I read this chiefly for its setting during the time of the Incan empire in a city in what is now Bolivia.

It was a decent mystery, if a little convoluted. The ending was quite satisfying. ( )

I don't like admitting it, but my knowledge of South America is woefully inadequate; however, it is due to books like Annamaria Alfieri's City of Silver, that I'm taking up some of the slack. This book takes place in 1650s Potosí in what is now Bolivia. At that time, it was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere (comparable in size to London) and the richest city in the entire world-- a position it had held for almost a century because of the area's fabulous silver mines. And due to its 14,000-foot elevation, it's also the highest city in the world.

The setting alone almost blew me away. The author's tapestry is so carefully and closely woven, you almost don't realize how much you're learning about the time and place. When readers start learning about the social history, it gets even better. What it's like living at such high altitude when the windows of the buildings are unglazed (have no glass in them). What it's like to have such unheard-of wealth at your disposal that your everyday dishes are solid silver. My mind was almost boggled-- and I loved it.

But City of Silver is no mere history lesson; it's also a marvelous mystery. From the opening scene in a mine that raised the hair on the back of my neck to the investigation surrounding Inez de la Morada's death, the mystery is multi-layered and totally compelling. The book is imbued with high altitude chill and a pervading sense of danger. The characters are revealed slowly, and almost all of them grow and change with the circumstances.

If you enjoy historical mysteries set in exotic places, I highly recommend Alfieri's City of Silver. Part of me is still on that mountaintop in Potosí. ( )

It took me a while to get into this historical mystery, set in Potosi, Peru during the time the Spanish controlled and exploited that part of the world.

Potosi is essentially a mining town set below a mountain of silver ore, and people have been mining the silver for decades. The people who had been getting rich sending the silver to the King of Spain are facing the exhaustion of the mine. Rumors claim the coins created in Potosi are not made of silver alone, which reduces the value of the coins. For this reason and others, the Visitador (civil authority) and a representative of the Inquisition are paying the town a visit.

While this is going on, two headstrong young women are fighting with their families for very different reasons, and both end up in the convent of the the Abbess Maria Santa Hilda. When one of them is found dead and barricaded in her cell, an apparent suicide, the Abbess, her community, her friends all fall under the scrutiny of the Inquisitor.

The story is part romance, part history, part mystery. Once the basics had been laid down, the pace picked up and I was able to enjoy the chase. And while the ending was a little peremptory, the resolutions were satisfying. ( )

Historical fiction, an interesting book focusing on the land of Peru during the time of Spain's majesty. Silver mines and the Inquisition feature heavily, with complex characters and plots holding the reader's attention. A good read. ( )

"Potosi had a Spanish soul: proud, greedy, cruel, and noble. It had beauty. Grandeur. Chaos."

Potosi is the location of Alfieri's terrific historical mystery, "City of Silver". This murder mystery is set in 1650 in the then Peruvian city nestled against a silver-rich mountain that made the city one of the wealthiest places in not only the new world, but the entire world.

The story revolves around the discovery of girl found dead in a room of a convent. She's naked, the door is locked, there's no other entrance, and no apparent cause of death. Threaded through this mystery is the arrival of the King's emissary investigating whether the coinage produced at Potosi is being blended with lesser metals. Not only could this spell financial disaster for the Potosi community, but the church's representative of the Inquisition in New Spain is arriving as well.

While things may seem a bit melodramatic, the story pulls together very very well. Alfieri's world is vividly reproduced, and maintains a genuinely New World feel. She absolutely nails the tone and voice of the era. There are shades of Gary Jennings' New World in Alfier's Potosi, and the characters are strongly built, but not as boldly as Jennings' worlds of the Aztec.

The characters are strong and familiar. Padre Junipero and Abbess Maria are both bastions of the religious communities in Potosi, but have deep seated dark secrets that led them to the Church and led them to this city far from their homes in native Spain. The local representative of the church's Inquisition is full of bile and takes irredeemable joy in sending sinners to the auto de fe. Cliched, perhaps, but the character development moves at an appropriate pace and, with only one exception, did I find their back stories conclude less dramatically than foreshadowed.

I have no reservations in recommending this read to fans of both historical fiction and historical mysteries. ( )