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A Dangerous Business
From the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author of A Thousand Acres: a mystery set in 1850s Gold Rush California, as two young prostitutes—best friends Eliza and Jean—follow a trail of missing girls.
Monterey, 1851. Ever since her husband was killed in a bar fight, Eliza Ripple has been working in a brothel. It seems like a better life, at least at first. The madam, Mrs. Parks, is kind, the men are (relatively) well behaved, and Eliza has attained what few women have: financial security. But when the dead bodies of young women start appearing outside of town, a darkness descends that she can’t resist confronting. Side by side with her friend Jean, and inspired by her reading, especially by Edgar Allan Poe’s detective Dupin, Eliza pieces together an array of clues to try to catch the killer, all the while juggling clients who begin to seem more and more suspicious.
Eliza and Jean are determined not just to survive, but to find their way in a lawless town on the fringes of the Wild West—a bewitching combination of beauty and danger—as what will become the Civil War looms on the horizon. As Mrs. Parks says, “Everyone knows that this is a dangerous business, but between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise …”
Monterey, 1851. Ever since her husband was killed in a bar fight, Eliza Ripple has been working in a brothel. It seems like a better life, at least at first. The madam, Mrs. Parks, is kind, the men are (relatively) well behaved, and Eliza has attained what few women have: financial security. But when the dead bodies of young women start appearing outside of town, a darkness descends that she can’t resist confronting. Side by side with her friend Jean, and inspired by her reading, especially by Edgar Allan Poe’s detective Dupin, Eliza pieces together an array of clues to try to catch the killer, all the while juggling clients who begin to seem more and more suspicious.
Eliza and Jean are determined not just to survive, but to find their way in a lawless town on the fringes of the Wild West—a bewitching combination of beauty and danger—as what will become the Civil War looms on the horizon. As Mrs. Parks says, “Everyone knows that this is a dangerous business, but between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise …”
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 6, 2022
949 people are currently reading
15310 people want to read
About the author
Jane Smiley
133 books2,707 followersJane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained a A.B. at Vassar College, then earned a M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. While working towards her doctorate, she also spent a year studying in Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar. From 1981 to 1996, she taught at Iowa State University. Smiley published her first novel, Barn Blind, in 1980, and won a 1985 O. Henry Award for her short story "Lily", which was published in The Atlantic Monthly. Her best-selling A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992. It was adapted into a film of the same title in 1997. In 1995 she wrote her sole television script produced, for an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Her novella The Age of Grief was made into the 2002 film The Secret Lives of Dentists.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel (2005), is a non-fiction meditation on the history and the nature of the novel, somewhat in the tradition of E. M. Forster's seminal Aspects of the Novel, that roams from eleventh century Japan's Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji to twenty-first century Americans chick lit.
In 2001, Smiley was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained a A.B. at Vassar College, then earned a M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. While working towards her doctorate, she also spent a year studying in Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar. From 1981 to 1996, she taught at Iowa State University. Smiley published her first novel, Barn Blind, in 1980, and won a 1985 O. Henry Award for her short story "Lily", which was published in The Atlantic Monthly. Her best-selling A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992. It was adapted into a film of the same title in 1997. In 1995 she wrote her sole television script produced, for an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Her novella The Age of Grief was made into the 2002 film The Secret Lives of Dentists.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel (2005), is a non-fiction meditation on the history and the nature of the novel, somewhat in the tradition of E. M. Forster's seminal Aspects of the Novel, that roams from eleventh century Japan's Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji to twenty-first century Americans chick lit.
In 2001, Smiley was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,335 reviews
January 4, 2023
A Thousand Acres has been on my TBR for about a thousand years, it seems, so when I had the opportunity to get an early copy of Smiley’s latest release I was all over it. I did actually read the premise too which is fairy unusual for me and the idea of a couple of gals doing some amateur sleuthing in regards to fellow “working girls” who had gone missing/were murdered set in olde timey Monterey sounded right up my alley. (I’m not a big historical fiction reader, but throw in some stabby and that’ll perk my interest.)
Unfortunately, despite our leading lady Eliza and her pal Jean being fangirls of Poe’s Detective Dupin, the mystery element here was severely lackluster and their ability to stumble upon dead bodies was almost laughable. Novellas tend to be hit or miss for me and this meander through 1851 left me with many details regarding weather, food (and so much “prick” talk from the brothel), but not enough actual story.
Things I enjoyed: Eliza’s dead husband (that’s what you get, sucka!), the “ladies only” house of ill repute ; ) and every single thing about Jean.
2.5 Stars
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, despite our leading lady Eliza and her pal Jean being fangirls of Poe’s Detective Dupin, the mystery element here was severely lackluster and their ability to stumble upon dead bodies was almost laughable. Novellas tend to be hit or miss for me and this meander through 1851 left me with many details regarding weather, food (and so much “prick” talk from the brothel), but not enough actual story.
Things I enjoyed: Eliza’s dead husband (that’s what you get, sucka!), the “ladies only” house of ill repute ; ) and every single thing about Jean.
2.5 Stars
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
December 4, 2022
Between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
from A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
Eliza Ripple’s husband died and it didn’t bother her a bit. He seemed nice enough back in Kalamazoo, before he took her across the country to Monterey and exerted complete control over her. Her parents pushed her into marriage with him; he presented himself as well off, and Eliza was in love with an Irish laborer. She was eighteen to his thirty-eight but Eliza’s parents sure didn’t want her marrying a penniless Irish Catholic.
Eliza’s husband forced her to have an abortion before he was shot in the saloon, so Eliza was left alone in a strange place and needed to support herself. Luckily, Mrs. Parker had a job for her. In her brothel.
Still, Eliza was better off there than she ever was with Peter, for Mrs. Parker had a maternal bent and ran a clean and safe house. Eliza was freer than she ever was at home with her Covenanter family or with her husband who locked her up.
Eliza made friends with Jean, who worked at a different kind of business, servicing lonely women who just wanted a moment of affection. They shared an interest in books, especially the thrilling, new stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Eliza studied the detective Dupin who used logic and observation to solve mysterious deaths.
Women were disappearing from town, The police didn’t seem to care. After Eliza and Jean discover a woman’s body they commit to seeking justice for these women, observing the men who came to town, following the trails, and noting clues.
When the first of “the girls” disappeared, no one thought a thing of it.
from A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
I sped through this novel in a day.
I loved how Smiley brought in the political and social history of a divisive time in America, split over slavery, Native Americans reduced to ghosts haunting the landscape. It was a time of religious extremism. Children left their homes in Michigan and New York and New England for new opportunities in the West. Eliza’s customers include sailors and men trying to build ranches and farms.
The dangers of being female were multiple. Men might get themselves killed in a saloon fight, or lose their life in hazardous jobs, but women had no political power, no power in their own homes, no power over their own bodies.
I also loved how the girls’ reading the literature of the time figures into the story.
It’s a fast reading, entertaining story, with a mystery at it’s center. It’s revealing historical fiction and a feminist statement. Eliza’s descriptions of all her customers may, on the surface, seem extraneous, yet Eliza meets all kinds of men and gains a deep understanding of human nature. At the end, we are sure she is going to thrive.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
from A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
Eliza Ripple’s husband died and it didn’t bother her a bit. He seemed nice enough back in Kalamazoo, before he took her across the country to Monterey and exerted complete control over her. Her parents pushed her into marriage with him; he presented himself as well off, and Eliza was in love with an Irish laborer. She was eighteen to his thirty-eight but Eliza’s parents sure didn’t want her marrying a penniless Irish Catholic.
Eliza’s husband forced her to have an abortion before he was shot in the saloon, so Eliza was left alone in a strange place and needed to support herself. Luckily, Mrs. Parker had a job for her. In her brothel.
Still, Eliza was better off there than she ever was with Peter, for Mrs. Parker had a maternal bent and ran a clean and safe house. Eliza was freer than she ever was at home with her Covenanter family or with her husband who locked her up.
Eliza made friends with Jean, who worked at a different kind of business, servicing lonely women who just wanted a moment of affection. They shared an interest in books, especially the thrilling, new stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Eliza studied the detective Dupin who used logic and observation to solve mysterious deaths.
Women were disappearing from town, The police didn’t seem to care. After Eliza and Jean discover a woman’s body they commit to seeking justice for these women, observing the men who came to town, following the trails, and noting clues.
When the first of “the girls” disappeared, no one thought a thing of it.
from A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
I sped through this novel in a day.
I loved how Smiley brought in the political and social history of a divisive time in America, split over slavery, Native Americans reduced to ghosts haunting the landscape. It was a time of religious extremism. Children left their homes in Michigan and New York and New England for new opportunities in the West. Eliza’s customers include sailors and men trying to build ranches and farms.
The dangers of being female were multiple. Men might get themselves killed in a saloon fight, or lose their life in hazardous jobs, but women had no political power, no power in their own homes, no power over their own bodies.
I also loved how the girls’ reading the literature of the time figures into the story.
It’s a fast reading, entertaining story, with a mystery at it’s center. It’s revealing historical fiction and a feminist statement. Eliza’s descriptions of all her customers may, on the surface, seem extraneous, yet Eliza meets all kinds of men and gains a deep understanding of human nature. At the end, we are sure she is going to thrive.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
December 6, 2022
Everyone knows this is a dangerous business, but, between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Oh, those men would talk about how they fight Indians and wrestle cattle and climb the masts and look for justice, and indeed they do, but they do it for themselves, if you ask me. And what they want of women, they want for themselves, too.
The best part of A Dangerous Business is the historical setting — 1851 Monterey — and Jane Smiley masterfully captures the landscape and the buildings and the weather; peopling the town with all sorts of interesting carpetbaggers and fortune-seekers. The weaker (and more dominant) part of the book is a rather uncompelling murder mystery, from the perspective of a naive (absolutely uneducated and unworldly) young woman who stumbles into sex work (which she finds acceptable and liberating) after the death of her awful husband. The tone — for a detective story set in the lawless West of saloons, ranchos, and brothels — is weirdly sedate, and the mystery itself didn’t satisfy me, but I can appreciate that Smiley was going for something beyond genre fiction here; it just didn’t add up to much for me. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
When the first of “the girls” disappeared, no one thought a thing of it. Folks disappeared from Monterey all the time, mostly because there was more going on in San Francisco, or even San Jose. Or people took their families and moved down the coast because they thought they would find better hunting there, or some land with more rain. If they were lucky, they came back, gave up on the idea of owning their own farms or ranches, and went to work the way everyone else worked. In fact, Eliza knew that her mother would say that she had disappeared, and that thought was a bit of a prickle to her conscience, but not enough to get her to answer those letters her mother had sent. She thought there was a lot to be said for disappearing, and so she didn’t think much of the disappearance of that girl, except to note the day, May 14, her very own birthday. Twenty-one now, and wasn’t that strange?
At 18, Eliza Ripple was married off to an older man by her Congregationalist parents (if only to prevent her from running off with the handsome Irish labourer she was making eyes at), and after carrying her off to California in search of his fortune (and spending the brief months of their marriage demanding much of her in both the kitchen and the bedroom), this Peter was shot in a barroom brawl and Eliza spent no time mourning his death. When a local Madam offered her employment, Eliza shrugged and set to work, and as she describes it here, it was not unpleasant to spent time with one or two men each evening, knowing that the customers were vetted in advance by Mrs Parks and that Carlos the bouncer sat on a chair outside her ajar door; these men were certainly nicer, cleaner, and less demanding than Peter had been and the money that Eliza earned afforded her perfect independence. In her free time, Eliza liked to stroll the streets of Monterey, and eventually, she made the acquaintance of another free-spirited sex worker, Jean: a cross-dressing lesbian who worked at an establishment that catered only to women (and that did kind of blow my mind: did such a place really exist in 1851 Monterey? At any rate, I appreciated the way that Eliza wasn’t shocked to learn of it; why wouldn’t an overworked housewife want a place to go for gentle comfort and release?) What started with Jean sharing and discussing books with Eliza (and in particular, the writings of Edgar Allen Poe) led to the two friends employing the detective skills described in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" when fellow sex workers start to go missing and the local Sheriff doesn’t seem to care.
That’s pretty much the set up, which was fine, but the execution didn’t do much for me. On the one hand, I essentially liked that the characters talked about books (if one doesn’t mind them giving away the endings to Poe’s stories), but on the other, it irked me that once Jean corrected Eliza’s French pronunciation of the detective’s name (Dupin is pronounced DuPANN not DuPINN), every time Eliza wonders what the detective would make of something the name she says or thinks is written “DuPANN”. Like, beyond irked every time I saw it. And so many threads just went nowhere: Jean can see ghosts, but they don’t affect anything; Eliza is obsessed by horses (always asking to see someone’s horse or peeking through a fence at horses or wondering whatever happened to a dead woman’s horses), but that doesn’t have any relevance to the plot; Eliza sometimes feels bad about losing contact with her parents, but it doesn’t ultimately matter; Eliza notes this man’s unusual appearance, had an unsettling experience at that man’s house, holds a suspicion that Mrs Parks knows more than she's letting on, and none of it matters or even rises to the level of a red herring — there are simply skeins of loose threads that don’t get tied up. And Eliza’s unworldliness (but eagerness to learn) was more annoying than charming to me: She has one of her seafaring customers explain to her what the equator is (and later makes a connection when another client is talking about degrees of latitude); she asks a gentleman if he believes there really will be a (Civil) war, and his answer (most certainly) isn’t very edifying (to her or to me); she agrees with her employer that women agitating for the vote are probably wasting their time — historical details felt tacked on instead of enriching. And when the climax to the mystery came, it was neither surprising or exciting.
Brutes! As soon as a man sees a rule, he strives to flout it, whether he sees it in the Bible or a constitution. That prohibition runs around in his head, and he can’t stop it. Then there he is, transgressing, and you ask him why, and he says that something was unfair or he was provoked, but what he really means is that he kept having thoughts, and then those had to turn into action, and he could not stop them.
The idea of a serial killer targeting sex workers in nineteenth century Monterey, while other sex workers try to find and stop the murderer, is an intriguing concept, and this last passage about men’s justification for brutality — whether a husband abusing his wife, a killer presumably “cleansing” the streets of immorality, or plantation owners enslaving others — captures the underlying philosophy of the book: life at the time was a dangerous business, and especially for women, but women working together could mitigate some of that danger. There’s an interesting morsel to chew over at the heart of that, so while I did find this an often quiet, sometimes irksome, read in the details, the overall experience wasn’t entirely without merit. Three noncommittal stars.
January 2, 2023
Skip it unless you want to read a lot about the prostitution business. I abandoned it pretty quickly. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
January 3, 2023
4 🕵🏻♀️🕵🏻♀️🕵🏻♀️🕵🏻♀️
One of my all time favorite books is A Thousand Acres and yet I had never read another Jane Smiley until now. This is a much lighter read.
In the 1850s gold rush era on the Monterey peninsula, a young naive widow turns to prostitution after her worthless husband’s violent death, forms a friendship with the very unique Jean, and the two begin to delve into the the murders of other working girls. Their story is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue and is laced with surprising independence, fem-power, and warmth.
I enjoyed this. The setting is my beloved central California coast, its early history, a different view of the times, exploring female friendship, and young women discovering their true self and the path they want to take in life.
One of my all time favorite books is A Thousand Acres and yet I had never read another Jane Smiley until now. This is a much lighter read.
In the 1850s gold rush era on the Monterey peninsula, a young naive widow turns to prostitution after her worthless husband’s violent death, forms a friendship with the very unique Jean, and the two begin to delve into the the murders of other working girls. Their story is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue and is laced with surprising independence, fem-power, and warmth.
I enjoyed this. The setting is my beloved central California coast, its early history, a different view of the times, exploring female friendship, and young women discovering their true self and the path they want to take in life.
January 27, 2023
"A Dangerous Business" refers both to being a woman in the 1850's and to the business of prostitution. The novel's protagonist, Eliza, is a 21 year old woman who works as a prostitute in Monterey, California, just before the Civil War. Her husband had been killed in a saloon fight and Eliza is on her own.
Soon after Eliza starts working in the brothel, a young woman (a prostitute) is found dead, after being murdered. Then, other bodies of young women begin to be discovered. Mrs. Parks, who runs the brothel, keeps an eye out for her employees. She screens their clients as best she can and also hires Carlos, who acts as a security guard.
Eliza forms a friendship with Jean, who works in a different brothel, servicing female clients. Jean is unusual for the times. Sometimes she dresses as a woman and sometimes she disguises herself as a man. As the authorities seem to be ignoring the murders of the women, Eliza and Jean work together to find the killer. That, in a nutshell, explains the plot.
The book read easily; I raced through it. What I liked best were the depictions of life in the Old West and the author's writing style. However, I thought that Smiley portrayed prostitution in a romanticized way. (Isn't there a trope of the madam in the Old West with a heart of gold?)
I enjoyed the book and thought of it as a cozy mystery. True murder mystery fans may be disappointed, as the story is sedate and lacks suspense.
3.8 stars
Soon after Eliza starts working in the brothel, a young woman (a prostitute) is found dead, after being murdered. Then, other bodies of young women begin to be discovered. Mrs. Parks, who runs the brothel, keeps an eye out for her employees. She screens their clients as best she can and also hires Carlos, who acts as a security guard.
Eliza forms a friendship with Jean, who works in a different brothel, servicing female clients. Jean is unusual for the times. Sometimes she dresses as a woman and sometimes she disguises herself as a man. As the authorities seem to be ignoring the murders of the women, Eliza and Jean work together to find the killer. That, in a nutshell, explains the plot.
The book read easily; I raced through it. What I liked best were the depictions of life in the Old West and the author's writing style. However, I thought that Smiley portrayed prostitution in a romanticized way. (Isn't there a trope of the madam in the Old West with a heart of gold?)
I enjoyed the book and thought of it as a cozy mystery. True murder mystery fans may be disappointed, as the story is sedate and lacks suspense.
3.8 stars
December 23, 2022
In A Dangerous Business, Jane Smiley has written an historical fiction set in Monterey California in the 1850s. The Gold Rush is still on in areas around Monterey and there is talk of national politics and the impact of slavery on the admission of new states.
But the immediate story is of Eliza Ripple, a young woman who moved to Monterey with her husband Peter, a man chosen by her parents who then decided to leave Michigan for California. He was an abusive husband who treated Eliza as his servant. When he was killed in a bar fight, Eliza’s first impulse was to feel freed. Shortly thereafter she realized she would never return to Michigan but would have to support herself. There were few choices in that place and time. After looking around the town, she approached Mrs. Parks at her brothel. The woman was friendly, she had a man to discourage drunks and violence, and the men were, for the most part, better than her husband had been.
The novel presents an interesting portrait of the port town and the variety of people traveling through or settling in the area. The clientele of the brothel also represent a cross section of the male population while the women of the town are largely at home, unseen, unless running an errand.
There is a mystery within the story, involving the deaths of several of the young women working at local brothels. There is a sheriff in town but he appears ineffective or unwilling to investigate. I found this aspect especially interesting in the ways it helped to define the woman that Eliza was becoming.
There is such ease in reading this book. Smiley writes so well. It appears without effort, the most difficult feat of all. I realize there are some books in the Smiley backlog that I need to read. Recommended as a good old fashioned yarn of the West and a view of a woman’s place in that very male society.
Thank you to Alfred A. Knopf and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.
But the immediate story is of Eliza Ripple, a young woman who moved to Monterey with her husband Peter, a man chosen by her parents who then decided to leave Michigan for California. He was an abusive husband who treated Eliza as his servant. When he was killed in a bar fight, Eliza’s first impulse was to feel freed. Shortly thereafter she realized she would never return to Michigan but would have to support herself. There were few choices in that place and time. After looking around the town, she approached Mrs. Parks at her brothel. The woman was friendly, she had a man to discourage drunks and violence, and the men were, for the most part, better than her husband had been.
The novel presents an interesting portrait of the port town and the variety of people traveling through or settling in the area. The clientele of the brothel also represent a cross section of the male population while the women of the town are largely at home, unseen, unless running an errand.
There is a mystery within the story, involving the deaths of several of the young women working at local brothels. There is a sheriff in town but he appears ineffective or unwilling to investigate. I found this aspect especially interesting in the ways it helped to define the woman that Eliza was becoming.
There is such ease in reading this book. Smiley writes so well. It appears without effort, the most difficult feat of all. I realize there are some books in the Smiley backlog that I need to read. Recommended as a good old fashioned yarn of the West and a view of a woman’s place in that very male society.
Thank you to Alfred A. Knopf and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.
January 28, 2023
this is bad. flat, tedious, & reads like the movie ground hog day. we are told of the minutia of eliza's life over & over again: her eating habits, her walks, her banter with her customers, how she removes her dress, chemise, & bonnet, how carlos raises an eyebrow indicating to leave her door ajar, the gold coins left behind by her customers. smiley also uses the word pleasant every other page or so: monterey is described as pleasant, a building is described as pleasant, a day is described as pleasant. everything is pleasant except for the dead girls. i did think it clever that eliza & jean were inspired by the work of Edgar Allen Poe to go about finding the murderer. so there was that.
December 27, 2022
I never do one star reviews, but this had the worst plotting, thinnest characters, unbelievable details (I’m sorry, but there were no lesbian brothels in 1850s Monterey, there just absolutely were not) and to top it off the writing was miserable (I’m using multiple asides because it’s a review! I’m not writing an actual book!) I was actively offended by how bad the writing was, though I’m reminded of a previous one star review of a prolific author’s work where there were square brackets (THAT almost killed me, but this came close).
At some point I’ll learn my lesson but I’ll say at least - it was blessedly short.
At some point I’ll learn my lesson but I’ll say at least - it was blessedly short.
December 15, 2022
Nancy Drew in 19th century Monterey
This novel has an interesting setting and does explore the limited roles for women in the 19th century West. But the heroine, a sex worker named Eliza, is not particularly interesting. She and a friend read some Poe tales and decide to sleuth around, seeking the person who is murdering young women. Not as rich or deep as I expected from Smiley. Reads almost like a YA novel, except for the protagonist’s profession.
This novel has an interesting setting and does explore the limited roles for women in the 19th century West. But the heroine, a sex worker named Eliza, is not particularly interesting. She and a friend read some Poe tales and decide to sleuth around, seeking the person who is murdering young women. Not as rich or deep as I expected from Smiley. Reads almost like a YA novel, except for the protagonist’s profession.
December 24, 2022
When the first of "the girls" disappeared, no one thought a thing of it. Folks disappeared from Monterey all the time, mostly because there was more going on to San Francisco, or even San Jose. Or people took their families and moved down the coast because they thought they would find better hunting there, or some land with more rain. If they were lucky, they came back, gave up on the idea of owning their own farms or ranches, and went to work the way everyone else worked. In fact, Eliza knew that her mother would say that she had disappeared, and that thought was a bit of a prickle to her conscience, but not enough to get her to answer those letters her mother had sent.
I'm so torn on the rating for this book, because I did like it - I just didn't connect with the writing style. So I'll go subjective, and maybe I'll come back later and change it.
For the good, I really enjoyed the setting - the historical details were great, sometimes subtle and always authentic-feeling. Eliza and the people she interacted with felt real, just people in a different time - I've found a few historical books feel like watching characters in a period piece, but that wasn't the case here.
On the other hand, I thought the writing style was kind of rambley - not always a bad thing, but in this case hard to follow, for me. I liked how matter-of-fact the sex work was treated, but I don't think we needed quite so many of the encounters - not all of them contributed to the story. Personally, too, I wasn't a fan of the underage encounters, different times or not.
I did, however, finish the book, and enjoyed it enough to work through the writing style - it's a good mystery, and I think plenty of readers will like it better. I would definitely try another from this author!
I'm so torn on the rating for this book, because I did like it - I just didn't connect with the writing style. So I'll go subjective, and maybe I'll come back later and change it.
For the good, I really enjoyed the setting - the historical details were great, sometimes subtle and always authentic-feeling. Eliza and the people she interacted with felt real, just people in a different time - I've found a few historical books feel like watching characters in a period piece, but that wasn't the case here.
On the other hand, I thought the writing style was kind of rambley - not always a bad thing, but in this case hard to follow, for me. I liked how matter-of-fact the sex work was treated, but I don't think we needed quite so many of the encounters - not all of them contributed to the story. Personally, too, I wasn't a fan of the underage encounters, different times or not.
I did, however, finish the book, and enjoyed it enough to work through the writing style - it's a good mystery, and I think plenty of readers will like it better. I would definitely try another from this author!
Read
January 25, 2023The Hook - It was 1991 when Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres was published. I've been a fan ever since. Themes of strong women and historical settings run throughout her pages.
The Line - ””
Sorry, but nothing comes to mind.
The Sinker - What I liked most about Dangerous Business was the mystery, the search for the serial murderer of brothel workers, cloning Poe's character, Dupin, for inspiration. The story takes place in Monterey in 1850's Gold Rush. Enjoyed the strong female relationship between Eliza and Jean and their quest to bring the killer to justice and save the women in business from harm.
While, this was an interesting read, I was expecting a bit more historical background and less prickly business if you get my drift.
.
The Line - ””
Sorry, but nothing comes to mind.
The Sinker - What I liked most about Dangerous Business was the mystery, the search for the serial murderer of brothel workers, cloning Poe's character, Dupin, for inspiration. The story takes place in Monterey in 1850's Gold Rush. Enjoyed the strong female relationship between Eliza and Jean and their quest to bring the killer to justice and save the women in business from harm.
While, this was an interesting read, I was expecting a bit more historical background and less prickly business if you get my drift.
.
June 13, 2022
Yes indeed being a woman is a dangerous business.
For a book abundant in violence, this book has a quiet, peaceful core which permeates through out the chapters. Probably it's Smiley's writing style.
An ARC gently provided by author/publisher via Netgalley
December 31, 2022
Yikes. Tedious. Boring. Uninspiring. Thank goodness this was a short book. The blurb about this book was the best part of it, as the setup was interesting. The execution floundered and while this was historical fiction, the only thing I learned was way too much about prostitution in the 1850s. The author spent more time on those scenes than driving a plot towards an interesting conclusion. The murder mystery aspect of this was completely blah for me. One of the worst I’ve read this year unfortunately.
June 12, 2022
It’s a dangerous business being a woman. It’s a dangerous business being a prostitute. And it’s a dangerous business playing a detective. So, from the get-go, Eliza (chosen name) Ripple has her work cut out for her.
But she is young, clever and resilient and so she goes on about it as steadily and compellingly as any good protagonist would.
Inspired by Poe’s fictional detective Dupin, buoyed by her new best friend, and just plain curious, Eliza sets off to solve the recent murders of young women in the area. Monterey during the Californian Gold rush isn’t exactly the most law-abiding of places and these are not the sort of women whose disappearance would be properly investigated by the powers that be, so Eliza and her friend might be justice’s best options.
The other mystery here is why did it take me so long to read this author? She’s been around for ages, well-known, well-regarded, certainly someone I’ve heard off and yet…not until now. Maybe that’s a good thing because this book is certainly serves as a terrific introduction to a new (to me) author. It’s so very well written, Smiley obviously has the gift of natural/organic storytelling, it all just come alive: her characters, her descriptions. The novel is as transporting as you’d ever wish for in a work of historical fiction. The mystery is indeed mysterious and fun to investigate alongside Eliza and her friend. The denouement works very well too. Frontier justice sort of thing and all that.
The depiction of prostitution was…surprisingly quaint. Probably the quaintest I’ve ever encountered in fiction. It’s just a job like any other job and not at all a terrible one at that with mostly decent and reasonable people. Go figure. Certainly, a perfectly reasonable (and not even remotely exploitative) choice for a young widow without means like Eliza.
Monterey – well, it shines in golden sunshine in this book. A place as a character done right.
So all in all, a lovely novel, a terrific perfectly sized, perfectly engaging read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
But she is young, clever and resilient and so she goes on about it as steadily and compellingly as any good protagonist would.
Inspired by Poe’s fictional detective Dupin, buoyed by her new best friend, and just plain curious, Eliza sets off to solve the recent murders of young women in the area. Monterey during the Californian Gold rush isn’t exactly the most law-abiding of places and these are not the sort of women whose disappearance would be properly investigated by the powers that be, so Eliza and her friend might be justice’s best options.
The other mystery here is why did it take me so long to read this author? She’s been around for ages, well-known, well-regarded, certainly someone I’ve heard off and yet…not until now. Maybe that’s a good thing because this book is certainly serves as a terrific introduction to a new (to me) author. It’s so very well written, Smiley obviously has the gift of natural/organic storytelling, it all just come alive: her characters, her descriptions. The novel is as transporting as you’d ever wish for in a work of historical fiction. The mystery is indeed mysterious and fun to investigate alongside Eliza and her friend. The denouement works very well too. Frontier justice sort of thing and all that.
The depiction of prostitution was…surprisingly quaint. Probably the quaintest I’ve ever encountered in fiction. It’s just a job like any other job and not at all a terrible one at that with mostly decent and reasonable people. Go figure. Certainly, a perfectly reasonable (and not even remotely exploitative) choice for a young widow without means like Eliza.
Monterey – well, it shines in golden sunshine in this book. A place as a character done right.
So all in all, a lovely novel, a terrific perfectly sized, perfectly engaging read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
December 1, 2022
This is going to sound awful, but the blurb is more interesting than the entire book. It was very bland. Mystery? Barely. Danger? None. The whole brothel thing was so whitewashed, it was ridiculous. Lovely, clean, gentlemen, kind madam, and Eliza loved her job. What?!
The writing was tedious, too. I swear, the word "said" was used at least a dozen times per page.
Therese Plummer narrates the audiobook. I normally enjoy her narrations, but it felt weird. I think it was more the book than her though.
I received an advanced audio copy.
The writing was tedious, too. I swear, the word "said" was used at least a dozen times per page.
Therese Plummer narrates the audiobook. I normally enjoy her narrations, but it felt weird. I think it was more the book than her though.
I received an advanced audio copy.
January 3, 2023
As a fan of Jane Smiley I looked forward to this book, but was unfortunately disappointed in this one.
The beginning was good, the ending was good and in between it just felt like Jane Smiley lost her way.
Why do I say this? Well it is because it just appears that the author could not decide what this book is about. Is it a detective story, a ghost story, a gal-pal story, a recital of prostitutes clients, historical fiction, etc. She throws in slavery at the very end, since the story is set in 1852, and when you throw all of this together it is lackluster read. It also did not help that I could figure out the killer early in the book, but there was a twist into the how and why.
If you know of Smiley's other books, this one just falls flat and is not up to the quality of her prior works. Let's hope her next one is better.
The beginning was good, the ending was good and in between it just felt like Jane Smiley lost her way.
Why do I say this? Well it is because it just appears that the author could not decide what this book is about. Is it a detective story, a ghost story, a gal-pal story, a recital of prostitutes clients, historical fiction, etc. She throws in slavery at the very end, since the story is set in 1852, and when you throw all of this together it is lackluster read. It also did not help that I could figure out the killer early in the book, but there was a twist into the how and why.
If you know of Smiley's other books, this one just falls flat and is not up to the quality of her prior works. Let's hope her next one is better.
January 14, 2023
DNF and it’s hard to make a book about prostitutes dull.
July 14, 2024
3 stars A selection of my in-person library book club.
I really wanted to like this more than I did. Having read, and enjoyed, other Smiley books I felt secure in reading this and really expected to enjoy it. It had all the things that could have made it a favorite book of mine - historical, good characters, a quasi-mystery, and all by an author I like. Sigh... it didn't make the grade.
About all I got out of this book was... sex, food and murdered prostitutes. I kept waiting for something more, but it never materialized. While not a bad novel, it just did not stand at the level that I expected.
I really wanted to like this more than I did. Having read, and enjoyed, other Smiley books I felt secure in reading this and really expected to enjoy it. It had all the things that could have made it a favorite book of mine - historical, good characters, a quasi-mystery, and all by an author I like. Sigh... it didn't make the grade.
About all I got out of this book was... sex, food and murdered prostitutes. I kept waiting for something more, but it never materialized. While not a bad novel, it just did not stand at the level that I expected.
May 18, 2023
Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Therese Plummer
Content: 3 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
Set in 1850 in Monterey. Two young prostitutes, Eliza and Jean, are trying to solve the mystery of missing girls. It read like a cozy mystery, but with too many details concerning the dead bodies.
Not quite my style of historical fiction, and I could comment on some flaws and details I didn’t like in the story, but overall I enjoyed it, anyway.
Thanks to Recorded Books for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
Content: 3 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review
Set in 1850 in Monterey. Two young prostitutes, Eliza and Jean, are trying to solve the mystery of missing girls. It read like a cozy mystery, but with too many details concerning the dead bodies.
Not quite my style of historical fiction, and I could comment on some flaws and details I didn’t like in the story, but overall I enjoyed it, anyway.
Thanks to Recorded Books for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
April 8, 2023
Here's an engaging read about a young prostitute in 1850s Monterey, California. She approaches it as a job and nothing more. The johns pay her for her services and then leave. At the same time, a murder mystery crops up when several of the town women are found dead. STIs aren't much of a worry for some reason, and her johns are usually nonviolent. Okay, suspend your disbelief a bit and enjoy the narrative, which I enjoyed for its originality.
January 17, 2023
A dangerous business? More like a boring business. A real disappointment. A young widow, Eliza, becomes a working girl in 1850’s Monterey, California. Women are being murdered and no one seems to care. Eliza starts her own investigation and it proceeds agonizingly slow. I kept reading, hoping for the big break but by the time it happened the story ended.
dnf
December 13, 2022Dnf @ 40%. Like if a high schooler tried to write an Agatha Christie mystery.
December 3, 2022
A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
Narrated by Therese Plummer (14 hrs 15 min)
Women's Fiction, Historical Fiction
Audiobook available December 6th.
"From the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author of A Thousand Acres: a mystery set in 1850s Gold Rush California, as two young prostitutes—best friends Eliza and Jean—follow a trail of missing girls."
Murder, independence, and friendship are the themes of A Dangerous Business. The plot of this historical fiction is well developed. There is an interesting western setting with easy-to-follow characters. For sensitive readers, Eliza's character is very open about her customers' needs. While it is never extremely graphic, sexual acts are mentioned.
Synopsis:
After her husband was killed in a bar shortly after they arrived in California, Eliza has been working in Mrs. Parks' brothel in Monterey, 1851. Jean, a woman who works in a different brothel for women, becomes a friend of hers.
Young women suddenly disappear. A body is discovered by Jean and Eliza, sending them on a quest to find the killer. Their investigation is based on popular editions of Edgar Allan Poe's writings. Are the women going to be able to solve the crimes or will they lose their lives?
Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for sharing this audiobook with me. Your kindness is appreciated.
#ADangerousBusiness #bookishcommunity #bookstagramcommunity #readingcommunity #Books #bookfriends #booksbooksbooks #booksta #bookstagram #newtobookstagram #bookreview #bookreviews #instabookstagram #bookish #bookishielife #Audiobook #newtobookstagram #newtoinsta #newtoinstagra #Bookishcom #trending #bestsellingbooks #b
Narrated by Therese Plummer (14 hrs 15 min)
Women's Fiction, Historical Fiction
Audiobook available December 6th.
"From the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author of A Thousand Acres: a mystery set in 1850s Gold Rush California, as two young prostitutes—best friends Eliza and Jean—follow a trail of missing girls."
Murder, independence, and friendship are the themes of A Dangerous Business. The plot of this historical fiction is well developed. There is an interesting western setting with easy-to-follow characters. For sensitive readers, Eliza's character is very open about her customers' needs. While it is never extremely graphic, sexual acts are mentioned.
Synopsis:
After her husband was killed in a bar shortly after they arrived in California, Eliza has been working in Mrs. Parks' brothel in Monterey, 1851. Jean, a woman who works in a different brothel for women, becomes a friend of hers.
Young women suddenly disappear. A body is discovered by Jean and Eliza, sending them on a quest to find the killer. Their investigation is based on popular editions of Edgar Allan Poe's writings. Are the women going to be able to solve the crimes or will they lose their lives?
Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for sharing this audiobook with me. Your kindness is appreciated.
#ADangerousBusiness #bookishcommunity #bookstagramcommunity #readingcommunity #Books #bookfriends #booksbooksbooks #booksta #bookstagram #newtobookstagram #bookreview #bookreviews #instabookstagram #bookish #bookishielife #Audiobook #newtobookstagram #newtoinsta #newtoinstagra #Bookishcom #trending #bestsellingbooks #b
December 2, 2022
"Between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Oh, those men would talk about how they fight Indians and wrestle cattle and climb the masts and look for justice, and indeed they do, but they do it for themselves , if you ask me. And what they want of women, they want for themselves, too."
This is the middle of the 19 century and being a woman is a dangerous business (and still is), after Eliza's husband died, she works in a dangerous business, how possibly one night men could be worse than her husband, she even can saving money and treated well.
This a little dreamy historical fiction in a small town when the first girls disappeared, no one thought a thing of it, then the second one, then the next, and still no one cared.
This is where Eliza and her friend Jean (who works in a less dangerous business for women) planned to catch a suspect!
"Gossiping was like opening a door and leaving it unlocked, you never knew what might happen..."
A short historical mystery set in the USA with dangerous women!
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK via NetGalley for giving me a chance to read A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley, I have given my honest review.
Pub Date: 6 Dec 2022
This is the middle of the 19 century and being a woman is a dangerous business (and still is), after Eliza's husband died, she works in a dangerous business, how possibly one night men could be worse than her husband, she even can saving money and treated well.
This a little dreamy historical fiction in a small town when the first girls disappeared, no one thought a thing of it, then the second one, then the next, and still no one cared.
This is where Eliza and her friend Jean (who works in a less dangerous business for women) planned to catch a suspect!
"Gossiping was like opening a door and leaving it unlocked, you never knew what might happen..."
A short historical mystery set in the USA with dangerous women!
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK via NetGalley for giving me a chance to read A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley, I have given my honest review.
Pub Date: 6 Dec 2022
June 23, 2022
Thank you to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on December 6th, 2022.
Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5
This was an odd book, though I did enjoy it. Monterey, CA in the 1850s. Eliza Ripple’s short and unhappy marriage is brought to an abrupt halt when her husband is shot in a bar brawl. Eliza takes up the oldest profession in the world, servicing 2-3 clients per evening at a nice brothel and finds her life more enjoyable than the one she had with in the marriage her parents had arranged for her. She makes an interesting friend — a woman in a similar profession but aimed at ladies (was this a thing back then or a figment of the author’s imagination? I have no idea!). When the bodies of women — mostly prostitutes like themselves — turn up, they find local law enforcement (such as it is) uninterested, so they feel compelled to figure it out themselves.
This is more of a novel than a mystery, though obviously there is a mystery to be solved and our heroines are trying to solve it, both as a means of self-preservation and out of a sense of justice! Smiley does an excellent job of having Eliza describe her own life and her own feelings as she discovers them. Eliza is an unsophisticated person, having experienced very little in her life. She learns about geography and other places and foods from sailor clients; she reads the very few books she has access to, and her model of the world expands to encompass what she reads; she becomes observant of people — men in particular — learning what makes them tick and how to take care with assumptions. It’s quite difficult to create a character that has so little education in the ways of the world — removing everything you know in your own brain is so much more difficult than learning something new — and Smiley pulled this off well.
I have no idea how realistic the portrayal of a small town brothel is, but I liked the straightforward and utterly non-judgmental depiction. I’ve never understood why prostitution — which services a basic biological need — is so vilified even today in our society. I think we would all be much happier if prostitution were both legal and free of stigma for both the providers and the clients!
A little slow paced and with more (albeit well done) descriptions (of nature, weather, the state of the streets, facial characteristics, clothing, etc.) for my taste, I nevertheless found myself continuing to think about the life that was presented — an effective vehicle for putting myself in another person’s very different shoes.
Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5
This was an odd book, though I did enjoy it. Monterey, CA in the 1850s. Eliza Ripple’s short and unhappy marriage is brought to an abrupt halt when her husband is shot in a bar brawl. Eliza takes up the oldest profession in the world, servicing 2-3 clients per evening at a nice brothel and finds her life more enjoyable than the one she had with in the marriage her parents had arranged for her. She makes an interesting friend — a woman in a similar profession but aimed at ladies (was this a thing back then or a figment of the author’s imagination? I have no idea!). When the bodies of women — mostly prostitutes like themselves — turn up, they find local law enforcement (such as it is) uninterested, so they feel compelled to figure it out themselves.
This is more of a novel than a mystery, though obviously there is a mystery to be solved and our heroines are trying to solve it, both as a means of self-preservation and out of a sense of justice! Smiley does an excellent job of having Eliza describe her own life and her own feelings as she discovers them. Eliza is an unsophisticated person, having experienced very little in her life. She learns about geography and other places and foods from sailor clients; she reads the very few books she has access to, and her model of the world expands to encompass what she reads; she becomes observant of people — men in particular — learning what makes them tick and how to take care with assumptions. It’s quite difficult to create a character that has so little education in the ways of the world — removing everything you know in your own brain is so much more difficult than learning something new — and Smiley pulled this off well.
I have no idea how realistic the portrayal of a small town brothel is, but I liked the straightforward and utterly non-judgmental depiction. I’ve never understood why prostitution — which services a basic biological need — is so vilified even today in our society. I think we would all be much happier if prostitution were both legal and free of stigma for both the providers and the clients!
A little slow paced and with more (albeit well done) descriptions (of nature, weather, the state of the streets, facial characteristics, clothing, etc.) for my taste, I nevertheless found myself continuing to think about the life that was presented — an effective vehicle for putting myself in another person’s very different shoes.
December 15, 2022
This was not what I expected, to be honest. It was good though! I really appreciated the fact that she found friendship and, really, found herself over the course of the book. Plus, the ending, though unexpected, made me happy.
🌀Synopsis
When Eliza’s husband was killed she started working at a brothel. She meets her best friend Jean around that same time. When other women from brothels start to turn up dead, these two get hooked in and start their own investigation.
Being so close to those impacted helps them see things that other law enforcement can’t. Plus, it becomes an effort to survive too. Their jobs and lives are at risk with every customer they see.
When they finally put some pieces together they get a plan in place to trick the killer and catch him. The girls use their friendship to help each other grow and make plans for the future, too.
🌀Synopsis
When Eliza’s husband was killed she started working at a brothel. She meets her best friend Jean around that same time. When other women from brothels start to turn up dead, these two get hooked in and start their own investigation.
Being so close to those impacted helps them see things that other law enforcement can’t. Plus, it becomes an effort to survive too. Their jobs and lives are at risk with every customer they see.
When they finally put some pieces together they get a plan in place to trick the killer and catch him. The girls use their friendship to help each other grow and make plans for the future, too.
June 23, 2022
Jane Smiley's writing is so smooth, so flowing, her characters so real and intriguing and likeable, and the locations so evocative, that the book ends before one really is ready for it. This historical novel set in Monterey in 1853, was the most unapologetic, fascinating and yes, even empowering immersion into the world of the working girl of those times, that 'dangerous business' of the title, that the murder mystery feels secondary. Which is fine. So many feminist issues explored skilfully and empathetically in this story set over 150 years ago: Eliza's choice, in capital letters, to work in a brothel, Jean's delightful preference for women (lesbianism not a word back then), the warmth and almost motherly care for the women working in her brothel that Mrs. Parks showed, and the power of friendship between women. There was even a nod to slavery and the Underground Railway. It was a refreshing change also, to see the men (and the boys brought along by their fathers) who frequented the brothel and who Eliza 'serviced' according to their sometimes strange wishes, ranged from delightful to creepy, but always with depth and needs that could often be empathized with, given those historic times and norms. This was not an anti-male story. The despicable males were those who abused their wives (a scenario Eliza had experienced for herself) and the authorities who dismissed the murders of 'whores' as not worth their time. (Enter Eliza and Jean!) This novel with so much explicit sex did not come across as explicit or at all steamy or erotic. This is very skilful writing because this is Eliza's story, and of course from her point of view the sex is a matter-of-fact tool of her business. For her, her job was to do her best to give her clients what they needed and had paid for, and when, occasionally she found her mind had wandered from its task, she even gave the client back his tip! Satisfyingly she did make a nice living from her business!
December 18, 2022
Says the brothel madam: “Everyone knows that this is a dangerous business, but between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise…”
1851 Monterey, CA. After her loutish husband’s death in a bar fight, young and impoverished Eliza must make her living in a brothel, which surprisingly turns out to be an almost pleasant upgrade in her life. The madam is kind and considerate, most of her customers are decent to her, and she’s actually putting goodish amounts of money away. But then murdered prostitutes start turning up on the edges of town and Eliza can’t help but seeing everything in a new, threatening light. She and her best chum, Jean, a prostitute in another establishment, inspired by their reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin mysteries, decide to find out themselves who the serial killer is, as the law (such as it is) seems to be taking no interest.
On its face a murder mystery, this is really the story of women assuming agency over their own lives in spite of the odds. Eliza is a bright and likeable heroine making her way in a frontier Gold Rush town, where anything can happen, and people make and remake themselves at will.
1851 Monterey, CA. After her loutish husband’s death in a bar fight, young and impoverished Eliza must make her living in a brothel, which surprisingly turns out to be an almost pleasant upgrade in her life. The madam is kind and considerate, most of her customers are decent to her, and she’s actually putting goodish amounts of money away. But then murdered prostitutes start turning up on the edges of town and Eliza can’t help but seeing everything in a new, threatening light. She and her best chum, Jean, a prostitute in another establishment, inspired by their reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin mysteries, decide to find out themselves who the serial killer is, as the law (such as it is) seems to be taking no interest.
On its face a murder mystery, this is really the story of women assuming agency over their own lives in spite of the odds. Eliza is a bright and likeable heroine making her way in a frontier Gold Rush town, where anything can happen, and people make and remake themselves at will.
October 5, 2025
This is a murder mystery that takes place in Monterey, California in 1851. Eliza and her friend Jean work in brothels and their work brings them close to the men in town. When several bodies of young women are found, no one seems all that interested in solving the crimes. A light read!
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