Photo by Charles Lucke

About the Author

Ann Parker earned degrees in Physics and English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, before falling into a career as a science writer nearly 30 years ago. These days, she slings corporate, science, and technical verbiage for a living during the day and writes fiction at night. Her Silver Rush historical mystery series, published by Poisoned Pen Press, is set in the silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, in the early 1880s. The series was picked as a "Booksellers Favorite" by the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association.

The first in the series, Silver Lies, won the Willa Award for Historical Fiction and the Colorado Gold Award. Silver Lies was chosen a best mystery of the year by Publishers Weekly and The Chicago Tribune, and was a finalist for the Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award as well as for the Western Writers Association's Spur Award for Best Novel of the West. The Chicago Tribune says Silver Lies "combines a kind of gritty grandeur with a knowing wisdom about the way the present shapes our perceptions of the past." (Read the opening pages here.)

In its starred review of Iron Ties, the second in the series, Publishers Weekly calls it "outstanding." Midwest Book Review notes "IRON TIES is a terrific Reconstruction Era mystery that provides the audience with a deep look at the period when official hostilities were over, but passions still flared into violence." Iron Ties won the Colorado Book Award and received honorable mention for the Arizona Book Award in Mystery/Suspense. (Read the opening pages here.)

Leaden Skies is the third and latest in the series. Publishers Weekly describes it as "a twisty tale of murder and ambition." Booklist says "Parker has created a lively historical tale with a strong female protagonist. The intricate plot, lively characters, and vividly realized historical landscape will appeal to those interested in the Old West as well as to historical-mystery fans." (Read the opening pages here.)

Ann's ancestors include a great-grandfather who was a blacksmith in Leadville, a grandmother who worked at the bindery of Leadville's Herald Democrat newspaper, a grandfather who was a Colorado School of Mines professor, and another grandfather who worked as a gandy dancer on the Colorado railroads. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Historical Novel Society, Women Writing the West, and Western Writers of America. Ann and her family reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, whence they have weathered numerous boom-and-bust cycles.

For more information about the Silver Rush series, visit the Books Page or Poisoned Pen Press.

For downloadable biographies of Ann (some short, some long) and photos, go to the Press Page.

Ann can be contacted through e-mail at annparker@annparker.net

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