Eliza Ripple has spent exactly zero time mourning her husband, Peter. In fact, one can say she wasn’t even sad to hear that he was shot dead following a fight in a saloon. Her marriage, imposed upon her by controlling parents in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was not a happy one. When Peter announced that he planned to take them west in search of his fortune, Eliza was more than happy to get in the wagon that brought them to Monterey, California. Beyond that small bit of gratefulness for getting her away from her mother, she’s content to be on her own.

"A DANGEROUS BUSINESS is a quick read with some compelling relationships that build throughout the novel.... What I enjoyed most about the story was the glimpse of life in the American west through the eyes of the women."

While not something she ever imagined for herself, working in a whorehouse is the only job available to Eliza and her small skill set. Mrs. Parks, the madam, helped her when she needed work and has done everything possible to keep her and the other women safe. Still, it’s not one of the most secure positions for a single woman in the American west in the 1850s. When women start disappearing and turning up dead, Eliza and her friend Jean, who also works in the business, let their imaginations run wild, speculating on who they were and what happened to them.

On an afternoon outing with a friend, Eliza and Jean come across one of these women. When conversations with the authorities go nowhere --- and seeing how little they actually care about these victims --- the two decide that someone has to do something, and that someone just happens to be them.

Jean, who is much more calculating than Eliza, leads their investigation, looking for clues and asking questions. They hope to bring an end to the disappearances and possibly lead the authorities to the killer, which would make their work much safer. What they don’t count on is that the resolution they’re looking for lies all too close to home. Eliza suspects that any of her clients could be the guilty party. She scrutinizes their behaviors, asks more questions than usual, and worries that she might be the next body found.

Up until this point in her short life, Eliza has not been an overly curious person. She faces what’s right in front of her and goes along treating most of the fallbacks as just a part of life that must be dealt with. When her friendship with Jean and the investigation lead her to rethink a lot of her decisions and relationships --- especially with her mother --- she finally starts to understand who she is as a person and what she wants out of life.

A DANGEROUS BUSINESS is a quick read with some compelling relationships that build throughout the novel. No one is really who they say they are, not even Eliza. Once she gets more comfortable in her new skin, she becomes much more appealing as a character. What I enjoyed most about the story was the glimpse of life in the American west through the eyes of the women. While the opportunities were limited, the women were not, and I appreciated how Jane Smiley imbued each with a little feminist spark that made you want to root for them right through to the end.