From
Crime
Watch
By
Dick
Adler
Chicago
Tribune
"Silver
Lies,"
Ann
Parker's
first
mystery
about
a
smart
and
gutsy
female
bar
owner
in the
silver
boomtown
of Leadville,
Colo.,
in the
late
1870s,
was
one
of my
favorite
books
of 2003.
"Iron
Ties,"
the
second
in the
series,
is just
out,
and
it's
full
of
sharply
etched
characters
set
firmly
in history
and
pulled
along
by a
narrative
engine
as powerful
as any
of the
locomotives
getting
ready
in 1880
to connect
Leadville
to the
outside
world.
Inez
Stannert,
whose
unreliable
husband
disappeared
in the
first
book
and
whose
8-year-old
son
is now
back
East
being
looked
after
by her
sister,
is having
trouble
making
a living
from
the
Silver
Queen
Saloon,
which
she
runs
with
black
partner
Abe
Jackson.
Parker
knows
her
Leadville
history,
so a
whiskey
barrel
label
that
reads,
"
`Red
Dog--Strong
enough
to make
a dog
go mad,'
"
must
be the
real
thing.
Stannert
enjoys
her
own
whiskey--"she
let
the
first
taste
slip
between
her
lips,
intense,
warm,
and
smooth,
right
through
the
finish,
with
a hint
of cloves
lingering
on her
tongue"--and
plays
a mean
game
of poker.
Two
competing
railroads
working
their
way
toward
Leadville
might
help
her
business
problems.
But
Stannert
has
other
worries,
including
an edgy
romance
with
a handsome
clergyman
and
some
leftover
hatred
from
the
Civil
War
that
might
get
President
Ulysses
S. Grant
killed
by a
secret
band
of Confederate
veterans
during
his
impending
visit.
Let's
hope
we don't
have
to wait
another
three
years
for
the
next
entry
in this
exciting,
entertaining
series.
|
