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    Mercury's Rise
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    Mercury's Rise
    Unavailable
    Mercury's Rise
    Ebook457 pages11 hours

    Mercury's Rise

    By Ann Parker

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "Parker's deft evocation of a lost era in Western American history—the life of the mining boom town—and her complex characterization make Leaden Skies an absorbing read."—Stephanie Barron, national bestselling author

    It is summer 1880, and Inez Stannert, one of the partners in the Silver Queen Saloon in Leadville, Colorado, travels with her photographer friend Susan to the fashionable summer retreat of Manitou for a reunion with her son, now a toddler in the care of her sister. On the way, fellow stagecoach passenger Edward Pace suddenly grows faint, swigs some medicine, and dies under their horrified gaze. Pace's widow rejects a weak heart theory and begs Inez to investigate. As Inez digs deeper, she uncovers the shady side of spa tourism including spurious claims, profiteering from the coming bonanza in medicinal waters and miracle cures, and medical practitioners who kindle false hopes in the desperate and the dying. Then Inez's husband Mark reappears after a year and a half's unexplained absence. Now she must fight to hold on to her child and the life she has built for herself in an era where "independent woman" is an oxymoron.

    Silver Rush Mysteries:

    Silver Lies (Book 1)

    Iron Ties (Book 2)

    Leaden Skies (Book 3)

    Mercury's Rise (Book 4)

    What Gold Buys (Book 5)

    A Dying Note (Book 6)

    Mortal Music (Book 7)

    Praise for the Silver Rush Mysteries:

    "Plenty of convincing action bodes well for a long and successful series."—Publishers Weekly STARRED review for Iron Ties

    "Meticulously researched and full of rich period details…her characters will stay will you long after you've finished the last page. Highly recommended."—TASHA ALEXANDER, New York Times bestselling author for Mortal Music

    "One of the most authentic and evocative historical series around. Long live Inez!"—RHYS BOWEN, New York Times bestselling author for What Gold Buys

    Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award Winner

    Macavity Historical Novel Award Finalist

    Colorado Book Award Finalist

    WILLA Literary Award Finalist

    Agatha Best Historical Mystery Award Finalist

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateSep 3, 2011
    ISBN9781615953295
    Unavailable
    Mercury's Rise
    Author

    Ann Parker

    Ann Parker is the author of the award-winning Silver Rush historical mystery series set in 1880s, featuring saloon owner Inez Stannert. A science writer by day, Ann lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Women Writing the West.

    Read more from Ann Parker

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    Reviews for Mercury's Rise

    4/5

    13 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This was my first in the Silver Rush mysteries, but it stands alone fine. Inez Stannert's husband, Mark, disappeared one year ago. In the time since then, Inez made the difficult choice to send her young son, William, to stay with her sister, Harmony, back East because his health was suffering in the high altitude. She has worked on piecing her life together since then. The book opens as she is about to get her absent husband declared dead so she can move on with her personal life. She is traveling with her friend Susan, from Leadville to Manitou Springs to meet with her family and reunite with her son. During the long rough stage coach ride, fellow passenger Edward Pace dies after taking a tonic from Dr. Prochazka.Inez and her family are staying at the fictional Manitou Springs House. The hotel intends to be an upscale hotel but also is cashing in on the throngs of people who come to Manitou for the mineral waters and healing. For the Manitou Springs House, this means having Dr. Prochazka as part of the hotel, tending to Tuberculosis patients. Edward Pace's widow asks Inez to investigate, believing that her husband was poisoned. Apparently Mr. Pace was interested in investing into the hotel while his wife was convincing him there was something amiss.Inez has plenty of drama going on personally while she tackles investigating a death that only herself and the widow believe was a murder. Inez shows how tough western women were, and how they challenged society mores. Inez has reached a point where she knows what she wants and is about to grab the brass ring, only to have it yanked away. She comes out fighting, literally at times. From what I learned about Colorado history growing up, she is a realistic rendition of what many of the women who helped tame these parts were like. This book doesn't feature many of the standard secondary characters much, since the bulk of the story does not happen in Leadville. I would like to get to know the Leadville cast better.Miss Parker did an excellent job with the history and sense of place. Since Manitou Springs is essentially my backyard, and only a few minutes drive for me, all of the scenery and even some of the buildings in the story, I grew up with. I felt like I was being transported back in time with the deft historical portrayal. The tuberculosis treatment centers in the storyline are a large part of the history in this area. Even at our University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the old Dwire Hall was a TB treatment center. I was afraid that I would not like the portrayal of local history and sights, but I had nothing to fear. The plot is realistic since tuberculosis treatment really was a big business here, catering to middle and upper classes. The shady goings on at an upscale treatment center was well done. The personal life drama often took center stage and those were the parts that I skipped through. Some personal issues as a subplot are one thing, but there were times when Inez's personal problems nearly became the central plot, which I think slowed the pacing.The climax was well done I felt, bringing to head all the snooping and suspicions to a dramatic show down. The wrap-up smoothed some of the drama, but promised that some issues would still be worked out in the next book.Overall, this is a solid historical mystery with seamless period detail integrated with a tough female character. I loved it!4th in Silver Rush MysteriesMain Characters: Inez Stannert, part owner of Silver Queen SaloonSetting: 1880s, Manitou Springs, ColoradoObtained Through: Library
    • 5/5
      I do so enjoy my time spent with Inez and her adventures in Leadville, CO. This book is actually set a little south of Leadville in Manitou which is at the foot of Pikes Peak. She is there to see her son, William, who is visiting with Inez's sister Harmony and her husband Jonathan. During the stagecoach ride from Leadville to Manitou another passenger dies, apparently from a heart attack but Inez is puzzled that he died so quickly after drinking one of the tonics or "nostrums" that are mixed by the local doctor and given to those suffering from weak lungs and consumption, better known today as tuberculosis. This particular tonic was intended for the dead man's wife and Inez is immediately suspicious that the wife was the intended victim. Thus, she is on the hunt for what is rotten in the Mountain Springs House.

      While trying to re-establish a relationship with her almost 2-year-old son, deal with the "risen from the dead" husband, and the cast of characters surrounding the Hotel keeps Inez busy and also in danger.

      There is a lot of marvelous history in all of Ann Parker's books but this one has a wealth of information on the early days of medicine and the hunt for cures to diseases like consumption.

      I can't wait for the next in the series.
    • 4/5
      First Line: Inez Stannert had nowhere to run.It's the summer of 1880, and many people diagnosed with consumption (tuberculosis), are arriving at Manitou, Colorado, to chase the elusive cure. Inez Stannert isn't one of them. Part-owner of the Silver Queen Saloon in Leadville, she's traveling to Manitou to reunite with her young son and her beloved sister.The journey by stagecoach is far from pleasant, and it turns lethal when businessman Edward Pace dies in front of the others inside the coach. Once they've arrived in the hotel, Pace's distraught widow asks Inez to look into her husband's death. Since something about it didn't seem right to Inez, she agrees. She's barely begun when she starts to uncover all sorts of shady business deals involving those hoping to profit from miracle cures to the desperate and the dying. Although she'd rather do without it, Inez realizes that she's going to need the help of a man just recently returned from an eighteen-month unexplained absence-- her own husband.I've been a fan of Ann Parker's "Silver Rush" mysteries since the very first one, Silver Lies. I love the mining towns of the Old West, so Leadville, Colorado, is a perfect setting for an historical mystery series. Parker can put so much detail in her books, and it never comes across as a history lesson, or as preaching. In fact, Mercury's Rise may make a few readers cringe due to the characters' attitudes and behaviors towards those ill with tuberculosis, but Parker knows not to infect her nineteenth-century characters with twenty-first-century knowledge.Although the plot is an involving one that kept me guessing, and I loved the Old West setting, Ann Parker's characters are what keep me reading and keep me coming back for each new book. Inez Stannert is a strong, independent woman who isn't always right and who doesn't always make the right decisions. Like most humans, she does the best she can with what she's got. She has a husband to deal with whom she believed was dead. She has a young son who's been raised by her sister and doesn't recognize her. And she has infuriating, interfering family members from back East who want to dictate her life for her.There's a lot of meat on the bones of a Silver Rush mystery by Ann Parker. I intend to savor each bite, and I hope you'll join me at the feast.