THE SILVER SHOOTER

Pinkerton agents who specialize in the paranormal have a rousing adventure in the Wild West of the 1880s.

Rose Gallagher has been transformed from a poor Irish maid to a valued Pinkerton agent. She and her former employer, society dandy Thomas Wiltshire, are used to the mean streets of New York. When Theodore Roosevelt hires them to travel to the Dakota Territory to investigate some outré occurrences, they feel out of their depth. Tempers are running high near Roosevelt’s ranch, where a brutal winter that killed thousands of cattle has been followed by the slaughter of animals and people by what is described as a monster. A miner has vanished, and many are searching for the fortune in gold he reportedly left hidden. The ranchers blame the Indians, who in turn accuse the ranchers of stealing their horses. Arriving in Medora posing as photographers, Rose and Thomas find a dying town and a coterie of crude and dangerous men. Outfitted with new horses, weapons, and trousers for Rose, they settle in to investigate. Rose, Thomas, Roosevelt, and many of their friends are “lucky”—that is, they all have some sort of paranormal ability. Rose can see spirits, but when the ghost of the dead miner appears to her, she’s terrified. She must deal with both otherworldly dangers and her mutual real-world attraction to Thomas that the superbly characterized pair constantly push aside, knowing it would ruin them both in New York society.

Based on historical characters and filled with high adventure, romance, and scares, Rose’s newest adventure is a winner.