Most mornings I wake up with the sound of all those church bells ringing in my ears and wonder where the heck I am. This sure isn’t Leadville, Colorado, where I’d’ve been waking up to the sound of ore carts rattling down from the silver mines and with the stink of the back alleys of State Street in my nose.
Then, I remember. This is San Francisco, 1881. And I, Antonia Gizzi, am the 12-year-old ward of Mrs. Inez Stannert, who pulled me off the Leadville streets—which really weren’t that bad. Back then, I dressed like a boy, was a newsie, and made plenty of pocket change selling newspapers. But Mrs. S, as I call her, helped me out of a tight spot and took me “under her wing,” as she likes to say. And being that she’s the one person in all the world I trust, that’s mostly all right by me.
After leaving Leadville, we came to San Francisco and now live above the D & S House of Music and Curiosities, which is plum surrounded by churches that have their bells going day and night. Mrs. S manages the store and hopes someday she can partner in the business with the owner, Mr. Donato. He’s a famous violinist here, but also kind of prissy-proper, so I need to mind my Ps and Qs. Our lives here are sure different from when Mrs. S was running Leadville’s Silver Queen Saloon and played high-stakes poker with all the silver barons and high muck-a-mucks. She’s gone all out on manners now, and I’m supposed to do the same.
Plus I have to go to school.
Blah.
It wasn’t always this way. I liked school way back when my maman and me lived in Denver, back when she was still alive. But here in San Francisco, it’s different. The school said my penmanship was “atrocious” and put me in a class with the younger kids. My teacher says my memorization is “below par” too, but that’s only because the Swinton’s Reader is so boring. I don’t want to go to school. The kids are hoity-toities. The teachers all high-and-mighty. The school is stodgified and I’m not learning nothing. . . I mean, anything.
I could learn my numbers and letters fine helping Mrs. S in the music store, but she said no dice to that. And she wasn’t very happy when she heard that I cut a boy who was a no-good hooligan and tried to bully me after class. I think she was surprised to hear that I carry my maman’s knife around with me here in San Francisco. But then, she doesn’t know that on my way home from school I sometimes like to go through Chinatown and even wander through the Barbary Coast. The Barbary Coast kind of reminds me of Leadville’s State Street with all the saloons, theaters, dancehalls and whorehouses—’Scuse me, Mrs. S says I shouldn’t use such language now that we live here in San Francisco. She says that we need to make a good impression, always, if we are going to make a new life here.
But something’s happened, and I think our “new life” is about to change. You see, one of the musicians who hangs around the store was just murdered. And now, someone Mrs. S used to know in Leadville showed up out of nowhere and is saying if she doesn’t help him, he’ll spill the beans about her “past associations” in Leadville.
Yes sirree. Things are finally starting to heat up in San Francisco!
You can read more about Antonia in A Dying Note, the sixth book in the “Silver Rush” mystery series. The first book in the series is Silver Lies.
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.
Purchase Link
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Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a print copy of A Dying Note. U.S. and Canadian entries only, please. The giveaway ends April 18, 2018. Good luck everyone!
About the author
During the day, author Ann wrangles words for a living as a science editor/writer, while her midnight hours are devoted to scribbling fiction. She pens the award-winning Silver Rush historical mystery series, featuring saloon-owner Inez Stannert and set primarily in 1880s Colorado.
Ann’s newest book, A Dying Note, was released this month. This sixth in the series brings Inez and her ward, Antonia Gizzi, to 1881 San Francisco. For more about Ann and her novels, check out her website annparker.net. You can also sign up for her very occasional newsletter.
All comments are welcomed.
Would love to win this book! It sounds good!
Thank you for your enthusiasm, Linda! I just wish I could give a copy to everyone who drops by… 🙂
This sounds great! I enjoy historical mysteries. Thank you for the chance to win!
Hello Jeanie! I love rattling around in the era of the “Old West,” and Colorado’s silver rush is what propelled me into writing this series. 🙂
Hello Jeanie,
Thank you for stopping by, reading, and commenting. 🙂 Antonia is a recent addition to the series, and it was fun letting her speak.
Whoops! It looks like I responded to your comment twice, Jeanie…. I think I need more coffee… :-}
I’d like to win a copy of this book. It sounds good.
I’m glad this snippet has piqued your interest, Cheryl. Antonia is a relative newcomer to the series; it was fun to give her more of a voice in this newest book of the series.
Hi Cheryl,
Glad that A Dying Note appeals to you! I hope you get a chance to read it…
This book sounds very interesting. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity! With Warm Aloha!
Hello Rickie,
Thanks for your kind words and for stopping by and commenting! 🙂
A Dying Note is a novel which is fascinating and interests me greatly. this series is a historical masterpiece. I have visited Leadville which is authentic and wonderful. Thanks.
Hello Anne,
Ah, you’ve been to “the city in the clouds!” It’s a very special place, yes? It sounds as if you’ve read some of the other books in the series… thank you for your kind words!
This is a new series for me
Hello Sandy,
If you like starting at the beginning of a series, the first book is “Silver Lies.” All the books stand alone, though, so if you start with one of the later stories it should hold up on its own. 🙂
I love the setting for this book. It sounds like an amazing story, one that I would enjoy reading.
Hello Anita,
San Francisco was at an interesting crossroads in this timeframe… after the Gold Rush, before the big earthquake in 1906, still rough around the edges but definitely part of the Gilded Age, and peopled by folks from all corners of the globe.
This sounds like a pretty interesting story, thank you for the chance to win a copy of this book.
wfnren at aol dot com
Hi Wendy,
I’m glad this snippet tickled your fancy! Thank you for reading and leaving a comment.
My goodness. This sounds tantalizing.
Ooops I forgot to add
libbydodd at comcast dot net
I’m glad it appeals to you, Libby. 🙂
I love historical mysteries. The gold rush/silver rush has always been an interesting time period to me. Thanks for your review of this book.
Hello Robin,
I’m glad this snippet intrigues you, Robin. I also am fascinated by “boom” eras, whether gold, silver, dot-com… well, you get the picture! 🙂
Another new to me series & author to read. I would love to win this.
Hello Doward,
I hope you get the opportunity to explore the series. The first book (if you like starting at the beginning, although each book also stands alone) is titled “Silver Lies.”
A great sounding historical mystery. I think i would really enjoy this title/series
Hello Johnna,
Thank you for reading and commenting! I hope, if you get a chance to read this or any of the other books in the Silver Rush series, that you find them as much fun to read as they were for me to write….
I would love to read this book since I grew up in Colorado and am very familiar with the town of Leadville. I have been in the silver Queen too.
It still looks like an old west town. Not much has changed.
Hello Joye,
That’s wonderful that you grew up in Colorado! I visited a lot as a child, going back for family visits (my grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousin, etc.). I can’t live there, so I just had to write about it.
And I love how Leadville has managed to hang onto its history. What an amazing town it is…
I will miss the Leadville, Colorado location but the new early days of San Francisco certainly sound as if it will be an exciting new direction.
Hello Pat!
A new direction, yes, but Leadville isn’t *entirely* in my rearview mirror. 🙂 I love the place so much, I’ll have to return at some point. I have some ideas for future stories set there, and I can always go back for a prequel. That could be fun. So, San Francisco, Leadville, and who knows where else?? We’ll see!
I have read all the past 5 Silver Rush mystery books. I have not read this one. It’s a great series. Would love to win this book. A different setting. That’s a good idea. I did like it in Leadville. I’m sure Inez will go back.
Hi Linda!
Leaving Leadville was a challenge, and an adventure. And you are right… I do have plans to bring Inez back to Leadville, at some point.
… And thank you for your kind words! Glad you’ve enjoyed the series so far. 🙂
Sounds like a winner.
Hi Karen!
I can only hope so. 🙂 Thanks for your kind comment and for dropping by…
I love historical mysteries. I like the Leadville, Colorado and San Francisco setting of the book. Two really different cities, would like to read about life there in the 1880’s.
Hi Dianne!
Leadville and San Francisco were different cities, for certain, in so many ways. It’s been fun to write about them both. I found plenty of skullduggery in both places to draw from for fiction inspiration!
Ann, I certainly enjoyed meeting Antonia in “What Gold Buys,” and now that she’s in San Francisco with Inez, “A Dying Note” sounds most intriguing. I’ve read all of your Silver Rush Mysteries and I can’t wait to read this latest. Nonetheless, it’s nice to see Inez having met her “match” in the form of a little person.
Hi Alice!
Yep, Antonia just “walked in” as a secondary character, and now it looks like she’s here to stay. 🙂 She is definitely a match for Inez, which makes it a lot of fun to write their scenes together.
Ann, I love that Antonia just walked on stage! Good to know she’ll be around for a while. Can’t wait to read your next story! But, alas, your prose is so pleasant to read that I finish your books way too soon 🙂
Awww, thank you, Alice! I wish I could write faster! :-} Maybe if I actually ever manage to “retire” …?
It’s fun when characters just wander in and decide to “set a spell.” I’m hoping Antonia will be part of the Silver Rush for a good long time. She’s young, so maybe so!
This looks terrific, love historicals, especially those set in San Francisco. Thanks for alerting us to this new release, Dru.
Hi Mary!
Hope you get a chance to check it out… The first five books in the series are set in Leadville, Colorado, so it was a big switch to bring them all the way west to San Francisco. Lots of fun research!
A great location for a great sounding new series.
It will make interesting reading.
Hi Polly!
I hope you have a chance to check it out. It was quite the adventure, moving my characters from Leadville to San Francisco!
Love that the series has come to San Francisco. You can feel what the city was like when my family came to SF from the gold rus town of Jackson, CA
Hi Robin!
Wow… your family came to California during the Gold Rush? Fascinating! I hope some family stories have survived from that time. What a treasure they would be!
I’ve got to say I’m dying to read the new book. Yay.
Hi Carol!
I hope you enjoy it. It was sure strange to leave Leadville behind (although I couldn’t leave it *entirely* out of the story… 🙂 ).
Your character voice is spot-on. Always enjoy the fruits of your fertile mind.
Hi Anne!
Thank you!
It’s fun when the characters “speak through” you… When that happens, you know that you’ve entered the “writing zone.” 😉
Thanks for stopping by!
Love to win this book
Looks Really Great
Thanks for sharing it with us
Shared on Twitter https://twitter.com/LindaMoffitt02/status/986456238803300353
Hello Linda,
Glad you enjoyed the snippet. It’s always fun to write in Antonia’s voice! And thank you for the tweet!
**** WINNER ****
A Dying Note is Linda Farabaugh
Congratulations!
Congratulations, Linda! A copy of A Dying Note will be on its way to you shortly.
And thank you, Dru, for letting Antonia “have her say,” and to everyone who dropped by and commented. 🙂 I hope you are intrigued enough to look up a copy of one of my Silver Rush mysteries and give it a try!