BookLoons
By Mary Ann Smyth
Good news. Ann Parker is
back with a new novel for
fans of her series featuring
Inez Stannert. I, for one,
am glad. I like Inez, who
goes on with life no matter
what bad stuff it throws
in her path. Her cardshark
husband has left her in
the boomtown of Leadville,
Colorado, in the year 1880.
Not a good time or place
for a woman to be alone
in the world with a small
child to raise on her own.
Inez
is part
owner – at
least she
thinks and
hopes she
is – of
a saloon.
The fine
legal points
might prove
her wrong.
It's tough
being a
woman at
that point
in history.
No vote
for one
thing. And
Inez is
not recognized
in polite
society
because
she runs
a saloon.
Which doesn't
really bother
her. More
pressing
issues fill
her head.
A plus in
her life
is her affair
with the
Reverend
Justice
Sands.
A
woman is
killed at
a local
house of
ill repute.
Zelda, trying
to better
her lot
in life,
is accused
of the crime
and is on
the run.
Inez to
the rescue.
She works
on discovering
how Zelda
could be
found in
a locked
room with
a dead woman
and not
be guilty
of slitting
that woman's
throat.
Good
plot. Great
characters.
Really great
setting.
Along with
prose that
sets a scene
with great
care. I
could almost
feel the
mud squelch
around my
boots; hear
the hubbub
from men
drinking
in the saloon;
stare in
horror as
a building
goes up
in flames;
and take
in the many
smells,
good and
bad, that
would fill
the air
in a town
such as
Leadville.
Reading,
I almost
felt as
though I
had lived
in that
time.
General
and ex-president
U. S. Grant
makes a
brief appearance,
giving the
man a human
face, not
just a historical
one. Leaden
Skies is
well worth
a read;
it's a hard
one to put
down.
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