao and his revolutionaries. Is his death part of a game of global politics? Closer to home, Japanese-Americans on the west coast have been sent to internment camps. Sullivan is deeply uneasy about the work he's done supporting the internment and is concerned that Given the times, his investigation may be used to build up anti-asian sentiment.
Sullivan has a young niece who spends a great deal of time with him because her mother (his half-sister) is frequently and erratically involved in drug use and repeatedly involved with men whose marginal lives do nothing to improve her own. His feelings toward her are ambivalent: he loves her whole-heartedly, but is terrified of taking on more responsibility in raising her. She's a smart child, already disillusioned with formal education, even though she's still in grade school. Unlike Sullivan, she's dark-skinned, can't pass for white, and is deeply conscious of the doors that are closed to her because of the color of her skin.
As I read this book, I was frequently reminded of Naomi Hirahara's Evergreen, which like The Golden Gate is being released this August. Both books see WWII through a Californian perspective. Both books look at the lives of those who are seen as expendable and who can played off against one another in whatever ways serve to enrich those above them.
Whether you're a fan of mystery fiction, WWII fiction, California fiction and history, or some mix of these genres, you'll find The Golden Gate an engaging novel, full of unexpected twists in plot and characters.
I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.
September 8, 2023
Thank you #partners @minotaur_books & @macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies
A wonderful mash-up of historical fiction and mystery, loosely based on true events, The Golden Gate is a well-researched, impressive debut! I especially appreciate the exploration of race and class. Highly recommend!
A wonderful mash-up of historical fiction and mystery, loosely based on true events, The Golden Gate is a well-researched, impressive debut! I especially appreciate the exploration of race and class. Highly recommend!
March 9, 2024
Murder in the Claremont
1930, Berkeley, California. Little Iris Bainbridge is found dead at the bottom of the laundry chute in the Claremont Hotel. It was ruled to be a tragic accident…
1944. Failed Presidential candidate, Walter Wilkinson, is murdered in the Claremont. This was the second attempt – earlier that evening he’d been shot at, he claimed by ‘Commies’ who were out to get him. But Detective Al Sullivan isn’t convinced by the Commie explanation for the second attempt. For one thing the body had been left in a rather humiliating position; and for another, one of the maids swears she had seen a young woman leave his room at midnight. The maid, Juanita, says the woman was one of the “Bainbridge girls”, but doesn’t know which one. The Bainbridge girls are the two sisters and a cousin of the girl who died in 1930. But the Bainbridge girls are from a rich and powerful family while Juanita is a Mexican immigrant, so her word doesn’t count for much with the authorities. Al, however, is half-Mexican himself, though he can ‘pass’ for white, and he’s inclined to believe Juanita. But there’s another line of enquiry too, even more sensitive – Al has been told by a journalist that Wilkinson had been having an affair with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, wife of the Chinese leader, who has been touring America seeking aid for the Chinese war effort.
The main bulk of the book is about the 1944 murder, but the death of little Iris, aged just seven when she died, casts a shadow over the Claremont and most of the characters. It’s told as a first person narrative from Al for the most part, but there are chapters throughout which are the transcript of the statement prepared for the police by Genevieve Bainbridge, the girls’ grandmother and matriarch of the family, when she is interviewed about Wilkinson’s death. These chapters slowly reveal the family’s history and how Iris’ death may have played a part in the present-day murder. The Bainbridge girls are spoiled rich kids, exploiting their rock-solid position in society to behave in ways they couldn’t get away with so easily if they were further down the food chain. Nicole, for instance, is playing around with a man the FBI suspect is a Communist agitator, and there is some suspicion that Nicole is a Communist too – not a good thing to be in 1944 America! All three girls are blonde and beautiful, which is why Juanita can’t say which one she saw.
Chua handles all the race elements well, not banging the reader over the head with it, but showing the way non-whites are treated as lesser beings. Al has a young niece, Miriam, who, unlike him, is fully Mexican in heritage. Her father is out of the picture and her mother is feckless and neglectful, so Al has to take on some of the duties of parent, while Miriam wants to take on the role of being Al’s detective partner. The Chinese strand lets Chua tell a little about the relations between China and America at this time, as well as the Tongs – the Chinese gangs. We also learn about the Japanese concentration camps in California, and about the expulsion of Mexicans in the Repatriation (an episode of which I was entirely unaware). The whole historical background is excellently researched and presented, full of interesting detail but never having the feeling of an info dump. Three times I checked things that felt anachronistic to me, and each time found that Chua was right and I was wrong, so from then on I decided to relax and trust the accuracy of the picture she was painting.
The writing is excellent. Al’s sections are written with a kind of hard-boiled tone but perhaps a little less stripped down than is usual in that style, while the chapters of Genevieve Bainbridge’s statement give a clear picture of her haughty pride and unconcern for anyone outwith her family. The plot is rather too complex, but Chua holds it together well so it’s relatively easy to keep on top of it all, and I found it completely absorbing. The ending goes a little too far over the credibility line in some of the detail, but the basic resolution is believable and quite satisfying.
I believe this is Amy Chua’s debut in fiction, but she is apparently the author of a hugely successful parenting memoir and some factual books, though she is unknown to me. While obviously fiction is different, it may be that past writing experience that makes this feel very assured and confident for a debut novel. I’m certainly hoping that she gives us more fiction in the future.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Corvus via NetGalley.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
1930, Berkeley, California. Little Iris Bainbridge is found dead at the bottom of the laundry chute in the Claremont Hotel. It was ruled to be a tragic accident…
1944. Failed Presidential candidate, Walter Wilkinson, is murdered in the Claremont. This was the second attempt – earlier that evening he’d been shot at, he claimed by ‘Commies’ who were out to get him. But Detective Al Sullivan isn’t convinced by the Commie explanation for the second attempt. For one thing the body had been left in a rather humiliating position; and for another, one of the maids swears she had seen a young woman leave his room at midnight. The maid, Juanita, says the woman was one of the “Bainbridge girls”, but doesn’t know which one. The Bainbridge girls are the two sisters and a cousin of the girl who died in 1930. But the Bainbridge girls are from a rich and powerful family while Juanita is a Mexican immigrant, so her word doesn’t count for much with the authorities. Al, however, is half-Mexican himself, though he can ‘pass’ for white, and he’s inclined to believe Juanita. But there’s another line of enquiry too, even more sensitive – Al has been told by a journalist that Wilkinson had been having an affair with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, wife of the Chinese leader, who has been touring America seeking aid for the Chinese war effort.
The main bulk of the book is about the 1944 murder, but the death of little Iris, aged just seven when she died, casts a shadow over the Claremont and most of the characters. It’s told as a first person narrative from Al for the most part, but there are chapters throughout which are the transcript of the statement prepared for the police by Genevieve Bainbridge, the girls’ grandmother and matriarch of the family, when she is interviewed about Wilkinson’s death. These chapters slowly reveal the family’s history and how Iris’ death may have played a part in the present-day murder. The Bainbridge girls are spoiled rich kids, exploiting their rock-solid position in society to behave in ways they couldn’t get away with so easily if they were further down the food chain. Nicole, for instance, is playing around with a man the FBI suspect is a Communist agitator, and there is some suspicion that Nicole is a Communist too – not a good thing to be in 1944 America! All three girls are blonde and beautiful, which is why Juanita can’t say which one she saw.
Chua handles all the race elements well, not banging the reader over the head with it, but showing the way non-whites are treated as lesser beings. Al has a young niece, Miriam, who, unlike him, is fully Mexican in heritage. Her father is out of the picture and her mother is feckless and neglectful, so Al has to take on some of the duties of parent, while Miriam wants to take on the role of being Al’s detective partner. The Chinese strand lets Chua tell a little about the relations between China and America at this time, as well as the Tongs – the Chinese gangs. We also learn about the Japanese concentration camps in California, and about the expulsion of Mexicans in the Repatriation (an episode of which I was entirely unaware). The whole historical background is excellently researched and presented, full of interesting detail but never having the feeling of an info dump. Three times I checked things that felt anachronistic to me, and each time found that Chua was right and I was wrong, so from then on I decided to relax and trust the accuracy of the picture she was painting.
The writing is excellent. Al’s sections are written with a kind of hard-boiled tone but perhaps a little less stripped down than is usual in that style, while the chapters of Genevieve Bainbridge’s statement give a clear picture of her haughty pride and unconcern for anyone outwith her family. The plot is rather too complex, but Chua holds it together well so it’s relatively easy to keep on top of it all, and I found it completely absorbing. The ending goes a little too far over the credibility line in some of the detail, but the basic resolution is believable and quite satisfying.
I believe this is Amy Chua’s debut in fiction, but she is apparently the author of a hugely successful parenting memoir and some factual books, though she is unknown to me. While obviously fiction is different, it may be that past writing experience that makes this feel very assured and confident for a debut novel. I’m certainly hoping that she gives us more fiction in the future.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Corvus via NetGalley.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
December 21, 2023
The Golden Gate transported me to 1944 California.
I was fully immersed in the place and the lives of the people, with this slice of history coming alive in my mind.
This book made me think about American culture, the people we call immigrants, and the stories told to justify treatment of the “other,” whoever that group might be at any given time.
Before reading, you might want to adjust expectations. The Golden Gate is marketed as a “historical thriller.” It is not a thriller. What we have is a slow-burn study of people, of a society, of a period in time when war, propaganda, and fear shaped thoughts and behavior.
The murder mystery is complex, as are the people involved.
My only complaint is that, at times, we get bogged down in a history lesson kind of feel, with long passages of exposition. While interesting, this had the tendency to halt the story’s pace and take away from the immediacy of the plot.
I alternated between reading my print copy and listening to the audiobook. The audio is exceptionally well done, and I loved being enveloped in the story.
*Thanks to Minotaur Books for the free copy.*
I was fully immersed in the place and the lives of the people, with this slice of history coming alive in my mind.
This book made me think about American culture, the people we call immigrants, and the stories told to justify treatment of the “other,” whoever that group might be at any given time.
Before reading, you might want to adjust expectations. The Golden Gate is marketed as a “historical thriller.” It is not a thriller. What we have is a slow-burn study of people, of a society, of a period in time when war, propaganda, and fear shaped thoughts and behavior.
The murder mystery is complex, as are the people involved.
My only complaint is that, at times, we get bogged down in a history lesson kind of feel, with long passages of exposition. While interesting, this had the tendency to halt the story’s pace and take away from the immediacy of the plot.
I alternated between reading my print copy and listening to the audiobook. The audio is exceptionally well done, and I loved being enveloped in the story.
*Thanks to Minotaur Books for the free copy.*
September 12, 2023
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an arc of this book.
I think my biggest complaint with this book was that the author didn't know what she wanted to write about. There are the bones of a historical mystery here, but it's completely overtaken by a (frankly boring) history textbook, with a little bit of Gothic paranormal scenes randomly thrown in. I think the author should have chosen one of these routes to pursue and edited everything else out.
The mystery itself wasn't awful. I wasn't actually invested in the outcome because the storyline wasn't mysterious enough for my taste. The writing was just too blunt: the detective went here, he talked to this person, he's sure she did it, now he thinks this other woman did it, but now he's positive this third woman is the culprit. There weren't enough clues or red herrings dropped along the way for me to want to figure out whodunit too. So, the mystery plotline was serviceable, but not engaging.
Honestly, there was just way too much history included in the story. Pages upon pages upon pages of unnecessary history bogged the story down and made reading it a chore. I made at least ten different notes for myself throughout the book when the author goes off on a 5-page tangent when one paragraph would have sufficed. It seemed like she wanted to include every single piece of research she did on the history of California, Mexico, female architects, the migration of blacks to California, the otter trade, native peoples crossing the Bering Straits, etc. I was having flashbacks of my boring high school history textbook for much of the story. The vast majority of this needed to be edited out because it didn't bring anything to the actual murder mystery plot.
Not only did the history lessons need to be cut because they were unnecessary, but also because this book is told in the first person. It was jarring to read multiple pages of detailed California agricultural history and then have the next paragraph start with "I pulled the car over in front of the house." (Just for example.) It was like two different texts were cut and pasted together with different POVs.
As for characters, I wasn't impressed here either. Only the MC was developed to any degree, none of the side characters were more than a couple of adjectives. And I truly didn't like the MC. I didn't enjoy being in his head, and I didn't find him interesting.
The only not bad thing about this book for me was the prose. It was an easy book to read, the sentences were well formed, but that isn't enough for more than one star in my opinion.
I think my biggest complaint with this book was that the author didn't know what she wanted to write about. There are the bones of a historical mystery here, but it's completely overtaken by a (frankly boring) history textbook, with a little bit of Gothic paranormal scenes randomly thrown in. I think the author should have chosen one of these routes to pursue and edited everything else out.
The mystery itself wasn't awful. I wasn't actually invested in the outcome because the storyline wasn't mysterious enough for my taste. The writing was just too blunt: the detective went here, he talked to this person, he's sure she did it, now he thinks this other woman did it, but now he's positive this third woman is the culprit. There weren't enough clues or red herrings dropped along the way for me to want to figure out whodunit too. So, the mystery plotline was serviceable, but not engaging.
Honestly, there was just way too much history included in the story. Pages upon pages upon pages of unnecessary history bogged the story down and made reading it a chore. I made at least ten different notes for myself throughout the book when the author goes off on a 5-page tangent when one paragraph would have sufficed. It seemed like she wanted to include every single piece of research she did on the history of California, Mexico, female architects, the migration of blacks to California, the otter trade, native peoples crossing the Bering Straits, etc. I was having flashbacks of my boring high school history textbook for much of the story. The vast majority of this needed to be edited out because it didn't bring anything to the actual murder mystery plot.
Not only did the history lessons need to be cut because they were unnecessary, but also because this book is told in the first person. It was jarring to read multiple pages of detailed California agricultural history and then have the next paragraph start with "I pulled the car over in front of the house." (Just for example.) It was like two different texts were cut and pasted together with different POVs.
As for characters, I wasn't impressed here either. Only the MC was developed to any degree, none of the side characters were more than a couple of adjectives. And I truly didn't like the MC. I didn't enjoy being in his head, and I didn't find him interesting.
The only not bad thing about this book for me was the prose. It was an easy book to read, the sentences were well formed, but that isn't enough for more than one star in my opinion.
January 28, 2024
This is a wonderful mashup of my two favorite genres - historical fiction and mystery. The Bay Area is a common setting for both genres so I wasn’t sure this debut novel would be original enough to capture my attention and keep it - but it delivers. The history is well researched and there is a lot of rarely written about California history included. Some readers may find some of the side bar riffs on historical topics distracting, but I enjoyed them and thought they were well integrated. The mystery was well-plotted and fun to detangle. The inclusion of Madame Chiang was brilliant and took me down a Google side bar.
My one criticism is that some of the dialogue felt false, and the occasional time the brother yells at his sister felt abrupt and fake. But this is minor, and I expect the author to continue to develop her dialogue writing skills.
If you’re looking for some novel historical fiction, and enjoy it with a dose of crime fiction, then grab this book. I listened to the audio version and the narration is excellent. There is a fun interview between author and narrator at the end.
My one criticism is that some of the dialogue felt false, and the occasional time the brother yells at his sister felt abrupt and fake. But this is minor, and I expect the author to continue to develop her dialogue writing skills.
If you’re looking for some novel historical fiction, and enjoy it with a dose of crime fiction, then grab this book. I listened to the audio version and the narration is excellent. There is a fun interview between author and narrator at the end.
October 16, 2023
In all honesty, this felt like a book written by someone who had never read a book for pleasure a day in their life... Which, according to the acknowledgments isn't the truth? It's also hard for me to talk about this because some of the aspects of this book that weren't handled the best weren't necessarily personally off-putting, but as executed I can't not call them out.
Set in the 40s we are in Northern California as Al Sullivan investigates the murder of a former presidential Candidate. From the beginning of the book, the reader is aware that someone in the Bainbridge family is likely responsible, though who remains to be seen. Chua takes every possible moment in the novel to give us historical asides that could be serviceable as footnotes but instead sometimes drag on for paragraphs to what feels like pages of text. It also never really feels as though we are actually doing any investigating? Instead we meander through the pages, occasionally lapsing back into deposition testimony to give us the family history of the Bainbridges in what feels like an exercise in time wasting.
I'm also not entirely sure I appreciated how race was discussed in the book. With the California setting and the time period, obviously there was no getting around the issue of Japanese internment, and that was all handled in a way that felt appropriate. Both in terms of the historical asides and the ways that Asian characters were actually involved in the story. But Al Sullivan as a Mexican American character... I'm not sure that always worked as Chua aimed for? Not my place, but parts of the book just felt like it was a choice that didn't need to be made which only served to magnify how awkward certain sections felt.
I would read another book by Chua. Though I would hesitate to suggest they continue to follow happenings with Al Sullivan, or be eager to read another mystery they penned because this read more like general fiction that just happened to be about a detective. I also wouldn't suggest anyone read this. Not because the book was bad, but because I don't know of anyone in the market for the kind of narrative this book actually delivers and not the one in the synopsis.
Set in the 40s we are in Northern California as Al Sullivan investigates the murder of a former presidential Candidate. From the beginning of the book, the reader is aware that someone in the Bainbridge family is likely responsible, though who remains to be seen. Chua takes every possible moment in the novel to give us historical asides that could be serviceable as footnotes but instead sometimes drag on for paragraphs to what feels like pages of text. It also never really feels as though we are actually doing any investigating? Instead we meander through the pages, occasionally lapsing back into deposition testimony to give us the family history of the Bainbridges in what feels like an exercise in time wasting.
I'm also not entirely sure I appreciated how race was discussed in the book. With the California setting and the time period, obviously there was no getting around the issue of Japanese internment, and that was all handled in a way that felt appropriate. Both in terms of the historical asides and the ways that Asian characters were actually involved in the story. But Al Sullivan as a Mexican American character... I'm not sure that always worked as Chua aimed for? Not my place, but parts of the book just felt like it was a choice that didn't need to be made which only served to magnify how awkward certain sections felt.
I would read another book by Chua. Though I would hesitate to suggest they continue to follow happenings with Al Sullivan, or be eager to read another mystery they penned because this read more like general fiction that just happened to be about a detective. I also wouldn't suggest anyone read this. Not because the book was bad, but because I don't know of anyone in the market for the kind of narrative this book actually delivers and not the one in the synopsis.
September 19, 2023
A compulsively readable, genre-defying debut that is full of a rich cast of characters and features a mixed race Police Detective trying to uncover who was responsible for an assassination at a prominent hotel in 1944.
Steeped in the history and culture of 1940s California (especially Berkley and San Francisco), this story is a fascinating family saga/ghost story/murder mystery with fantastic insights into race and class at this time and place!
Great on audio too narrated by Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren and Tim Campbell. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early ALC in exchange for my honest review!
Steeped in the history and culture of 1940s California (especially Berkley and San Francisco), this story is a fascinating family saga/ghost story/murder mystery with fantastic insights into race and class at this time and place!
Great on audio too narrated by Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren and Tim Campbell. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early ALC in exchange for my honest review!
March 27, 2023
Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book was published on September 19th, 2023
Writing: 4/5 Plot: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5
An extremely convoluted ( in a delightful way) murder mystery set against an intricately detailed history of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1930s and 40s. Walker Wilkinson — a rich industrialist and possible presidential candidate — is shot in his room at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. Mixed race Detective Al Sullivan lands the case which offers him suspects and witnesses that range from the very rich to the poor and dispossessed — from political figures to steel workers to Chinese / Black / Mexican / Japanese workers. Chua — an historian, this is her first novel — weaves in famous figures such as Madame Chiang Kai Shek, Julia Morgan, Dr. Margaret Chung, and August Vollmer with perfect integrity and context. Background history is delivered in a more or less integrated way ranging from laws and policies to the history of crime labs, the threat of Communism, the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Kaiser shipyards (before it was just a medical plan!), and even the geology of the state. I was aware of some of the historical references — e.g. the Chinese Exclusion Act — but not some of the others such as the Mexican Expulsion of 1931 and the Mann Act (aka the White Slaves act) which was often used against those in interracial marriages. Chua’s non-fiction books focus on “the disparate impact of capitalism on different ethnic and immigrant groups” and that theme is front and center of this well-written and engaging historical mystery.
Some random quotes:
“In California, we have county coroners, and they’re elected, which is not exactly a recipe for competence.“
“That depends on your view of relevance. Yours, Mr. Doogan, appears to be quite cramped.”
“You can’t trust newspapers, but there’s one subject they’re good at — hate. First they whip it up, then they report on it.“
“There’s a suspicion line in every society, Miriam, and you’re either above it or below it. The people above that line, they never even think about it. They walk the streets like they own them. They take for granted that the law is there to protect them because it is.”
Emily Dickinson, but quoted in the book and I love it: “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”
Writing: 4/5 Plot: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5
An extremely convoluted ( in a delightful way) murder mystery set against an intricately detailed history of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1930s and 40s. Walker Wilkinson — a rich industrialist and possible presidential candidate — is shot in his room at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. Mixed race Detective Al Sullivan lands the case which offers him suspects and witnesses that range from the very rich to the poor and dispossessed — from political figures to steel workers to Chinese / Black / Mexican / Japanese workers. Chua — an historian, this is her first novel — weaves in famous figures such as Madame Chiang Kai Shek, Julia Morgan, Dr. Margaret Chung, and August Vollmer with perfect integrity and context. Background history is delivered in a more or less integrated way ranging from laws and policies to the history of crime labs, the threat of Communism, the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Kaiser shipyards (before it was just a medical plan!), and even the geology of the state. I was aware of some of the historical references — e.g. the Chinese Exclusion Act — but not some of the others such as the Mexican Expulsion of 1931 and the Mann Act (aka the White Slaves act) which was often used against those in interracial marriages. Chua’s non-fiction books focus on “the disparate impact of capitalism on different ethnic and immigrant groups” and that theme is front and center of this well-written and engaging historical mystery.
Some random quotes:
“In California, we have county coroners, and they’re elected, which is not exactly a recipe for competence.“
“That depends on your view of relevance. Yours, Mr. Doogan, appears to be quite cramped.”
“You can’t trust newspapers, but there’s one subject they’re good at — hate. First they whip it up, then they report on it.“
“There’s a suspicion line in every society, Miriam, and you’re either above it or below it. The people above that line, they never even think about it. They walk the streets like they own them. They take for granted that the law is there to protect them because it is.”
Emily Dickinson, but quoted in the book and I love it: “To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”
August 11, 2023
A multicultural twist on WWII, with a spellbinding debut that involves the assassination of a presidential candidate in Berkeley, California, in 1944, investigated by mixed race detective Al Sullivan. A must read for histfic mystery/thriller lovers!
March 18, 2024
Started strong, and then it dragged and was followed up by a fantastic ending. How does one rate a book like this?
I loved the history behind the book and the murder mystery itself. It was all the extra with the politics and racism that became a little overbearing. Even though those topics are very important, it just seemed almost out of place in this book and took away from the story itself. I then had a hard time wanting to pick it up which was a shame really because the story had so much to offer.
I loved the history behind the book and the murder mystery itself. It was all the extra with the politics and racism that became a little overbearing. Even though those topics are very important, it just seemed almost out of place in this book and took away from the story itself. I then had a hard time wanting to pick it up which was a shame really because the story had so much to offer.
October 10, 2023
I could NOT put this book down. Worth all the hype.
The noir, femme fatale mood - just so well done.
A Presidential candidate is found murdered - and the granddaughters of a wealthy matriarch are the prime suspects. Family drama, a murdered daughter, mentally unstable mother and three gorgeous young women.
Told from two perspectives - a letter to the DA detailing the family tragedies and Detective Al Sullivan, this book will have you canceling all plans.
Classism, racism, passing as white, drug and alcohol addiction - poetic, tragic and so well done.
The noir, femme fatale mood - just so well done.
A Presidential candidate is found murdered - and the granddaughters of a wealthy matriarch are the prime suspects. Family drama, a murdered daughter, mentally unstable mother and three gorgeous young women.
Told from two perspectives - a letter to the DA detailing the family tragedies and Detective Al Sullivan, this book will have you canceling all plans.
Classism, racism, passing as white, drug and alcohol addiction - poetic, tragic and so well done.
November 6, 2023
The central plot is effective but, overall, I found this to be bloated and repetitive. And way too many "but the killer REALLY is..." endings.
September 9, 2023
Rich, twisty, and unpredictable!
The Golden Gate is a mysterious, gripping tale set in Berkeley, California, during 1944 that sees Homicide Detective Al Sullivan investigating the bizarre murder of presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson in the Claremont Hotel which, as it unfolds, also seems strangely entangled with the death of a seven-year-old girl in the same hotel ten years previous, China’s first lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, and a whole slew of mischief, mayhem, and long-buried secrets.
The prose is sharp and brisk. The characters are multilayered, flawed, and persistent. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel seamlessly into a menacing tale full of corruption, coercion, politics, racism, inequality, deduction, suspicious motivations, criminal behaviour, dangerous endeavours, familial drama, red herrings, lies, and murder.
Overall, The Golden Gate is an ominous, atmospheric, sophisticated read by Chua that I hope is only the start of what could be an entertaining series with its noir-type feel, colourful characters, abundance of action, and straight-up detective work.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Golden Gate is a mysterious, gripping tale set in Berkeley, California, during 1944 that sees Homicide Detective Al Sullivan investigating the bizarre murder of presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson in the Claremont Hotel which, as it unfolds, also seems strangely entangled with the death of a seven-year-old girl in the same hotel ten years previous, China’s first lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, and a whole slew of mischief, mayhem, and long-buried secrets.
The prose is sharp and brisk. The characters are multilayered, flawed, and persistent. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel seamlessly into a menacing tale full of corruption, coercion, politics, racism, inequality, deduction, suspicious motivations, criminal behaviour, dangerous endeavours, familial drama, red herrings, lies, and murder.
Overall, The Golden Gate is an ominous, atmospheric, sophisticated read by Chua that I hope is only the start of what could be an entertaining series with its noir-type feel, colourful characters, abundance of action, and straight-up detective work.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 27, 2023
The Golden Gate by Amy Chua was a fascinating historical mystery. Thank you to @minotaur_books for the gifted copy. The book comes out September 19th.
Detective Al Sullivan is a compelling protagonist with a tough guy exterior and a thoughtful, sensitive interior. I loved his relationship with his niece, Miriam, and his concern with getting to the truth of the brutal murder at the Claremont hotel. As the son of a Mexican immigrant, Al has complex feelings about race that sometimes are at odds with his duties as a policeman.
The mystery kept me guessing, but what really compelled me was the history. The setting of the Berkeley/San Francisco area in 1944 allowed for so much tension. Chua depicts the racism and bigotry vividly. I knew about the Japanese internment camps, but I learned much more about California history and the issues rampant in the area long before WWII started. The disparity between different racial and socioeconomic groups is striking. This history is so important, especially because many of these unfair situations are not resolved today.
I highly recommend this book to historical mystery fans looking for something new and different.
Detective Al Sullivan is a compelling protagonist with a tough guy exterior and a thoughtful, sensitive interior. I loved his relationship with his niece, Miriam, and his concern with getting to the truth of the brutal murder at the Claremont hotel. As the son of a Mexican immigrant, Al has complex feelings about race that sometimes are at odds with his duties as a policeman.
The mystery kept me guessing, but what really compelled me was the history. The setting of the Berkeley/San Francisco area in 1944 allowed for so much tension. Chua depicts the racism and bigotry vividly. I knew about the Japanese internment camps, but I learned much more about California history and the issues rampant in the area long before WWII started. The disparity between different racial and socioeconomic groups is striking. This history is so important, especially because many of these unfair situations are not resolved today.
I highly recommend this book to historical mystery fans looking for something new and different.
October 2, 2023
4.5
Swanky, stunning, persistent…
Headline! Death at the Claremont Hotel!
Berkeley’s Claremont Hotel 1930 - after a game of hide n seek with her younger sister Isabella, 7yo Iris Stafford’s (of THE Bainbridge family) body is found in a pile of dirty laundry at the bottom of the laundry chute.
Same Claremont Hotel 1944 - political candidate Walter Wilkinson is found in a humiliating condition, shot in the head. A possession of Iris’ is found in the closet in the room.
Homicide detective Al Sullivan thinks the “Wilkinson murder is connected to the Bainbridges in some complicated way,” but isn’t sure how. But what is it with the Bainbridges? “If there is a crisis at the hotel, a Bainbridge always seems to be in the middle of it.”
Join the search for a killer! Encounter a web of lies and coincidences! As D A Doogan says,” Infidelity, betrayal, and revenge - the red meat! Juries will love it!”
*A great fiction debut! I will read future books by this author. I would like to read more stories about Detective Al Sullivan!
*This kept me guessing!
*Intricate plot.
*Very descriptive writing. Ex: hide n seek in the hotel and Lincoln Highway
*Enjoyed Mrs. Bainbridge’s desposition throughout the book. Clever!
*Well researched. Detail oriented. Liked reading about the Golden Gate Bridge - building & opening!
Swanky, stunning, persistent…
Headline! Death at the Claremont Hotel!
Berkeley’s Claremont Hotel 1930 - after a game of hide n seek with her younger sister Isabella, 7yo Iris Stafford’s (of THE Bainbridge family) body is found in a pile of dirty laundry at the bottom of the laundry chute.
Same Claremont Hotel 1944 - political candidate Walter Wilkinson is found in a humiliating condition, shot in the head. A possession of Iris’ is found in the closet in the room.
Homicide detective Al Sullivan thinks the “Wilkinson murder is connected to the Bainbridges in some complicated way,” but isn’t sure how. But what is it with the Bainbridges? “If there is a crisis at the hotel, a Bainbridge always seems to be in the middle of it.”
Join the search for a killer! Encounter a web of lies and coincidences! As D A Doogan says,” Infidelity, betrayal, and revenge - the red meat! Juries will love it!”
*A great fiction debut! I will read future books by this author. I would like to read more stories about Detective Al Sullivan!
*This kept me guessing!
*Intricate plot.
*Very descriptive writing. Ex: hide n seek in the hotel and Lincoln Highway
*Enjoyed Mrs. Bainbridge’s desposition throughout the book. Clever!
*Well researched. Detail oriented. Liked reading about the Golden Gate Bridge - building & opening!
February 16, 2024
This book grabbed me from the very start where 2 sisters, in 1930, were playing their typical Sunday game of hide and seek at the Claremont Hotel when something horrible happens. Next thing you know it's 1944, again in Berkley, California at the Claremont Hotel but this time there is an assassination of a presidential candidate. Is there a connection? In addition to being a great mystery, I also enjoyed the historical fiction, learning interesting facts about San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, 'soft' gold, Dy-Dee dolls and what life was like in the 1940's. What surprised me was how complex and engaging the mystery itself was. At times I felt like I was reading an Agatha Christie book and other times I could have sworn Kate Morton (whom I adore) was the author. What a great debut!
July 23, 2023
This book was a lot. And not necessarily a lot in a good way. This is a murder mystery set in California during the later years of World War II. This book and it's characters covers a cacophony of information, including many social, racial, and political topics. All of which ABSOLUTELY deserve representation, but the massive info-dump in every aspect made this very difficult to enjoy. I appreciate a good, unreliable character, but there were so many characters (reliable and unreliable) and I didn't like anyone, not even Miriam - again due to the pure overwhelming amount of story/backstory/side story about everyone. Despite information overload, the history was very interesting. So interesting, in fact, it detracted from the plot and flow of the novel. I definitely kept whipping my head around trying to solve the crime, which kept me on board. I appreciate all of the effort put into this novel but I cannot say I enjoyed it. I encourage others to give it a try, it's definitely a different side of WWII fiction that desperately needs representation. Perhaps all of these historical facts and side references are more your jam than they are mine.
And yes, I do know this is label as historical fiction; it felt like a lecture presentation as several points which detracted from it's enjoyability for me. It is definitely a historical fiction mystery, but it also carries the label of thriller, which is is not.
Thank you Netgalley, Minotaur and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
And yes, I do know this is label as historical fiction; it felt like a lecture presentation as several points which detracted from it's enjoyability for me. It is definitely a historical fiction mystery, but it also carries the label of thriller, which is is not.
Thank you Netgalley, Minotaur and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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