Told between two timelines, 1944 and the early 1930’s, The Golden Gate solves the crime mystery of who assassinated a presidential candidate at the Claremont Hotel and the accidental death of a young girl. Intriguing and atmospheric, with several unexpected twists, I enjoyed it, but at times I felt like I was reading a history book and could have done without some of it.

A historical family saga and mystery all in one story.
This was well written if a bit long. It meandered at times and would have benefited from a little more editing. I learned things about San Francisco history I didn’t know about and it takes place during a time period I like.
Over all it was a fun read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for a honest review. 3.5⭐️

The Golden Gate
Posted on April 6, 2024


“Right— we’re the good Orientals now. But I still can’t buy a house outside Chinatown. That’s ‘all men are created equal’ for you.”—Amy Chua, The Golden Gate.

In 1944 Berkeley, California, presidential hopeful Walter Wilkinson is assassinated with his pants down in his room at the Claremont Hotel. Homicide Detective Al Sullivan launches an official investigation and early evidence points to the three granddaughters of wealthy socialite Genevieve Hopkins Bainbridge. He also discovers a link to the death of 7-year-old Iris Stafford who was murdered in the hotel in 1930. Some say she haunts the Claremont Hotel. Fast forward to present day, and the Claremont is rumored to be one of the most haunted hotels in California (especially room 422).

The Golden Gate is an old-fashioned detective novel from Yale law professor Amy Chua. She has written several other intelligent nonfiction books, and her transition to historical fiction is wonderful. The story alternates between Genevieve’s deposition and detective Sullivan’s first-person narration.

The author seeds the novel with fascinating nuggets of California history and real-life figures, including Margaret Chung, the first Chinese woman to become a physician in the United States. Margaret “Mom” Chung was the first known American-born Chinese female physician. She treated numerous celebrities, Navy reserve pilots, and her houseguests included high ranking officers and US senators and congressmen. Julia Morgan was also a real person. She was an American architect and engineer and designed more than 700 buildings in California during her career. She is best known for her work on the Hearst castle.

I found it especially interesting that the author alluded to Madame Chiang Kai-Sheck, the First Lady of the Republic of China being a Christian, so I had to do some digging. On October 23, 1930, Chiang Kai-shek became a Christian, so it would make sense that his wife would also be a believer. Unfortunately, she was also highly corrupt. The author has done a great job of combining multiple narratives, history, and a detective novel The Golden Gate reminds me of an old police procedural set in 1940s San Francisco. I’ve read several books set in the San Francisco area, but this is among the best.

Although I enjoyed the book, I thought the story was disjointed, which knocked down my rating a bit. I shouldn’t be surprised, but cops often lie in books. That bothers me. It was also disturbing how racism and life in 1940s internment camps is characterized.

I appreciated the moral compass of the protagonist, but I am frustrated by how many books have gay relationships? The sexuality of a character is honestly not that important.

Got bogged down in the history. 4.5 stars.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a review copy of this book. The opinions are my own.

I received an advanced copy of The Golden Gate by Amy Chua from the publisher St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Homicide Detective Al Sullivan happened to be at the swanky Claremont hotel in Berkely when presidential candidate, Walter Wilkinson, is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. Wilkinson is a rich industrialist with enemies in the anarchist faction and a number of groups. Yet, the death seems to bring up another death from ten years ago, the death of a seven-year-old Iris Stafford. The case seems to keep leading them back to the remaining Bainbridge family members. This book follows Sullivan as he follows thee threads of the investigations.

What I Loved: I’ve been loving historical mysteries recently so I was excited to see this come across my radar. I liked the way the book highlighted the rampant racism of 1944, and especially the exploration of the Japanese internment camp and the cruelty of those instances. I like the way the book doesn’t shy away from these instances or look away from this and allows this to inform the detective work.

What I Didn’t Like: This book had a lot of elements and it was hard to keep track of the elements of the mysteries. I understand this is a part of the mysteries that there are red herrings but when the plot is a bit challenging to follow or to have a bit too many threads than the book can suffer and I think there was just too much thrown in here. I also don’t like ghost elements in my books so.

Who Should Read It: People who like historical mysteries.

Summary: A detective investigates the murder of a presidential candidate but there’s more than meets the eye.

I really enjoyed this one! An interesting perspective on a historical period we often only get one type of story on. I liked The historical fiction elements of this thriller and appreciated that it’s not just another modern day popcorn edition.

"“Evil is everywhere. Where you least expect it. It can seep out of the radio. Or a lobster salad.”
“Oh, Issy—why do you say that?”
“Because it talks to me.”
“What talks to you?”
“Evil.”
“Iris talks to you, and evil talks to you?”
“Yes.”
“Are they the same?”"
--------------------------------------
"Part of me wanted to shut her up—if there’s one thing I couldn’t stand, it was a rich girl who felt unlucky in life. But another part knew that what she was saying was factually true. Her family was a train wreck, almost as bad as my mine except rich. Meanwhile, a third part of me couldn’t help noticing her long lashes and her lips—she had what they call a rosebud mouth, a perfect version of it. “I may have misjudged you, miss. If I did, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t soften on me,” she said.
“If it was a hundred in the shade, I wouldn’t soften on you, miss.”
“Good. Because I’m bad, Detective. I do terrible things. And if you soften on me, I’ll do them to you.”"

There are six primary (fictional) females driving the story in The Golden Gate, with Detective Al Sullivan functioning as the hub to which they all connect and around whom they all spin. There might have been a seventh, but Iris Stafford plunged down a laundry chute in 1930 at age seven, under mysterious circumstances, and appears now mostly in memories, dark visions, and dreams. Her sister, Isabella, all grown up in 1944, is a knockout, as was their mother, Sadie. The Stafford girls have two first cousins. Cassie Bainbridge is an expert hunter, (think Artemis) and a frightening wonder to behold when butchering large game. Nicole is fascinated by the far left, maybe dangerously so. Then there is Genevieve Bainbridge, grandmother to Iris and Isabella, Cassie and Nicole, mother to Sadie and John (who does not much figure in any of this.)

Genevieve is 62 when we meet her, through a deposition she is writing for the DA. There are eleven parts to this document, sub-chapters, spread throughout the book. It is through these that we learn of the events circa and before 1930. But take her words with a shaker of salt. This Bainbridge is an unreliable narrator. She is faced with a very tough situation. The DA has made clear his belief that one of her three granddaughters is guilty of murder, and he is squeezing her to finger the guilty party, lest all three suffer consequences. The events of the novel take place primarily in two times, 1930, when Iris dies, and 1944, the today of the tale.

Detective Sullivan is having drinks with a young woman in the hotel bar, when he is summoned by hotel management, about a report of gunshots in one of the rooms. Walter Wilkinson, an industrialist running for president, has acquired a new bit of decoration in his room, a bullet hole above his bed. He offers a tale about a Russian Communist assassin, is relocated to another room, and goes about his night, as does Sullivan. Until a call comes in several hours later. The renowned Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, CA, need some assistance dealing with a newly deceased guest. Mr. Wilkinson had clearly had a pretty tough night.

A crew of detectives is called in. Guests, employees and everyone in the vicinity are identified and interviewed, and clues begin to emerge. Timelines and whereabouts are established. Who saw whom emerge from what room, or walk down which hall, at what time, dressed how, gender, ethnicity, age, and so on. The usual procedural digging offers up a list of folks who may have had it in for WW, for a wide range of issues, some personal, some professional.

Complications appear like shadows at dusk. Was it the same shooter both times? And what about the unusual way in which his body was left? Witnesses can be unreliable. You cannot believe everything people tell you. Can you believe anything? In fact, there is a sufficient number of the questionably balanced in this novel that the place could be known as much for its head cases as for its headlands. The constant lying and misdirection offer up enough twists to make this read feel like a very tasty bowl of rotini. And it is indeed very tasty.

There are two levels at play, the payload, a take on the time and place, and the mystery…well, mysteries. We are eager to learn not only what happened to candidate Wilkinson including wondering if he had it coming) but to Iris Stafford. Did she really fall down a laundry chute to her death? Or was there some dark force at play responsible for killing a seven-year-old child? Chua does a great job of keeping us guessing, and there is plenty to guess about. I figured out one element about halfway through, but there were many others I did not see coming at all. There are surprises aplenty.

So, who killed WW (who is loosely based on Wendell Wilkie)? Who was that cowled person seen leaving the scene of the crime? Some people were seen entering and leaving the victim’s room, including an Asian woman and someone answering to the description of the three cousins. Interestingly, Wilkinson had a connection with Madame Chiang Kai-shek.

Speaking of which, Chua peppers her novel with actual historical figures. The First Lady of China did, in fact, live in Berkeley during the period of the novel. Her reason for being there is not known. Chua offers one possible explanation. August Vollmer is a name you are unlikely to know, but he was a seminal figure in the evolution of policing. He served as police chief in Berkeley for a time, and is lightly incorporated into the tale, as Al’s mentor, among other things.

Place is of paramount importance in good detective tales, and Chua further satisfies the historical need by telling us about the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, offering some of her characters a role in its opening. She also writes about the boom-town growth of the area during World War II, when it replaced Pearl Harbor as the premier shipbuilding location in the states, producing an astounding number of vessels for the war, and in so doing, attracting workers from around the country. Some were more welcome than others, as one might expect. There are union issues, housing shortages, poverty, racism, political intrigue, sexual shenanigans, tong gangs, and appearances by two noteworthy ahead-of-their-time accomplished female professionals.

"Bigotry was shameless and rampant, with Mexicans forcibly “repatriated” by the hundreds of thousands, the Chinese Exclusion Act still in place, and hostile derision openly directed at “Okies,” a term then referring to poor white migrants from the Dust Bowl. In the 1940s came the Japanese internment, when full-fledged American citizens were literally caged off. For the first time, Blacks came to the Bay Area in significant numbers, pouring in from the American South in search of jobs, only to find themselves subjected to vicious prejudice, excluded by labor unions, denied entry into restaurants, theaters and hotels, and barred from living in white neighborhoods. Throughout this period, numerous other ethnic groups—such as Italians, Greeks, Poles, Slavs, Hungarians, and Jews—occupied a subordinate position too, not yet considered fully white." - from the Author’s Note

Chua builds this into her characters.

"I chose to make Detective Sullivan a light-skinned mixed-race man in part because Berkeley’s police force in the 1940s included almost no women or minorities, but also because I wanted to explore the phenomenon of racial “passing.” Sullivan is part Mexican, part Nebraskan, and part Jewish on his Mexican side…But Sullivan can pass as white and chooses to go by Al Sullivan rather than Alejo Gutiérrez for reasons he has not fully admitted to himself". - from the Author’s Note

In fact, there is enough passing here to make one wonder if Berkeley streets are constructed of all left lanes. In addition to Al, noted above, Japanese characters pass for Chinese. Gay characters pass for straight. One does what one must to survive in a hostile environment. Pathological liars pass for honest citizens. Crazy people pass for sane, and rich kids pass for revolutionaries. But another way to look at some of this is as reinvention. Sometimes you need to change how you present yourself to the world, change how the world sees you, in order to become your truest self.

Al is a good guy, conflicted about his decision to conceal his heritage. In addition to his detective work, Al must handle a family problem. His half-sister does not function well in the world, has issues with substances and decision-making. Somehow, she produced an amazing kid. Miriam is eleven going on thirty, from having to cope with so much. She could use some more schooling, but is uber bright, and she loves her uncle Al, who is put into the position of having to take care of her during of her mom’s absences. The love between these two glows like a lighthouse beacon glaring through thick bay fog. Some of the most wonderful scenes in the book are those between Al and Miriam.

While it is not a large element, there is also occasional humor.

"I hate to say it of a fellow Berkeley officer, but Dicky O’Gar was so thick he couldn’t tell which way an elevator was going if you gave him two guesses."

The events take place in the Berkeley Hills, for the most part. So, near to, while not exactly one of, the ground-zeros for hard-boiled detective yarns. There is some nifty noir-ish patois, (the second quote at the top of this review offers an excellent example) but I would not call this a noir novel, per se. While there is plenty of darkness and grim reality, there is enough optimism to float it out of that sub-genre.

Gripes are few. I found the explanation of one of the deaths that occurs less than satisfying. There is a taste of a fantasy element, revolving around the continued presence in the Claremont of the late Iris Stafford. While it adds atmosphere, it suggests more than it actually delivers.

Bottom line is that The Golden Gate is a first-rate entertainment, with fun, quirky, interesting fictional supporting characters, an introduction to some actual historical people of note, an insightful look at a vibrant place in an exciting time, a primary character to care about, and mysteries to keep your gray cells sparking. What’s not to like?

"I put my collar up, pulled my hat brim down, and set off through the drizzle, wondering how much I’d been played in the last seventy-two hours and by how many different women."

Review posted - 12/29/23

Publication date – 9/19/23

I received an ARE of The Golden Gate from Minotaur Books in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating an ePub as well.

This was unfortunately a DNF at 39% for me. I thought the concept of the book was great, but I struggled with the pacing and wasn't able to maintain interest.

I liked the idea of this story, but I think that it was trying to do too many things at once. The other thing that really bugged me was the title. Why is it called The Golden Gate? I think this story could have great if it had more focus. Way too many subplots.

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua is a well researched historical novel. It is more of a police procedural or murder mystery, so readers of those genres would definitely enjoy this book. I found the book fascinating from the first few pages. The opening scene will quickly hook you and leave you with many unanswered questions. Overall, this is an interesting book and I recommend it. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

I’m a big historical fiction fan, so I was excited to read this one. I will say this book gave more murder mystery to me. Amy Chua weaves an amazing tale, but this book became bogged down by trying to cover too much. There was so much information and so many issues that the author tried to cover. It had an interesting plot, but due to so many details, the plot was hard to follow. Overall it was entertaining but my attention wandered.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minatour books for my ARC.

I could not get into this book. I really wanted to like it, but I was not able to finish it. I like learning about the history and it's clear that Chua put in a lot of research into this book. I want to read it in the future though.

I really enjoyed this book. While I'm not usually a fan of police procedurals, this incorproated enough of other element to be enjoyable and unpredictable. I also appreciated the alternate timelines and great grandmother's perspective. The characters were interesting, and character development over time was both expected and suprirsing.

A solid historical thriller! You can tell it was well researched and Amy Chua took a lot of time to make sure it was historical accurate, which I enjoyed! My main complaint, is that at times it seems like the desire to make sure everything was accurate overtook the plot and therefore the thriller was lacking at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this murder mystery story! All of the characters were so great and the way their stories were all woven together was fantastic. Absolutely great debut.

This gripping mystery addresses murders in the famed Claremong hotel decades apart, with twists and turns at every corner. Just when you think you've solved it, new evidence of treachery, lies, and intrigue turn the story on its head. This alone is reason to read!

Amy Chua's fiction debut is heavily informed by her research skills honed by her previous books. Set in the 1940s Bay Area, you are treated to a myriad of levels in this book - the Chinese First Lady, earthquake-safe architecture, Japanese internment camps, tong gangs, who can pass for white, corrupt police, the haves vs have nots, Dy Dee dolls, monks, gambling rings, infidelity, lobotomies, and so much more. These pieces build up a shifting mosaic of richness.

Superb!

ate (Amy Chua)

#TheGoldenGate #NetGalley

Many readers may have heard about Amy Chua because of her earlier book on “tiger mothers.” While some may disagree with her thoughts on parenting, many may well agree that this debut novel is worth a read.

The Golden Gate, as can be told from the title, takes place in California. It is a historical mystery set in a time of change. Chua (a professor) gives a lot of detail to make the time period feel present and real.

Early in the novel readers meet wo sisters. One of them somehow is dead and leaves her little sister behind . This death will come back to the plot when a wealthy industrialist/political candidate is found murdered. 

The case is assigned to a detective of mixed race background, something that he does not freely acknowledge as he has taken his mother’s more “acceptable” last name as his own. Al Sullivan will be challenged in these pages.

The opening of this book really drew me in. An interview is taking place and some wealthy Bainbridge family members/suspects are being clearly named. Who is/are they responsible? Read the novel to find out.

This first novel by Chua will undoubtedly not be her last. Recommended to those who enjoy mysteries set in America’ past.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this title. All opinions are my onw.

I have been provided with a review copy of The Golden Gate from NetGalley for an impartial review. I was just drawn into this story and I just couldn’t get enough of it. I was so disappointed to turn the last page and I immediately wanted more. I can’t wait to see what's next from this author.

when i first learned about the film chinatown by rapist roman polanski, i naively thought that it might have actually had some prominent chinese characters. but alas no. thankfully, the golden gate interfaces with race and its intricacies directly, in a similar vein to hbo's very good but short running perry mason reboot. anyway. nothing more to say about it or chua. i liked it

The Golden Gate
A Novel
by Amy Chua

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua is a wonderful historical thriller set in the bay area 1944. This is a really wonderful debut and I’m excited to discover a new author to me with Amy Chua. Detective Sullivan is a great character and I’m hoping to read more of her books in the future.

Set in 1944, this historical thriller is set in the Bay Area. The story weaves together a plot that is part crime drama with a historical family saga. The book covers a broad scope of issues which makes the story line bounce around. On occasion, it felt more like a historical textbook than a mystery novel. Although the plot could have been tightened up, it was an entertaining read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this book.