Bad Money

Dev Mallory, an agent with a secret branch of the President's Secret Service, in August 1887 is dispatched to Denver. An employee of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has disappeared and with him the knowledge to create metal plates and produce fake C-notes. Mallory's mission is to locate the plates and shut down the counterfeiters. If you grew up reading westerns (Brand, Grey, L'Amour, Shirreffs) as I did, then you can appreciate a new title. For one thing, this tale is set in Denver, still a rough frontier town, but it's also a bustling city, replete with its street gangs, sanitation problems, and big hotels. Dev is a likeable protagonist, more fond of rapturous ladies than strong drink. The "mystery within the mystery" finds the counterfeit gang members getting murdered. Puckish humor includes a houseful of kittens. As always, the prose is muscular and elegant. Enjoy it all.