International
Thriller Writers:
The Big Thrill
By Austin Camacho
If you think you've seen it all
in the realm of political intrigue,
you're in for a treat when you
see how it worked in the 19th Century
Wild West. In Ann Parker's Leaden
Skies, former president Ulysses
S. Grant's visit to Colorado silver
mines in 1880 appears to kick off
a wave of conniving, plotting,
and murder. With this July release,
Parker continues her award winning
series starring Inez Stannert,
saloon co-owner and amateur sleuth
in the silver mining boomtown of
Leadville, Colorado.
Inez Stannert
is a marvelously
arresting
protagonist,
having an
affair with
a minister
and doing
business with
a local madam
while trying
to divorce
her missing
husband. Parker
says she's
still learning
about her
lead character.
"I started
out wanting
to create
a female protagonist
'of the times'
who has her
good points
and her bad
points, who
sometimes
makes wrong
decisions
and then must
deal with
the consequences," Parker
said. "I
see her as
a very intelligent,
well-bred,
passionate
person, who
reads people
well."
Stannert
may be quick
to judge,
but she is
also fiercely
loyal to her
friends and
not afraid
to take a
chance. And
as Parker
points out,
she has traits
that make
her a great
detective,
even if her
investigations
are unofficial.
"What
makes her
a good amateur
sleuth? Her
powers of
observation,
her courage,
her inclination
to gamble
on a hunch,
and her desire
to right wrongs."
Luckily for
us readers,
Stannert is
the right
woman in the
right place.
Leadville
was overflowing
with shady
deals, blackmail,
con games,
and, of course,
murder. In
Leaden
Skies one of the
madam's prostitutes
is attacked
and later
killed. While
Stannert investigates
the murder
Parker does
an excellent
job of showing
us the crossroads
between civilization
and the frontier.
Getting
historical
fiction right
is a challenge
because the
past is like
a different
country with
its own culture,
language and
style. But
an author
can't simply
go back 130
years and
look around.
Still, Parker
says she's
found ways
to "visit" her
setting. She
reads letters
and newspapers
from back
then and studies
references
written in
the day. Art
books help
with the visual
aspect, and
she has a
shelf full
with lots
of portraits
from the period.
And, she points
out, her research
is not just
virtual.
"I
also visit
present-day
Leadville
to walk the
streets and
capture those
things that
are timeless:
the weather,
the brilliance
of the sunlight
and the sharpness
of the shadows;
the color
of the dirt;
the sound
the boardwalks
make when
people are
walking on
them; the
feel of the
wind."
She also
makes the
best use of
local museums
and historical
societies.
This kind
of in-depth
research allows
Parker to
sit a great
fictional
story comfortably
in the shadow
of history,
relating what
could have
happened nestled
beside events
that did take
place.
Aside from
the historic
environment,
Ann Parker
surrounds
Stannert with
a large and
diverse cast
of characters.
Bystanders
and suspects
include a
ruthless city
tax collector,
conniving
mine owners,
shady politicians,
overzealous
journalists,
a secretive
mapmaker,
a prostitute
with family
obligations,
and a mother
with high
hopes for
her useless
son. These
fully-realized
characters
keep the mystery
twisting even
while they
reflect their
time and place.
One advantage
of setting
a story in
the 1880s
is that the
writer doesn't
need to study
forensic science,
since forensics
was in its
infancy then.
At the time
a sleuth needed
only sharp
eyes and sharp
wits. In fictional
terms, Sherlock
Holmes was
just inventing
the job of
consulting
detective.
In fact, one
wonders what
Stannert's
contemporary
Holmes might
have thought
of her, or
she of him,
had they met.
"I can
imagine that,
should Mr.
Holmes and
Mrs. Stannert
have come
face-to-face,
he would have
found her
intuitive
guesswork
and her occasional
blindness
to clues very
irritating," Parker
said. "Inez
would probably
have given
him the once-over
and curled
her lip. She
might also
have found
him a bit
of a bore
with his insistence
on connecting
the dots."
Of course,
Leadville,
Colorado was
a world away
from the London
of the time,
a city just
booming instead
of already
beginning
to decay.
Leadville
in 1880 offered
excitement
and thrills
way beyond
what London
could provide.
This difference
alone will
hold a thriller-lover's
interest if
he or she
can pull her
mind away
from Leadville's
fascinating
inhabitants
and the wonderfully
satisfying
corkscrew
mystery that
drives Leaden
Skies to a
resounding
and satisfying
conclusion.
Contributing
editor Austin
S. Camacho has written
a series about
private detective
Hannibal Jones
and a series
of adventure
novels featuring
mercenary
Morgan Stark
and jewel
thief Felicity
O'Brien. To
pay the mortgage
he answers
media queries
for the Defense
Department.
Camacho lives
in Springfield,
Virginia with
his lovely
wife Denise
and Princess
the Wonder
Cat
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