Iron Ties

“Iron Ties [is] full of sharply etched
characters set firmly in history and pulled along by a narrative engine as
powerful as any of the locomotives getting ready in 1880 to connect Leadville
to the outside world…Parker knows her Leadville history…[An] exciting,
entertaining series.”

“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. The
story line in many ways is more of a historical thriller, though Inez’s amateur
sleuth investigation is deftly handled and the cast three dimensional. Ann Parker
provides a delightful late nineteenth-century Americana investigative tale.”

“Set
in the summer of 1880, Parker’s outstanding second Silver Rush mystery (after
2003’s Silver Lies) finds her
heroine, Inez Stannert, corset-deep in the intrigues of Leadville, Colorado. Inez’s
secret courtship with the Reverend Justice B. Sands is as heated as the conflict
over the incoming railroad. When the local authorities question the reliability
of Inez’s friend, photographer Susan Carothers, who witnesses a shooting and explosion
along the rail line, it’s up to Inez to discover the truth. In one of the many
nice twists in this appealing adventure, the attractive railroad man Inez meets
during her investigation turns out to be one of the good reverend’s Civil War
comrades. In an effort to increase business at the Silver Queen saloon, Inez’s
business partner, Abe Jackson, engages an acting couple to perform. None too
happily, Inez realizes why the beautiful actress seems so familiar. A ragged
piece of cloth becomes a major clue as the clock ticks and the town readies for
a visit from former US president Ulysses S. Grant. Plenty of convincing action
bodes well for a long and successful series.”

“Susan
Carothers is a young photographer in the Old West, hoping her prints of the
magnificent Colorado landscape will sell in her gallery. But a solo trip into
the high country quickly turns into a nightmare when she witnesses a murder,
and a dynamite blast unleashes a rockslide that kills one man involved in the
murder and nearly kills her. Carothers recuperates while her friend, Inez
Stannert, tries to piece together what exactly it was that Susan witnessed.
Stannert owns Leadville’s saloon and can’t afford to have the small community
on which she’s staked her future be reduced to lawlessness. This sequel to the
critically acclaimed Silver Lies
(2003) will not disappoint Parker’s fans. The characters have depth, their
motivations are subtle, and their pain very human. Add carefully researched and
fascinating period detail, and one has a carefully crafted novel that will
appeal to readers of mysteries, historical fiction, and genre westerns.”