In 1800s Blair is returned from his work in Africa by his employer to find out what happened to his daughters fiance., young curate, Maypole Who has disappeared. Wigin is a coal mining town and there are many people who do not want Maypole found and want Blair gone. The story was engaging and the descriptions of coal mining in 1800s fascinating. ( )

good mystery in Pit/coal mines England

The year is 1872. The place is Wigan, England, a coal town where rich mine owners live lavishly alongside miners no better than slaves. Into this dark, complicated world comes Jonathan Blair, who has accepted a commission to find a missing man.

When he begins his search every road leads back to one woman, a haughty, vixenish pit girl named Rose. With her fiery hair and skirts pinned up over trousers, she cares nothing for a society that calls her unnatural, scandalous, erotic.

A tight, tensely plotted mystery/thriller set in a 19th-century English coal-mining town. Kept me up late at night! ( )

Martin Cruz Smith has written something especially fine with Rose. Those familiar with Smith know that the quality of his writing extends far beyond those bestselling-blockbuster-plot-driven spy novels that share the bestseller lists with him. Martin Cruz Smith believes in characters, those fleshed-out figures that make readers care about the who and the what of a finely tuned novel. Rose takes place in a small coal mining town in 19th century England, amongst the rugged miner's community and the refined high manor home of Bishop Hannay. The story has an African explorer being reluctantly convinced, "drafted", into the role of an investigator. His case involves the disappearance of the poor local minister, who was to have married the wealthy bishop's daughter. Our "draftee" gets deeply involved, in the mines, with the rough miners and scandalous pit girls, the Lord's household, and with Rose herself. My recommendation is strong for this book because it does so much to richly reward the reader. Lastly, it shows well that the heights and depths of true civilization often have nothing to do with whether one is rich or poor, refined or coarse. ( )

The year is 1872. The place is Wigan, England - a nineteenth-century town in the coal-mining district of Lancashire. Into this dark, complicated world where wealthy mine owners live like royalty alongside miners who are treated no better than slaves, comes Jonathan Blair, a mining engineer who has accepted a commission to find a missing man. Recently returned from Africa's Gold Coast, Jonathan finds his native England utterly depressing and soon falls into melancholy and alcoholism.

Desperate to return to Africa, Jonathan agrees to investigate the disappearance of a local curate who was engaged to marry the daughter of Jonathan's patron. As he begins his search, every road leads back to one woman - a haughty, vixenish pit girl named Rose. With her fiery hair and skirts pinned up over trousers, she cares nothing for a society that call her unnatural, scandalous and a 'loose' woman.

As Rose and Jonathan circle one another, first warily, then with the heat of mutual desire, Blair loses his balance. And the lull induced by Rose's sensual touch leaves Jonathan totally unprepared for the bizarre, soul-scorching truth.

I found that this book was very interesting, although the ending was extremely convoluted. I had to find out what happened in the book, even though I couldn't really understand the mining practices of 19th-century England that were written about in such detail. I give this book an A! ( )