Happy Wednesday, suspense readers. Mary Ellis here. Today Suspense Sisters welcomes back Donna Schlachter who has a brand new historical mystery, Double Jeopardy. I asked Donna to tell us about the history behind her story:
When most people think about opening up the Wild West, they picture cowboys, wagon trains, and, of course, the gold rush. And all of those would be true and very important to the reasons why folks left the relative comforts of the East—that being everything east of the Mississippi—to head into the Great Unknown. Some were adventurers, like Becky’s father, who simply couldn’t let a horizon stay in front of him but wanted to see beyond every mountain and every body of water separating him from “over there.”
The Colorado Gold Rush started in 1858 and lasted until around 1861, bringing thousands of miners, and just as many ancillary workers such as drovers, liverymen, blacksmiths, prostitutes, saloon keepers, and swindlers. However, apart from a few areas such as Cripple Creek, which saw its biggest mining deep into the 1890s, most of the gold petered out as quick as it was found. An interesting tidbit is that silver was discovered because so many were looking for gold. Exactly twenty years after gold was first discovered, silver was found in the area of Leadville and covering a three-hundred-mile swath from the San Juan Mountains to the Foothills west of Denver.
Here's a little about Double Jeopardy: Mining, murder—and a mock marriage? New York City socialite Becky Campbell inherited more than a speck of her father’s wanderlust. Now his murder bequeaths her a mystery, a ramshackle homestead, and a silver mine. Zeke Graumann signs on as Becky’s foreman to keep his portion of his family’s ranch. He shares the workers’ reservations about a woman boss, especially one who burns water and prances around in dungarees. Even though she did look awful good in the dungarees. Then a series of accidents add threat to tension. Can Becky trust Zeke, find her father’s killer, and turn her mine into a profitable venture? Will Zeke be forced to give up his ranching dream to win Becky’s heart?
Double Jeopardy is available at https://shoplpc.com/double-jeopardy/ Amazon.com, and fine booksellers in your area.
Donna Schlachter lives in Denver with husband Patrick. As a hybrid author, she writes historical mystery under her own name, and cozy mystery under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been
published more than 30 times in novellas and full-length novels. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, Sisters In Crime, and Christian Authors Network; facilitates a critique group; and teaches writing classes online and in person. Donna also ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Donna is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.
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Leave Donna a comment for a chance to win a signed print copy of Double Jeopardy. US readers only. Drawing in one week.