Silk Trains. Fan dancers. Opium Dens. More dangerous than chasing Klondike gold. Down on his luck gentleman John Lansdowne Granville washes up in Vancouver, hungry and broke. Running from his past, afraid of his future. Until he his best friend's arrest for murder. Granville's desperate hunt to find the real killer before they hang his friend takes him to the seedy side of the city; to burlesque halls, gambling joints and down along Dupont Street - two blocks of brothels and opium dens along the reeking mudflats. Along the way he finds companionship in odd places and an ally-and more-in Emily Turner, the emancipated daughter of a very Victorian father. At the turn of the last century, sleek liners carried a fortune in silk from the Orient to Vancouver. The costly material, insured by the day, was rushed to New York in specially designed silk trains, which became the target of every crook across the continent. "The Silk Train Murder" was nominated for an Arthur Ellis award for Best First Novel. ..".an impressive debut...lots of colorful historical detail..."-Booklist (starred review) "Rowse knows her characters-how they think, how they act and interact. ... The chemistry between Turner and Granville is potent and charming, focused more on investigation than romance, but with enough hints of a lasting partnership for future installments. It's just another of the many unexpected pleasures that make Rowse one of Canada's newest mystery writers to watch.."-Quill & Quire (starred review) "Talk about a big, bubbling stewpot of a book ... delicious... Rowse, a first-time novelist, has delivered a wild ride through a colorful, relatively unknown period in North American history, and she's populated it with a host of unforgettable characters. Her protagonist, the Honorable Granville, makes an appealing leading man, and his lady love, the liberated Emily Turner, provides the perfect romantic coda to this rip-roaring adventure." -Mystery Scene Magazine