Jane Smiley experiments with genres like no other writer. In the past, she’s pivoted from Norse epic to ecofeminist tragedy to academic picaresque. In this novel, she tries out western mystery. Set in the Wild West of 1850s Monterey, it follows Eliza, whose husband brought her West from Kalamazoo. The husband has been killed in a bar fight by the time the novel starts, though, and Eliza earns a living as a sex worker, happy to be independent out West.

Her sense of security is threatened by the deaths and disappearances of several other girls in her profession. The justice system isn’t exactly functional in Monterey, so Eliza and her friend Jean take it upon themselves to investigate. This plot line is an alternative take on Smiley’s skewering of misogyny in other works. Not all the men here are bad—for example, the brothel’s male employee, Carlos, keeps the women safe—but many of them are, at best, simply tedious, as we see through scenes of Eliza at work.

It’s chilling to watch Eliza and Jean solve the mystery through the thick Monterey fog, all as the city grows and the Civil War brews back East. I would rank this as neither my favorite (A Thousand Acres) nor my least favorite of Smiley’s novels—but as always, I’m astounded at how she constantly reinvents her work.

In Smiley’s short but impactful latest, two sex workers get caught up in a crime-novel scenario, one calling to mind the Edgar Allan Poe stories they devour, and decide to solve the murders before they become victims themselves.

In 1852, the small town of Monterey, California, bubbles with prosperity and secrets. New arrivals pour in, seeking fortunes or a new start; people depart just as frequently. Eliza Ripple, a young widow from Kalamazoo who doesn’t miss her abusive husband one whit, has settled in at her job at Mrs. Parks’s brothel. She makes a good living, and the proprietress looks out for her health and safety. Then the first girl disappears, prompting Mrs. Parks to hire a bouncer, Carlos, a kind Mexican immigrant. The community, which relies on informal (vigilante) justice since they don’t have constables, decides the missing-person crime isn’t worth the bother. Other disappearances follow, bodies are found, and Eliza and her best friend, Jean—a fellow prostitute working at an establishment serving other women—grow concerned. How would Poe’s hero Dupin (or DuPANN, as Eliza calls him) handle this?

Rich in wit and human observation, Smiley’s telling is as matter-of-fact as Eliza’s approach to her profession. While Eliza is skilled, her encounters aren’t erotic and illustrate much about all the characters. Among her clients are farmers, a shy teenager, many sailors, and older men, all with their own preferences. With a killer still at large, Eliza analyzes each man carefully, wondering if he’s guilty. “Being a woman is a dangerous business,” Mrs. Parks tells her, accurately, and Eliza grows annoyed at having to uncover the truth because nobody else cares. As heroic, self-reliant young women who accomplish what needs doing, she and Jean make great partners in a town where a supportive female network is the key to success and survival.

Two young women working as prostitutes work together to solve a series of murders mostly involving other prostitutes.

A Dangerous Business is both an interesting historical mystery and also a feminist look at young women's lives as early California settlers.

Someone is killing the prostitutes in Monterey, California, during the Gold Rush in A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley, hitting the shelves in December. After her parent-arranged marriage to an older man comes to an end with a bullet in a bar fight, Eliza’s way forward emerges with a position in a brothel.

Eliza is actually fortunate to work for Mrs. Parks who screens all potential clients and hires a bodyguard to protect her working girls. Many women of that time could not survive without a husband, but Eliza is able to attain financial security and even a certain satisfaction with her work as her clients are as varied as young boys being treated by their fathers, to lonesome sailors, to prominent citizens.

When out riding horses one day, 20-year-old Eliza and her friend Jean stumble upon a body. On another ride, the young women discover yet another body of a woman; this one Eliza identifies as Mary who disappeared from Mrs. Parks’ brothel. Mrs. Parks shares that information with the sheriff repeatedly, but other than removing the remains, he is not interested in the killer.

Inspired by short stories about C. Auguste Dupin, Edgar Allan Poe’s famous fictional character, Eliza and Jean try using Dupin’s train of thought technique to solve the mystery of the women’s deaths. Putting together the clues they gathered; Eliza strives to discover the identity of the killer by putting herself in harm’s way. What if her sleuthing actually makes her the next corpse?

Jane Smiley has a fondness for horses, and she works several into this work of historical fiction. Smiley won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear; Hollywood adapted the book into a movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting October 27, 2022.

I would like to thank Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor as well as NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

3.5 stars, rounding up. Eliza traveled from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Monterey, California with her (awful) new husband in a covered wagon. It didn't take him long to get shot in a bar fight, causing Eliza to turn to prostitution to earn her living. When some of her fellow "ladies of pleasure" turn up dead under suspicious circumstances, Eliza is distressed to find that no one seems to care. She and her friend Jean decide to try their hand at amateur detective pursuits, hoping to find the killer before he finds them,

This is a short book, full of lovely detail about Monterey in the nineteenth century. It's not for the squeamish, so if crude descriptions of prostitutional pursuits may bother you, I recommend you look elsewhere. Eliza as a character is endearing, and I also love Jean and Mrs. Parks — strong women making their way as they see fit. The pace is fast, but the reveal of the killer and their motivations seems flat to me, which is disappointing. Aside from this, I love the way the book ends, and I would certainly read a sequel to see how Eliza fares in her new endeavors!

Thank you to Jane Smiley, Knopf, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Her parents feared that Eliza Ripple would not get married so they arranged for her to marry a man nearly twice her age. Her husband worked in the lumber industry in Kalamazoo, Mi, and was killed within two years of her marriage. He had been physically abusive and very ridged with her. At last, she was free!

She moved to Monterey, California, and with few skills was hired as a lady of the evening. Being a hooker in Monterey in the mid-1800s was a risky business and the madam employed Carlos to keep his eye on all of the girls and threw out the men who were abusive.

Monterey was the leading seaport at that time. All is going fairly well until Eliza and her friend find a body in one of the creek arroyos leading to the ocean. The sheriff of Monterey seems to care less for the plight of the murdered young woman. As time goes on more bodies of young women are found in the area.

Jane Smiley develops a very sympathetic character in Eliza and her companion. Reading this book, I immediately commiserated with the plight of the girls. I enjoyed the interplay between the characters and the overall storyline of the plot. Even the horses and other animals were developed into key elements of the story. A fun and entertaining tale! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

This was not for me. as i am not much of a historical novel reader. I iwanted more of the mystery and got a lot of floundering. The tie in with Poe though was probably the highlight. I didn't finish this though and maybe it picks up after the 50% mark.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an early reader copy.

This was my first book by Jane Smiley, and it did not disappoint. I have always been interested in reading about the gold rush, and I thought this was an enjoyable read.

Smiley is a wonderfully engaging writer and this excursion to mid-nineteenth century California offers much to relish, enot least via the fabric of daily life as experienced by a young prostitute. The murders and the Poe-driven investigations add intrigue but also a sense of distraction and repetition, and the conclusion seems rushed. Nevertheless this is diverting stuff.

Disclosure: Received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Alfred A. Knopf (Thank You!!)

I was somewhat disappointed with this Jane Smiley book. Because I have really enjoyed her prior books I rounded up to 3 stars since half stars are not an option on this site, but were half stars an option my rating would show as 2.5 stars.

Why so disappointed with this book? I was really excited by the description of the book, a murder mystery by an author I appreciate, yes please! My expectations were high, and why not, this is a best selling author who knows how to tell a good story. But for this book, not the case. In this book the writing felt perfunctory and it lacked the usual engaging flow I've come to expect from this author. This was not a page turner, it was more like a pick up and read a few pages then put back down again. If I hadn't received it as an ARC, I might not have finished it.

The concept for the story was good but the execution was poor. Eliza is a widow, brought west in 1851 by a crappy husband who is shot dead 2 months after they arrived in Monterey. She is then approached by the Madam of one of the local whorehouses to become a prostitute to support herself, and she decides yes, this is her best option. When some other prostitutes' murders remain unsolved, Eliza and her friend Jean decide to tackle this task themselves.

Where it took a left turn for me was the character development. I wanted to like Eliza, was rooting for her, but found her character to be far too apathetic about everything given her circumstances. And the sleuthing to solve the murders, the author seemed to take the adage of pounding the pavement literally, there is a lot of walking around in the novel, a lot. Some of what you might expect from a Smiley book does come through in Jean, a quirky fellow prostitute who services women, sees ghosts and likes to sometimes cross dress as a man when out and about, but not enough to save this book.

This book is set in an interesting time and place, Monterey during the California gold rush. Eliza, after the death of her abusive husband, has turned to prostitution to make her living and views it as a step up. She is fortunate, the brothel where she works is “safe and protective”. A young woman’s body is discovered, it seems that young women are going missing. Eliza band her friend Jean, fans of Edgar Allan Poe’s detective investigate. I enjoyed the story. The time, place and characters were well developed.
This is a review of an eGalley provided by NetGalley.

I really enjoyed the specific time and place depicted in this book, as well as the attempt by the main characters to solve the mystery of who is killing the “working girls” in Monterey. The story meandered a bit, which I think is part of its charm, but I did get a little impatient toward the end. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I got lost in this story found it hard to put down—Eliza and Jean were so likable,, as were Mrs.Parks and, surprisingly, many of the brothel visitors—although I wonder if in reality that would have been the case. The descriptions of Monterrey were transporting and I loved the matter-of-fact way sex was discussed. I did think the wrap up to the murders felt a little too neat, and it was a stretch to me to Eliza and Jean would keep stumbling straight into crime scenes again and again.

Two stars from me. I was disappointed in the historical aspect of this book. I was expecting the dangerous gold rush days and the wild, Wild West. Instead this book was about two amateur sleuths that could have been located in Any-town, USA during any period of time. Even prostitution was whitewashed—and the brothels where the two main characters worked was safe. I don’t think my expectations were too high, so be sure that this is a book you really want to read, before investing in it. I received the ARC from NetGalley and Knopf Publishing and feel privileged for that. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book. The review is my own honest opinion.

Set during the California Gold Rush two young women turned prostitutes are playing detectives in order to find out who is murdering young women and leaving them in ravines. It's not a page turner but the emphasis is more on characters and atmosphere, giving you a sense of what life was like for ordinary people. I enjoyed it.

I was so hopeful for this one…

A Dangerous Business is Jane Smiley’s new novel about two whores in Monterey during the gold rush. The bodies of dead women keep turning up and the sheriff isn’t in a hurry to solve the mystery of their murders, so Jean and Eliza (the whores) take on the job.

I wanted to love this one so bad but it was just fine. I wasn’t dying to know what happened next. The mystery was thin. And I didn’t connect with any of the characters.

But…the writing was good. And the descriptions of Monterey Bay opened my imagination. And the historical elements felt well-drawn and real.

So it wasn’t terrible. But it wasn’t my favorite, either.

I got this book from @netgalley and I’m so grateful for the arc.

In this surprisingly funny and deftly crafted novel, Pulitzer winner Jane Smiley takes the Western trope of the whore with a heart of gold and gives us a pair of fresh and nuanced heroines. Set in the 1850s, the protagonist of the novel is Eliza, a bookish midwestern girl working as a prostitute in Monterey, California after her doomed marriage comes to an abrupt end. When other prostitutes begin to disappear, Eliza and her colleague (and fellow Edgar Allan Poe enthusiast) Jean determine to solve the case, beginning a much-needed friendship and a true adventure for both women. I love this book’s tone: it’s funny and frank, and while Smiley is an absolute pro who writes with tremendous control, the novel never takes itself too seriously. She’s able to keep Eliza at a distance while displaying a mastery of characterization via precise language and quippy dialogue. While the story is a murder mystery, it’s neither a procedural nor a puzzle book and while we root for our heroines to discover the murderer, we aren’t really playing along with them. Instead, Smiley uses the framework of the mystery genre to suggest what a dangerous business it is to be a woman. This book is everything I love in a work of fiction: it’s playful, it’s smart, and while it’s certainly in conversation with other great books, it’s also unlike anything I’ve ever read.

Fall reading mood: you need an adventurous romp crafted in pristine prose

Read this if you like: True Grit by Charles Portis, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, literary genre fiction, badass women characters, Godless, wry humor, witty dialogue, bookish references and Easter eggs

"A Dangerous Business," the story of Eliza, a young widow living in Monterey, CA in 1851 who turns to prostitution to support herself and soon begins to investigate the murders of other prostitutes in the area, was a strange book for me. It seemed like Jane Smiley, whose earlier novel "A Thousand Acres," a modern retelling of the "King Lear" story, is one of my favorites, was trying her hand at a so-called "cosy" mystery, complete with a likable amateur sleuth heroine and picturesque descriptions of the Monterey scenery, but the frequent and detailed descriptions of Eliza's assignations with her various clients, which supplied the primary plot points in the early parts of the book, just felt jarring and weird. It's obvious that Smiley has researched her setting and the history of Monterey, and Eliza is a likable enough central character. But by coupling an almost warm and fuzzy depiction of prostitution with graphic descriptions of the violent deaths of several prostitutes. Smiley seemed to be mashing up two separate books, neither of which worked for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

Set in Monterey in 1851, A Dangerous Business is the story of young Eliza Ripple, who travels to California with her husband only to feel relieved to escape a bad marriage when he’s killed in a gun fight. Left alone to support herself, Eliza begins working in a brothel for a woman named Mrs. Parks. Eliza’s life mostly improves: her customers are less objectionable than her husband, Mrs. Parks tries to protect her girls from ill or rough patrons, and Eliza is financial independent. Then, young working girls’ bodies start turning up in the hills around Monterey, and the local law takes little interest. Shocked and determined, Eliza and her friend Jean try to solve the murders, while seeing each customer in a new, more dangerous light.
Eliza is a fairly unworldly character with no experience solving murders, and Pulitzer-prize winning Jane Smiley brilliantly conveys her limited point of view. Still, the story never develops a sense of rising tension as Eliza and Jean amble along, and the setting seems somewhat unrealistic. For example, Eliza has mostly polite, healthy customers and reliable birth control in a Gold Rush seaport town. For these reasons, A Dangerous Business may not be Smiley’s strongest work.