Death of the City Marshal

Old Los Angeles #2

by Anne Louise Bannon

It's October, 1870, and once again, violence erupts on the streets of Los Angeles. City Marshal William Warren gets into a gunfight with his deputy Joseph Dye, and is severely wounded. Fortunately, winemaker and physician Maddie Wilcox is on the scene to take care of the marshal. But the next day, she finds that the marshal has been smothered in his bed.

The morning after the marshal's death, red paint is splashed all over the front porch of his home, and a list of his sins posted on the front.

The list of people with grievances against the fiery-tempered marshal is long. But then another prominent citizen has his sins posted and house front splattered.

Maddie takes an interest in the vandalism in the hopes of finding Marshal Warren's killer. But she soon finds out that she is up against a killer driven by a profound longing, and who is prepared to do the worst to keep that most basic of human desires: a home.

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2019

About the author

Hi! I’m Anne Louise Bannon. I wrote my first short story at age 9 and my first novel at age 15. Since then, I've written a couple other books and have worked as a journalist. I've written about a lot of different things, from winemaking to city hall meetings to fantasy and my work has appeared in newspapers across the country and numerous websites.

Mostly though, I write mysteries, with some fantasy and romance tossed in. I've got several books out with more coming.

As for the rest, I live in Southern California with my husband, dog and cat. I have a grown daughter living in Northern California, who still talks to me voluntarily. And when I’m not working, I enjoy cooking, sewing, reading, hiking and a good football game.

Reviews

[Don Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the 2nd book in a (currently) 6 book mystery series that takes place in 1870's Los Angeles. As the book opens, author Anne Louise Bannon immediately gets down to business. In October of 1870, our protagonist Maddie Wilcox is (literally) caught in the crossfire of a shoot out on a public street that includes the city marshal, along with a number of local characters.

Bannon again takes us through the streets of the pueblo (with their pre-Anglo names), describing all the sites and sounds of that time, down to the dust on the clothing from unpaved streets. We are also reintroduced to the ethnic Mexicans, many having lived there when the pueblo was part of Mexico only 22 years prior. We are now introduced to Los Angeles' Chinatown of the time and some of that neighborhood's inhabitants. We also get some terrific descriptions of Southern California landscapes outside of town towards the end of the book that are wonderfully accurate.

This was a time of struggles as life was hard, but life inside of Maddie's rancho/vineyard seems a little less harsh and much more kind. And although Maddie has been a part of the town for 10 years, some life crises occur that shake Maddie to her core and causes her to take an inventory of her life.

This volume is a little tighter and sharper than the first book, as I think Bannon is settling into her characters. I very much enjoyed the journey of the whodoneit, but I also loved the continued character development of our "main cast". I am looking forward to book #3!