The Stolen Gold Affair: A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery

Set in 1898, MWA Grand Master Pronzini’s delightful eighth Carpenter and Quincannon mystery (after 2019’s The Flimflam Affair) opens with a meeting at an exclusive San Francisco club between private detective John Quincannon and Everett Hoxley, “the head of a large corporation that owned several gold and silver mines in northern California and Nevada.” Hoxley hires Quincannon to go undercover as a miner in one of his mines in order to discover who has been stealing significant amounts of ore and gold dust. Meanwhile, shop assistant Gretchen Kantor tells Sabina Carpenter, Quincannon’s detective partner, about a possible break-in at the home of her friend Vernon Purifoy. Soon an incensed Purifoy shows up demanding that Carpenter stay out of his affairs. “In her experience that sort of heavy-handed protest meant the individual had something to hide,” so she pursues some undercover work of her own. Attractive characters, a finely tuned plot, and fascinating snippets of California history distinguish this outing. Who could ask for more? [em]Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary. (Apr.) [/em]