This cover image released by Knopf shows “A Dangerous Business” by Jane Smiley. (Knopf via AP)
This cover image released by Knopf shows “A Dangerous Business” by Jane Smiley. (Knopf via AP)
“A Dangerous Business” by Jane Smiley (Alfred A. Knopf)
After a fall publishing season filled with Big Books by John Irving, Cormac McCarthy and Barbara Kingsolver, to name just a few, it’s refreshing to read this taut tale from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley (“A Thousand Acres”).
Set in Monterey, California, about a decade before the Civil War, the dangerous business of the title is prostitution. Working girls Eliza and Jean ply their trade at two brothels in the coastal town, one for men, and one for women. When the bodies of young women are discovered, they begin to apply what they’ve learned reading Edgar Allan Poe mysteries to try and solve the murders.
As they attempt to piece together clues, their clients start to look…
