title: A Dangerous Business by: Smiley, Jane published: 2022-12-06 read: 2023-02 preview

A quick read, and a beautiful story.   That dangerous business is, being a woman. Eliza and her husband, 20 years her senior, go west for the gold rush. The year is 1851, and Eliza at 18 does not have an easy time countering her husband’s cruel behaviour towards her:

He had made it clear that he intended to put it to her, whether she liked it or not, once or twice every day.

Eliza is not sorry when her husband dies. Indeed, when he’s shot in a bar fight in Monterey, it’s quite a relief. But how will the young widow support herself? Fortunate, then, that one Mrs. Parks offers her to work in a brothel. The place is spacious, with a nice veranda, “and the first fellow who came to her treated her much more kindly than Peter ever had”.

Eliza is portrayed as naive, smart, extremely straightforward and calculative.  Non-emotional up to silliness, I would argue.  Which makes her a very attractive hero. 

She enjoys being a prostitute, it being a good way to keep her safe and with enough money to have an acceptable life. More freedom than the average woman in those days. The rest is some business which neither hurts nor pleasures her.  And with her friend Jane, who works in a Monterey brothel for women, she begins to solve a series of murders, in particular since many of the victims are former colleagues.

A very nice book.  Perhaps inconsequential.  I may be none the wiser afterwards.  But much recommended, if you are looking for some divertimento.