I picked-up Silver Lies by Ann Parker on a bit of a whim and breezed through it over the holidays. Silver Lies is the first mystery in Parker's Silver Rush series. I recalled reading not long ago about Parker promoting her fourth book, Mercury's Rise. So when I chanced upon Silver Lies, I thought I'd give it a try.
Silver Lies turned out to be pleasant entertainment. Set in 1879, in Leadville, Colorado, the protagonist is Inez Stannert. Inez' husband is a gambler who has runoff. She operates the Silver Queen Saloon with her remaining business partner. After a local assayer named Joe Rose is found dead, trampled by a horse outside the saloon, Inez gets drawn into investigating the death. Was it an accident or murder? Parker uses Inez' investigation to show us life in Leadville when it was a mining boom-town with gambling, corruption, counterfeit currency, ladies-of-the-evening, as well as church-going families. It was a rough-and-tumble time and Parker makes the period interesting.
Silver Lies was fun to read. I will definitely check into the other books in this series.
No comments:
Post a Comment