Though Thieves Of Ostia was an assured and confident debut, this, the second in the PK Pinkerton series of western mysteries, is the delightful, well-crafted work of an experienced author. After all, I guessed the culprit early on in Thieves, but The Petrified Man kept me guessing till the final showdown.

Hired by by a terrified serving girl to find the man who murdered her mistress, a Soiled Dove ifyouknowwhatImeanandIthinkyoudo, the redoubtable, indefatigable but far from invulnerable PK cuts a swathe of chaos through Virginia City, 1862, with bullets and brawls and general upset following the investigation through saloons and cribs and newspaper offices and theaters and auctions houses. PK has a list of suspects and nothing, not desperadoes with guns or burning stables or lynch mobs or even jail is going to get in the way.

Funny, sharp, poignant, devilshly clever but also a wonderful and lively evocation of the Gold Rush town in all its glory, with an endearing and pragmatic protagonist whose oddly heartbreaking aim is to solve the enduring mystery of why people do the things they do.