The
Cozy Library
By
Diana Vickery
The
year is
1880. Landscape
photographer
Susan Carothers
is seriously
injured
in an explosion
near where
workers
are laying
railroad
tracks into
Leadville,
Colorado.
Although
she says
two men
died in
the same
explosion,
almost everyone
believes
Susan imagined
it and railroad
security
officers
say they
didn’t
find any
bodies in
the wreckage.
One person
who believes
Susan’s
story is
Inez Stannert – co-owner
of the Silver
Queen Saloon.
After asking
some questions,
Inez even
believes
she knows
who one
of the men
was – and
he’s
missing.
Emotions are high
in Leadville as
the town awaits
the arrival of
two Civil War generals:
Ulysses S. Grant,
the former U.S.
president, and
William Jackson
Palmer, who heads
the Denver and
Rio Grande Railroad.
It’s against
this backdrop that
Inez begins her
investigation – attempting
to discover why
railroad officials
are pooh-poohing
Susan’s story – and
whether Leadville’s
distinguished visitors
are in danger.
Inez has her own
personal situation
to be concerned
about, too. Her
husband Mark is
missing – she
doesn’t know
whether he’s
alive or dead – and
her love interest,
the Reverend Justice
B. Sands, wants
her to begin divorce
proceedings. Inez
and Mark’s
sickly, young son
is back east with
her family and
she misses him
terribly. The Silver
Queen Saloon is
doing OK, but her
business partner
Abe Jackson wants
to increase business
by bringing in
some actors to
perform. Inez has
history with one
of the performers
and is dead-set
against the move.
It’s easy
to see why the
first Silver Rush
Mystery, Silver
Lies, received
so many accolades,
including the Willa
(Cather) Award
for historical
fiction. Ann Parker
paints a vivid
picture of what
life was like in
the rough-and-tumble
1880s: a silver
rush, a collision
of Civil War veterans,
Rebs and Yanks,
and – in
the days before
background checks
became common – an
easy time for desperate
people to lose
themselves and
their former identities.
Fiction and fact
are skillfully
interwoven in Iron
Ties, and
I’m certain
anyone who enjoys
historical fiction – or
good storytelling
-- will want to
add Ann Parker
to their list of
favorite authors.
Readers who like
their mysteries
gritty and realistic
(without a lot
of gratuitous sex,
violence and profanity)
will be clamoring
for more. Although “the
West” of
my ancestors was
further east and
decades earlier,
as a genealogist/family
historian, I enjoyed
getting a glimpse
into the lives
my 2nd great grandfather
and his ten children
might have lived. Iron
Ties has so
much going for
it, I consider
it a “must
read.”
A big “thank
you” to Dani,
a Cozy Library
visitor, for suggesting
Ann Parker as a
featured author.
First published
in the Cozy Library
August 7, 2006.
http://www.cozylibrary.com/
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