The Pearl of Ruby City

The 1890s silver-mining town of Ruby City, Wash., is the setting for this mediocre launch of a series featuring town laundress Pearl Ryan. An aspiring physician, Pearl is saving for medical college while working alongside Doc Stringfellow when the sudden death of Mayor Shaky McDonald raises the specter of poison. Although Shaky had no obvious enemies, the fatal shooting of the avaricious Jake Pardee, livery stable owner, produces a horde of suspects. When two more deaths occur in quick succession, Pearl searches for a common thread among the victims. Harris conveys a clear sense of Ruby City's rough-hewn energy, but the narrative, burdened by too much period detail and too many characters, never develops much drive to carry readers along. Pearl, a feisty Irishwoman who, like most of the characters, is running from the past, fails to stand out from the busy, undifferentiated background. Her past is revealed and her future resolved in the conclusion, but it's slow going to reach this point. (Oct.)