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MyShelf.com
Reviewed
by Rachel
A. Hyde
Three
years
after
Ann
Parker's
debut
novel
Silver
Lies,
here
is the
long-awaited
sequel.
No longer
just
another
frontier
town,
Leadville
is booming
and
the
railroad
is coming.
Photographer
Susan
Carothers
is out
taking
photographs
of this
exciting
new
innovation
when
she
witnesses
what
appears
to be
a murder.
But
when
an explosion
buries
her
and
she
is taken
to hospital
her
story
is dismissed
as delirium.
Her
friend
saloon
owner
Ines
Stannert
is not
so sure
- didn't
she
hear
a general
mentioned,
and
isn't
General
Grant
himself
coming
to town
to celebrate
the
railroad's
opening?
Maybe
the
Civil
War
is not
so long
ago
after
all...
I
grew
up in
a family
that
loved
westerns,
so reading
one
is always
a treat.
Here
is a
fascinating
glimpse
into
the
heyday
of this
mountain
city
complete
with
saloons,
cardsharps,
gunfights,
civil
war
veterans
and
the
dawn
of the
railroad
age.
The
West
as a
frontier
is on
the
verge
of becoming
history,
but
it is
hard
not
to be
caught
up in
the
excitement
of a
time
when
so much
was
new
and
exciting.
It was
this
that
drew
my attention
and
kept
the
pages
turning
rather
than
the
story,
which
moves
at a
rather
desultory
pace
more
akin
to a
mule
with
a heavy
wagon
than
a speeding
stagecoach.
As with
Silver
Lies,
this
is not
really
a book
that
needs
its
400+
pages,
and
tends
to sag
rather
when
there
is nothing
new
and
old
ground
is being
re-trodden
to no
useful
purpose.
This
aside,
the
leading
characters
were
well-drawn
and
absorbing
in the
first
book
and
continue
to be
so,
people
with
long
pasts
whatever
their
age
and
multi-faceted
personalities.
Maybe
they
- and
the
thrilling
city
of Leadville
- might
be reappearing
in another
(slightly
shorter)
book
rather
sooner
than
three
years
hence.
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