Best of the West 2019 – 2nd Place in Mystery, Best Fiction by TrueWest Magazine 2018 – CIPA EVVY Winner for Mystery/Crime/Detective 2018 – CIPA EVVY 2nd Place for Historical Fiction It’s autumn of 1881, and Inez Stannert, still the co-owner of Leadville, Colorado’s Silver Queen saloon, is settled in San Francisco with her young ward, Antonia Gizzi. Inez has turned her business talents to … has turned her business talents to managing a music store, hoping to eventually become an equal partner in the enterprise with the store’s owner, a celebrated local violinist.
Inez’s carefully constructed life for herself and Antonia threatens to tumble about her ears when the badly beaten body of a young musician washes up on the filthy banks of San Francisco’s Mission Creek canal. Inez and Antonia become entangled in the mystery of his death when the musician turns out to have ties to Leadville, ties that threaten to expose Inez’s notorious past. And they aren’t the only ones searching for answers. Wolter Roeland de Bruijn, “finder of the lost,” has also been tasked with ferreting out the perpetrators and dispensing justice in its most final form. Leadville’s leading madam Frisco Flo, an unwilling visitor to the city with a Leadville millionaire, is on the hook as well, having injudiciously financed the young musician’s journey to San Francisco in the first place.
Time grows short as Inez and the others uncover long-hidden secrets and unsettled scores. With lives and reputations on the line, the tempo rises until the investigation’s final, dying note.
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Fasten your seatbelt, Ann Parker grabs the reader on the first page of A Dying Note, and the pace continues relentlessly until the last page. This is her sixth novel in The Silver Rush Mystery Series. It is obvious this author is an experienced and skilled writer. A young man’s battered body washes up on the filthy banks of the Mission Creek Canal. No witnesses come forward; a cloud hangs over the entire neighborhood. Then our protagonist starts to dig for more information and surprising plot twists takes readers to a simpler time… or maybe not so simple after all.
The protagonist, Inez Stannert, is an anomaly, a successful business woman in San Francisco’s rough and tumble 1880’s. Inez survives by not flaunting her wealth, she is still co-owner of the Silver Queen Saloon, and secretly makes loans to other women who need a hand to get started or stay afloat in their own businesses. By day she manages a large and busy music store. Inez secretly hopes to become an equal partner with the store’s owner, an acclaimed violinist.
But behind her professional demeanor, her cunning mind listens carefully to all the conversations around her, she seems to never miss a thing. Her 13 year old ‘niece’, Antonia, a street urchin Inez brought with her from Leadville. Inez proudly sends the very bright Antonia to school each day and provides her with a structured life. The bond of affection between these two very clever characters, with inquiring minds created especially for detective novels, is believable and at times heart-wrenching.
The story is told in third person point of view, all the supporting characters are well developed and the plot twists keeps the reader guessing who done it and why. The plot is layered with intrigue and ghosts from the past. In some ways this novel reminded me of Isabelle Allende’s Daughter of Fortune, also set in the west and San Francisco in the same time period.
The ‘finder of lost things’, Mr. de Bruijn, decides to stay on at the hotel as a full-time resident. The stage is clearly set for book seven in the series with this crafty ending in the last paragraph of A Dying Note:
Inez smiled. “Mr. de Bruijn, I daresay we shall find ourselves working together again soon.”
*This review was originally written for StoryCircle.org
Exiting Cozy Mystery in 1881 San Francisco
This is an exceptionally good mystery. Mentally traveling along with the sleuths while ‘we’ discover hidden secrets made this a real page-turner. More than that, as a historian dedicated to American history, especially of the history of the West, I was thrilled with this book. Usually, I find issues to get picky about with historical fiction, not so with this book. It is written in such rich detail it was if a movie was playing in my mind. I can’t believe that I have just now found this series. I am going get all of the books in this series and binge read until I’m giddy. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.
Each book in this historical mystery series builds upon the one before. Interesting characters, elegant flow of words, and exciting locations (the last two books are set in San Francisco). Highly recommend.
A Dying Note is the sixth book in the Silver Rush series.
With this book we now find Inez Stannert and her ward, Antonia Gizzi, living in San Francisco. Inez is working D&S House of Music and Curiosities where she is the manager and gives music lesson. The founder and Inez’s partner, Nick Donato is a well-respected businessman and accomplished musician and spends a good part of his time seeking employment for musicians who frequent his establishment. The story centers around one of these musicians, Jamie Monroe. Monroe hopes to secure steady employment so he and Carmella Donato, Nick’s sister, can get married.
One day Inez is shocked to see Mrs. “Frisco Flo” Sweet, a madam and business partner of Inez from Leadville enter the music store. She learns from Frisco Flo that Harry Gallagher, a rich silver mine owner, has made her come with him to help look for his son. Gallagher has also engaged Wolter deBruin to aid in the search. Gallagher has threatened both them to ruin their businesses and reputations.
Then an unidentified body is discovered and with information that Flo has provided Inez knows that the body is that of Jamie Monroe, but is really Robert Gallagher, Harry’s son. Inez decides to keep this information from Gallagher for as long she can, hoping to learn who the killer is before telling Gallagher, thereby saving their businesses and reputations.
This is a wonderful historical series. The author has done a great job of researching, plotting and telling an interesting and exciting story and also providing an interesting and believable cast of characters.
Also included is a rather extensive list of references to learn more about the late 1800’s in San Francisco.
I will definitely be watching for the next book in this exciting series to see what adventures Inez and Antonia will have.