Kelli Stanley's "The Reckoning"

A critically-acclaimed, bestselling author of crime fiction, Kelli Stanley is the author of the award-winning Miranda Corbie historical noir series (City of Dragons, City of Secrets, City of Ghosts, City of Sharks), featuring "one of crime's most arresting heroines" (Library Journal), private investigator Miranda Corbie, and set in 1940 San Francisco.

Stanley also writes an award-winning, highly-praised series set in Roman Britain (Nox Dormienda; The Curse-Maker).

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of her newest novel, The Reckoning, a first-in-series mystery-thriller set in Northern California's "Emerald Triangle" in 1985:

With the exception of Miranda Corbie, I generally don’t think about actors while I’m writing—I dream-cast after the book is through! Miranda was an exception because she looked like Rita Hayworth, so obviously only the woman who played Gilda could play Miranda—at least in my head.

So now that The Reckoning is out in the world, I’ve been ruminating on an imaginary movie. There are a lot of talented young actors out there, right now, and of course I’d love to see this book—a very suspenseful, slow-burning thriller about a young woman with severe PTSD who is on the run from the FBI and stumbles into a crime scene and a hunt for a serial killer—actually adapted (I envision something like Shetland except it’s Humboldt County, CA, not the northernmost islands of Great Britain). But for this dream cast, I’m going to dream all the way—and think about who would have played Renata Drake and the main characters in The Reckoning in 1985, the year the story is set!

The story is centered around Renata: a seriously traumatized, 25-year-old young defense attorney who lost her sister to a murderer who couldn’t be prosecuted. Renata wrestles with the anguish and the anger, and, under treatment for her PTSD, writes a fantasy-revenge journal on how, exactly, she would execute her sister’s murderer.

And then she wakes up on a concrete floor staring at his corpse.

She assumes, after an interview, that the FBI are going to figure out that she’s responsible, so she runs to the opposite end of the country and lands in Garberville, California … a tiny town in the heart of the redwoods that is facing its own harrowing crime: a serial killer of young girls. To make matters even more tense, a federal and state paramilitary taskforce surrounds the area, focusing on uprooting every cannabis plant in the Emerald Triangle.

Renata is both vulnerable and resilient, strong and sensitive, unsure, self-doubting and resolute. She’s a complex character in a highly complex situation … so, who in 1985 had the acting chops and was the right age to play her?

Linda Hamilton can certainly portray “tough.” But the heartbreak and survivor’s guilt of trauma and loss? I’m not so sure. On the flip side, Sean Young excelled at unbalanced, off-kilter characters, but could she emote the kind of grit and determination that Renata does? Debra Winger, certainly a brilliant actress, registers as a little too country, a little too Midwest. Renata is from Chicago and grew up in a very urban environment.

So, who’s my pick? One of the two greatest actresses of their generation: Michelle Pfeiffer or Julianne Moore. Michelle would need to darken her blondeness to play Renata—the character is a brunette in contrast with her sister Josie, who was a blonde. And overall, I think Michelle would be the best in the part, because that mixture of vulnerability and strength, of self-doubt and determination to survive, shines through some of her best roles, including Susie Diamond in The Fabulous Baker Boys.

Other parts are a bit easier … for Mike, the newspaper man, I’d go with Kurt Russell. For Eve, the librarian, only Christine Lahti would do. And for the young Martha, I’d pick a very young Winona Ryder (again, with a hair color change). Ian could be Rob Lowe, Chris, maybe Mickey Rourke. The director? Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential).

I’d love to hear reader feedback about these choices … please stay in touch and let me know what you think of the dream cast when you’re done with the book!

Visit Kelli Stanley's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Kelli Stanley & Bertie.

The Page 69 Test: City of Dragons.

The Page 69 Test: City of Secrets.

The Page 69 Test: City of Ghosts.

My Book, The Movie: City of Ghosts.

The Page 69 Test: City of Sharks.

My Book, The Movie: City of Sharks.

Writers Read: Kelli Stanley (March 2018).

The Page 69 Test: The Reckoning.

Writers Read: Kelli Stanley.

--Marshal Zeringue