Gold Web

January 1, 2014

Once again, irrepressible dance-hall owner Fiona MacGillivray must help solve a murder when a mysterious man dies at her feet. The rollicking historical series set during the 1898 Yukon Gold Rush is up to number four (after Gold Mountain). Value-adds: bibliography, author's notes.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2013
Delany takes readers to Dawson City, Yukon, in 1898. The gold rush is in full swing, and the town is home to a colorful collection of prospectors, madams, saloon keepers, and the Mountie squad that tries to keep order. Fiona MacGillivray, hard-working proprietor of a dance hall and single parent to 12-year-old Angus, is trying to lead a respectable life. Then a man collapses at her feet in the alley outside her saloon. She stops to help him and hears his last words, Macgillivray, Culloden. She has no idea why he has linked her name with that of a battle that took place in eighteenth-century Scotland. Meanwhile, a photographer, Eleanor Jennings, has arrived from Chicago, a Russian count with a love of gambling is hanging around the saloon, and a magician appearing in Fiona's variety show may be up to something unsavory. There's a lot going on, to be sure, but Delany stitches it all together skillfully, delivering a satisfying historical mystery filled with action and humor and starring a strong female protagonist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)