Description
Book SynopsisWashington Territory, 1888. With contacts on the docks and in the railroad, and with a buyers' market funneling product their way, Alma Rosales and her opium-smuggling crew are making a fortune. They spend their days moving product and their nights at the Monte Carlo, the center of Tacoma's queer scene, where skirts and trousers don't signify and everyone's free to suit themselves.
Then two local men end up dead, with all signs pointing to the opium trade, and a botched effort to disappear the bodies draws lawmen to town. Alma scrambles to keep them away from her operation but is distracted by the surprise appearance of Bess Spenceran ex-Pinkerton''s agent and Alma's first loveafter years of silence. A handsome young stranger comes to town, too, and falls into an affair with one of Alma''s crewmen. When he starts asking questions about opium, Alma begins to suspect she's welcomed a spy into her inner circle, and is forced to consider how far she'll go to protect her trade.<
