In 1851, Monterey, California, is a laid-back way station for gold speculators. Eliza Whipple feels the seaside vibe is just about heaven compared to her blustery Michigan hometown. Left on her own after her scoundrel husband is killed, Eliza has forged on by providing pleasure to sailors and local ranchers at Mrs. Parks' brothel. Mrs. Parks, who swears that "being a woman is dangerous business," pays well and screens her customers even better. For Eliza, danger feels remote until Monterey sex workers begin to disappear. Everyone in town knows local law enforcement isn't looking for the missing women. After Eliza and her gender-bending best friend, Jean, read Poe's "Murder in the Rue Morgue," their curiosity is sparked, and they decide to deploy Auguste Dupin's detecting techniques to investigate the disappearances. Sleuthing proves harder off the page, however, and Eliza's newfound suspicions about the men she encounters may not be enough to keep her safe from Monterey's stalker. Pulitzer-winning Smiley's evocative sense of place and nuanced exploration of women's roles in nineteenth-century American life nicely complement the portrait of Eliza and her determined effort to forge her own path. Eliza and Jean's Poe-influenced crusade to restore importance to disappeared women makes a deliciously ironic story-driver. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Amy Stewart's Kopp Sisters mysteries.

Applying methods gleaned from a Poe story, a pair of 19th-century working girls put their heads together to fight a crime spree. This strange little book from Pulitzer Prize winner Smiley combines a lurid plot involving the serial strangulation and stabbing of prostitutes in Monterey, California, in the early 1850s with a naïve, plainspoken style of narration and characterization that makes even scenes of copulation and gore seem sort of G-rated. This reflects the personality of the protagonist, Eliza Ripple, who is the proverbial whore with the heart of a Midwestern elementary school teacher. Married off by her parents at a tender age to a nasty older man who drags her from Kalamazoo to California and then gets shot in a bar fight, she winds up on her own, working at the brothel of kindly Mrs. Parks. As her new boss explains it, "Everyone knows that this is a dangerous business, but, between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Eager for companionship, she finds a friend in a cross-dressing colleague named Jean McPherson, who's employed at an establishment serving the women of the town, a possibly ahistorical narrative flourish which adds to the dreamlike quality of the narrative. As women continue to disappear, as corpses turn up in the countryside outside town, and as local law enforcement remains steadfast in its lack of interest, Eliza and Jean decide to emulate the methods of detective Dupin in a Poe story they've both enjoyed: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Eliza begins to observe and analyze her clients' behavior and the contents of their pockets and the various characters she runs into around town, with a focus on finding the murderer. Like their creator, Eliza and Jean have a love for horses, and the agreeability of their various rides into the countryside somehow makes a bigger impression than the gruesome finds they turn up. An oddly pleasant little trot through Gold Rush--era California. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The Pulitzer Prize--winning Smiley goes for history and mystery in an 1850s Monterey, CA--set tale featuring Eliza Ripple, who's been working as a prostitute since her husband's death in a bar fight. When young women are found murdered in and around town, Eliza decides to emulate Edgar Allan Poe's detective Dupin and pulls friend Jean into a hunt for the killer. As their madam says, "Being a woman is a dangerous business."

Pulitzer Prize winner Smiley (Perestroika in Paris) spins a remarkable story of the California gold rush and a pair of sex worker sleuths who track down the culprit behind a series of disappearances. After 21-year-old Eliza Cargill Ripple's husband is killed in a bar brawl, she goes to work in the efficiently run and well-guarded brothel of beneficent madam Mrs. Parks. It's Mrs. Parks who says the "risky business" of prostitution is a "dangerous" one, but so is, for these characters, simply being a woman. Eliza's customers are a mix of the young and old, wandering sailors, adulterous husbands, judges, and lawyers. One day, Eliza establishes what she terms her life's " first true friendship" with Jean MacPherson, a colleague who services "reticent" women and often dresses as a man. Most of the characters are transplants from back east who've landed in town with new names and new identities, and when several of them--all women--disappear, Eliza and Jean become a formidable duo of amateur sleuths whose deductive skills were gained by reading Edgar Allan Poe (especially "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"). Harnessing's Poe's character Dupin's "train of logic," the women suss out the most likely culprit and hatch a cleverly devised trap. The vivid historical details and vibrant characters bring Smiley's setting to glorious life. This seductive entertainment is not to be missed. (Dec.)