Review by Martha Quillen
Fiction – November 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Silver Lies
by Ann Parker
Published in 2003 by Poisoned Pen Press
ISBN 1-59058-072-9
INEZ STANNERT’S HUSBAND Mark is missing, and she can’t go home — because her rich, respectable father disowned her when she married a gambler. So Inez stays on in Leadville running the Silver Queen Saloon with her husband’s partner, Abe Jackson.
Then Joe Rose, an assayer, family man and friend of Mark’s, is murdered in the alley behind the Silver Queen, and Inez thinks his death may be connected to Mark’s disappearance.
Inez wants to know what happened to Joe, but Abe warns her away. Joe seems to have gotten himself cross wise of powerful men in town, and the marshal sure isn’t inclined to investigate, so it only seems wise for Abe and Inez to stay out of it. But Abe is a black man who’s worked his way up by being inconspicuous. Whereas Inez is a temperamental beauty from wealth.
Still, she sees the value of being subtle so Inez puts the matter into the hands of Jed Ellison, an annoying but intrepid newspaper editor.
And that’s as far as I got, because this book arrived right in the middle of final magazine production — and way past deadline. But the author is going to be signing books in both Salida and Leadville in late October, so it seemed best to write something now.
Line per line, Parker is a much better writer than most authors who write genre fiction about our area. A slight, but notable clumsiness in syntax and style are common in local fiction, but Parker’s prose glides along smoothly.
She has an annoying habit, however, of piling on the characters. There’s Bridgette, the maid; Ulysses (or Useless) the handyman; Nils, Joe’s former partner; Joe’s son Joey; William Stannert; Cat DuBois; Florence Sweet; Susan Carothers; Doc Cramer; Marshal Hollis; Llewellyn Tremayne; Reverend Sands; Curly Dan; Gallagher; Elliston….
And I’ve only read ninety pages so far.
You’d need a cheat sheet to keep track of everyone. But, thank goodness, you don’t really have to. This excessive crowd slows the plot a bit and inhibits character development, but you can follow the action regardless. Besides, the setting is our favorite: Central Colorado.
So does Parker capture the essence of this place? Well, it does seem unduly filled with duplicitous characters; corrupt lawmen; immoral women; and drunks, but … I’ll leave that to you.
Two excerpts:
“If there was an arctic version of hell, Joe Rose was living it in Leadville, Colorado.
“Hugging the ten-thousand-foot mark in the Rocky Mountains, Leadville in December 1879 had winter cold enough to freeze a man’s lungs, if he wasn’t used to it.
“A light, white snow, soft as angel wings, descended to the black mud of Tiger Alley in Leadville’s red-light district . The icy paste — mixed with a season’s worth of animal excrement and human garbage — had been churned up by beasts of burden, carts, and lost souls. In some spots it lay knee deep.”
“Inez lowered the bottle. ‘Second time today someone’s turned down a free drink. What next, I wonder. Hell freezing over? No, I forgot. It already has. It’s winter in Leadville.’ She regarded him. ‘So you’re not here to drink, you’re here to…?'”