The Pearl of Ruby City: A Mystery

Really enjoyed the flavor of this book. You find yourself in a muddy tent city much like Lonesome Dove, the television series, which was surprisingly good and of course didn't last long. The mystery is interesting, although if one reads a lot of mysteries the who done it is pretty easy to figure. Anyway, this is still a good read because the author really does put the reader in this time period. Ms. Harris obviously did a lot of research. Hope we see all the characters again. (especially Chin and Mary)

In 1893, Pearl Ryan flees her New York past to take up residence in the gritty new mining town of Ruby City, Washington. Pearl earns her keep and hopefully extra cash for medical school by doing laundry and assisting the local doctor. Pearl has an ambition to become a doctor. However, she simply tells everyone in town that she aspires to be a nurse because she knows that most people will scoff at the idea of women becoming a doctor. However, Pearl's idyll new life is abruptly disturbed when she realizes that Mayor McDonald has been murdered via poisoning. To Pearl even odder is that the doctor's diagnosis is death from typhoid fever. Other strange deaths follow. Fearing an official inquiry could expose her own secrets; Pearl begins to secretly investigate the sudden rash of deaths inflicting the small silver mining community. THE PEARL OF RUBY CITY is a gem of a historical mystery starring several intriguing secondary characters and a wonderful but enigmatic heroine. The story line is exciting and extremely well written. Fans of historical amateur sleuth tales need to devour Jana Harris' debut novel as the author scribes a novel rarely seen in a first book. Hopefully, more Ryan novels will follow.Harriet Klausner