Oh boy, we’ve got a good one. Don’t  you love a mystery where something is hidden in the wall? What could it be? A letter? Money? A BODY? I love those house flipper shows where they find a document or an old shoe in the wall. Sometimes you should take things out and sometimes, it’s best to leave them there! Be sure to read my interview with Ann as she tells the fascinating inspiration for this story.  Don’t forget to scroll down and enter the giveaway!

About The Secret In The Wall

The Secret in the Wall: A Novel (Silver Rush Mysteries)
Historical Mystery
8th in Series
Poisoned Pen Press (February 15, 2022)

Sometimes you can’t keep your gown out of the gutter…

Inez Stannert has reinvented herself—again. Fleeing the comfort and wealth of her East Coast upbringing, she became a saloon owner and card sharp in the rough silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, always favoring the unconventional path—a difficult road for a woman in the late 1800s.

Then the teenaged daughter of a local prostitute is orphaned by her mother’s murder, and Inez steps up to raise the troubled girl as her own. Inez works hard to keep a respectable, loving home for Antonia, carefully crafting their new life in San Francisco. But risk is a seductive friend, difficult to resist. When a skeleton tumbles from the wall of her latest business investment, the police only seem interested in the bag of Civil War-era gold coins that fell out with it. With her trusty derringer tucked in the folds of her gown, Inez uses her street smarts and sheer will to unearth a secret that someone has already killed to keep buried. The more she digs, the muddier and more dangerous things become.

She enlists the help of Walter de Brujin, a local private investigator with whom she shares some history. Though she wants to trust him, she fears that his knowledge of her past, along with her growing attraction to him, may well blow her veneer of respectability to bits—that is, if her dogged pursuit of the truth doesn’t kill her first . . .

A Few Words with Ann Parker, Author of A Secret in the Wall

How did you come with an idea for your book?

The initial inspiration for The Secret in the Wall came from a newspaper article I read back in 2017, about the unearthing of an elaborate, Victorian-era casket beneath a San Francisco home. The well-preserved body of a little girl was visible through the glass upper portion of the airtight glass-and-bronze casket. She had long, blonde hair, was wearing a white christening dress, and was holding a flower in her hand. No one knew who she was, or how she came to be lying under this house in San Francisco’s Richmond district. The mystery was eventually solved (if you’re curious, you can read about it here https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/09/mystery-solved-19th-century-girl-in-casket-found-under-san-francisco-house-identified/ ). This situation piqued my imagination, and in late 2019 morphed into the idea of my 19th-century protagonist uncovering a desiccated body in the wall of house. The questions become: Who is he? When did he die? Why? And why is he in the wall to begin with? And the fact that he’s discovered with a bag of gold coins just “ups the ante,” so to speak.

What scene do you hope your readers enjoy the most?

I rather hope the readers enjoy the scene where the body falls out of the wall, much to the observers’ shock and surprise, and the final confrontation scene at the end of the story when “all is revealed.” (Of course, I hope readers enjoy the scene in between these two as well…)

What other things have you written or what projects might we see in the future?

This is the eighth book in the Silver Rush series, so if someone reads The Secret in the Wall and is curious to find out more about my protagonist and her earlier adventures in San Francisco and, before then, in the silver-rush boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, I hope they will take a look at them. I have also written a few short crime-fiction stories. The newest will be in Low Down Dirty Vote #3

 If you could write any other genre what would that be?

I’m pretty happy writing historical mysteries, as they combine two genres I truly enjoy reading: historical fiction and crime fiction. Other period I think would be fun to explore are the Roaring ’20s (the 1920s, that is!), and the Cold War era. As for completely different genres, I’ve often thought it would be fun to give steampunk a try. I imagine that, if I did, it would inevitably end up as a crime fiction novel, though!

Is there a giveaway or promotion with this book?

Yes. See the Rafflecopter Giveaway below.

Where can readers leave reviews of your book?

Anywhere they’d like! Here are a few possibilities:

· Goodreads

· LibraryThing

· Amazon

· Barnes & Noble 

About Ann Parker

Ann Parker is a science writer by day and fiction writer by night. Her award-winning Silver Rush Mysteries series, published by Poisoned Pen Press, a Sourcebooks imprint, is set primarily in 1880s Leadville, Colorado, and more recently in San Francisco, California, the “Paris of the West.” The series was named a Booksellers Favorite by the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association, and Ann is listed in the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame. The Secret in the Wall is the eighth and newest entry in the series.

Author Links

Website: https://annparker.net/

Blog: https://silverrushmysteries.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnParkerAuthor/

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2297.Ann_Parker

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/annparkerauthor/

Purchase Links – Amazon – IndieBound – Barnes & Noble – Books-A-Million – Nook – Kobo –

Visit Towne Center Books Website for Signed/Personalized copies

a Rafflecopter giveaway