MyShelf.com
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Rachel A
Hyde
Leadville,
just after
it had started
to become
a city,
is a place
out of a
western
with saloons,
brothels,
miners,
lynch mobs
and marching
bands. Life
is cheap
and the
law is not
always on
the side
of the angels,
so it is
not surprising
that assayer
Joe Rose
is found
dead outside
Inez Stannert's
saloon.
Inez is
a lady with
a past,
whose husband
left town
in a hurry
eight months
before and
who now
runs the
Silver Queen
with her
black partner,
Abe Jackson.
It falls
to her to
investigate
the case
and try
to ensure
that justice
is done
for Joe
and that
his widow
and son
get what
is theirs.
This is
going to
be harder
than she
thinks,
as she has
no real
idea who
her friends
truly are,
and she
is going
to uncover
a plot that
goes as
deep as
one of Leadville's
celebrated
silver mines.
When
I was in
school,
I viewed
any history
dealing
with "western
expansion" as
being too
sensational
and generally
just plain
fun to be
truly classed
as history.
Therefore,
it is not
essential
to be the
sort of
reader who
normally
reads this
type of
thing to
enjoy this
tangled
tale. Read
it for its
gutsy depiction
of life
in Leadville--who
can resist
a novel
that features
Bat Masterson--and
for its
gritty lack
of coziness.
Inez is
a strong
woman in
a man's
world who
manages
to hold
her own
and get
some pleasure
and satisfaction
out of it,
as well
as a living,
so it is
hard not
to want
to find
out what
will befall
her, and
thus the
pages turn.
It is true,
however,
that this
is not really
a book that
needs its
400+ pages,
and in the
middle it
does tend
to sag rather
when nothing
new is happening
and much
old ground
is being
re-trodden
to no real
purpose.
This aside,
the plot
is intricate
and the
leading
characters
the sort
I hope will
be reappearing
in another
(slightly
shorter)
book soon.
Anybody
who has
read Michelle
Black's
The Second
Glass of
Absinthe
(also reviewed
on this
site) and
who wants
to read
more about
Leadville
at this
particular
time need
look no
further.
As with
that book,
I can imagine
reading
groups everywhere
having a
ball discussing
this one.
Well worth
a look.
http://www.myshelf.com/mystery/03/silverlies.htm
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