Today’s #TalkTuesday interview is also our #TeaserTuesday and First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, all of which feature A Dying Note by Ann Parker . A joint effort by Elise and I! Enjoy!
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Interview
A Dying Note by Ann Parker brings to life San Francisco during the late 1800s. As a co-owner of the Silver Queen Saloon the main character, Inez Stannert, had a stake in an upscale brothel. This sixth book of the series has a change of venue from Leadville Colorado to San Francisco California. Besides the change of setting there is a change of professions for Inez and her ward, Antonia Gizzi.
Inez is content to settle into her new life until the body of a musician washes ashore upon the banks of San Francisco’s Mission Creek Bay. She recognizes the victim, someone who came to her for piano lessons. As Inez begins her investigation, she is confronted by her shady past in the form of Leadville silver baron Harry Gallagher. He gives her one-week to discover the murderer, or he will expose her past associations and threatens to ruin her socially/financially. Time grows short as Inez uncovers long-hidden secrets and unsettled scores that affect lives and reputations.
Elise Cooper: Why San Francisco?
Ann Parker: I live in the Bay area. This is a new setting for me because the past five books were placed in Leadville Colorado. Also, it was a hot bed for labor activity with the Waterfront and printer organizations. This allowed me to write in about a possible musicians’ labor union. I think at some level I was going to have her leave, as Inez says that Leadville was just a stop along the way and that she and her ward were supposed to go to San Francisco.
EC: During your research what did you find out?
AP: I was surprised at how little information there was about the subject of the world of the professional musician in San Francisco in the 1870s and 1880s. I was also surprised that professional musicians in San Francisco had yet to form a successful union, unlike their East Coast counterparts. The other thing I found intriguing was that women were running small businesses in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
EC: Do you like westerns?
AP: When I was a kid growing up in the sixties I watched on TV, “Have Gun Will Travel,” “Wagon Train,” and other westerns. As a teenager there were Clint Eastwood movies where the protagonist did not wear a black or white hat, but more of a grey one. Now there seems to be a resurgence, which makes it nice.
EC: Why did you decide to write westerns?
AP: I spoke with and learned from Women Writing The West. I decided to set something in the historical West with strong women protagonists. I came up with the setting of Colorado because I love the area so much.
EC: How would you describe Inez?
AP: She is a woman with a mysterious past, a complicated present, and an uncertain future. I based her name on my paternal grandmother’s maiden name. My family actually thought she would have got a kick out of it. What the fictional and real women had in common is a will of iron, strong women. They powered through from their difficulties. She was a woman of her times.
EC: In what way?
AP: Women who came to the West made a life for themselves. They tended to be pretty strong willed emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
EC: Was it harder or easier to solve a crime without forensics?
AP: It makes it easier. I am so glad I don’t have to deal with cellphones or blood splatter. The story uses old-fashioned detective work where they must read people, look for clues, and does not have any cutting edge science. I went back during that time frame and found what was available then, what could be done, and were there any forward thinking ideas on the horizon.
EC: Can you give a heads up about your next book?
AP: It will be a continuation of this book with Inez still in San Francisco and still running the music store. I also want to let readers know that Inez has not necessarily left Leadville Colorado forever. I do have plans for a future book in which she returns for at least a vacation.
THANK YOU!!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A Dying Note (Silver Rush #6)
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 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.
Teaser Tuesday
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros
I’m also taking part in First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros
Every Tuesday Vicki @ I’d Rather Be at the Beach now hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where readers share the first paragraph of a book that they are reading or plan to read soon.
A Dying Note (Silver Rush #6)
Looking forward to visiting your blogs and seeing what your Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, are this week!
Luv Sassy x
x
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I think I’d pass on this book.
I like the choppy, poetic style of the opening page, but I don’t think it is my kind of book.
Not sure about this one. I like the setting, though, and hope you enjoy it.
I don’t read many historical novels, but I would love one set in SF. Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.
Sounds interesting. I do like historical fiction. This week I have a book from deep in TBR mountain – Foolproof by Barbara D’Amato et al.. Happy reading!