Leaden Skies

In the summer of 1880, the siren song of a lucky silver find in the mining boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, isn't the only thing that leads folks into temptation. Although possible investment in Leadville's silver mines is a main reason that former president and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant is now touring this city at the top of the Rockies, others in his retinue and in town are enticed by other visions. Political aspirations fuel the dreams of young John Quincy Adams Wesley and his mother, while itinerant fire insurance mapmaker Cecil Farnesworth struggles against the seductive call of State Street, Leadville's red-light district.

As part owner of the Silver Queen Saloon, Inez Stannert has often observed the ruination that comes from yielding to temptation. Still, that knowledge hasn't stopped Inez from taking Reverend Justice Sands as her lover, in the absence of news of her missing husband. Nor does it stop her from striking a backroom deal with upscale brothel madam Frisco Flo, a deal that Inez gambles will make her financially independent.

But when the body of Lizzie, one of Flo's women, is discovered and Inez learns that Flo has another silent business partner, whose identity she will not divulge, Inez begins to have second thoughts. Inez, in a race against time to untangle the dealings of the high and the low during Grant's visit, must also face her own demons from the past, even as she fights to save her reputation and her life.


Genre: Historical Mystery