City of Silver [Paperback]

Riches always come with a cost and so many a story of a mining boomtown
is filled with crime, greed, harsh conditions, and the inevitable bust
once the treasure is mined out.

And so we find ourselves living the story of a mining town, but not on
the Western frontier. "City of Silver" takes readers to the seventeenth
century setting of Peru under the heavy hand of Spanish rule. Potosi,
now in modern-day Bolivia, was once the richest city in the New World
due to its silver mines, a fabulous source of wealth giving rise to the
wishful dubbing of subsequent American mining towns by the same name.

Racial tensions between the Spanish and the natives simmer hot and the
Protestant reformation threatens Catholic strength. Besides that,
alarming rumors of counterfeit coins, thus violating confidence in
Potosi's wealth and threatening Spain's economic power, cause further
unrest in the city. The King of Spain, in fact, is so disturbed at the
news that he's sending a Grand Inquisitor to investigate, striking fear
into both loyal citizens and criminals alike. And then Mother Maria
Santa Hilda, Abbess of the local convent, opens her door to Inez Rojas
de la Morada, daughter of one of the town's most powerful men. Inez
refuses to speak of her reasons for seeking sanctuary, and shortly after
Maria Santa Hilda finds her dead, in a locked room: suicide or murder?

Uncovering old secrets and the dark side of Potosi's fabulous wealth is
a dangerous proposition--some things are easier left buried. The mystery
of Inez's death and life plays out against the mystery of the
counterfeit coins, the two stories neatly intersecting as Maria Santa
Hilda stubbornly pursues her inquiry with the gumption of a true PI,
though her duty to her order and her bishop frequently wars with her
duty to the truth. Skillful incorporation of the religious, sexual,
racial, and political aspects of life--and for the non-Spanish, non-male,
non-Catholic, or non-wealthy, they could be pretty grim--at that time
give "City of Silver" an authentic historical feel, and the unusual
period setting gives this mystery a distinction all its own. Life in the
rarified air of the Andes four hundred years ago may have been quite
different, but we see that greed and murder, and thus human nature,
rarely change.

Inez de la Morada is the daughter of Francisco Morada, the Mayor of Potosi. Potosi is a city of many riches. Inez has found the man she wants to marry. Her father disapproves of her choice. Inez seeks shelter at the convent, Santa Isabella de los Santos Milagros. Mother Abbess Maria Santa Hilda takes a liking to Inez and watches over her. When Mother Abbess Maria goes to check up on Inez, she finds the young woman dead. Inez's death does not go unnoticed, especially when her father is the Mayor. Soon Mother Abbess Maria finds herself in the middle of an investigation that has people looking at her as the prime suspect. She must learn the truth about Inez's death before it is too late.

City of Silver is Annamaria Alfieri's debut novel. She really made the characters come alive in this book. The only issue I had was there were so many characters coming at me very fast at the beginning and this translated to me having a bit of a problem keeping all the various people apart. From the beginning the reader knows what really happened to Inez. What I did enjoy through was seeing how this story would play out. It reminded me of a Spanish soap opera. The vivid picture Ms. Alfieri painted for me was so rich in culture that I could excuse getting a little lost. If you are looking for something new to read than give City of Silver a try, it just might sparkle for you.

Annamaria Alfieri's CITY OF SILVER is an historical mystery that tells a story that is contemporary in the revelations of the things that move men, and women, to do the worst to each other.

CITY OF SILVER is two stories. The first begins with the death of Inez de la Morada who has fled to the local convent, pleading for sanctuary. She refuses to tell the Abbess from what she is fleeing but she insists that the convent is the only place she will be safe. Inez is the daughter of the richest and most powerful man in Potosi, Alcalde de la Morada, the leader of the community. Why is Inez, the cherished daughter, hiding from the father who treated her as the son he never had? Inez insists that she wants to join the religious order to atone for the sins of the world. Abbess Maria Santa Hilda isn't convinced of Inez's motives but they are quickly irrelevant when Inez is found dead in her locked cell. There are no marks on her body and nothing unusual in the room. There is a partially empty glass of water and a flagellum similar to that used by all the nuns to mortify the flesh but nothing that explains the sudden death of a healthy young woman.

It is Holy Week, so Inez must be buried quickly and without the pomp that would normally surround the death of a member of the city's most prominent family. Inez's father agrees to have her buried with the deceased nuns of the order in the church. Soon, rumors spread that Inez committed suicide, leaving the Abbess open to the dangers of the Inquisition for having broken church law by allowing a suicide to be buried in consecrated ground. The king's representative for the Inquisition gloats at the possibility of bringing down the Abbess who has allowed women to learn to read and write and to believe that they have a greater role than Spanish society grants them.

Inez's father has problems of his own. The silver mines of Potosi have been sending coins to the king's coffers in Spain that have been adulterated with alloy. The face value is not the real value and this is a threat to the Spanish economy and its dominance in the Americas. The king's investigator is coming to demand answers but it is far more concerning that papers that would label Morada a traitor are missing from the secret compartment in his desk.

Greed, corruption, jealousy, fear, arrogance, and hate motivate the actions of most of the male figures in the story. And while the women are not above these same faults, CITY OF SILVER is a story of strong women. "...Maria Santa Hilda knew well Fray DaTriesta's distaste for the company of women....he never looked her in the face. He cleaved to the conviction of many priests - that women were the source of all evil. It was true, she thought petulantly, if you considered that women were the source of all men." DaTriesta's hate of the abbess leads to her arrest and trial by the Inquisitor but it doesn't stop Sor Monica, the herbalist at the convent, from risking her life and freedom to prove how Inez died so that the Abbess can be freed from the machinery of the church.

The story is set in 1650 in a society that does not accord women any right to control their lives. Everyone, male and female, no matter what their station, are in perpetual danger from the Inquisition where truth is ignored and power is used for its own sake. The circumstances are not relevant to women in the 21st century, but each of the women in the story can be found among the women we know in our own lives.

The writing is colorful, the descriptions vivid. I came to the book knowing nothing about Peru in the 17th century and learned a great deal but learned it as background to a story about greed and the manipulation of power no matter who holds that power. The story could be lifted from the 17th century and, by changing the details of time and place, could be a story set anytime, anywhere. But it wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable.