This Wild, Wild Country

This book is set in two years 1933 and 1970. In 1933,Cornelia Stover sets out to find an old timers mine in order to save her hôtel. She scandalisés her town society by taking her Native American friend with her.

In 1970, Mike is found dead at a commune party on the oroperty of his aunt Geraldine, Cornelia's daughter.

Geraldine's daughter Glitter and Joanna Riley, a ex Alberquerque cop,set out to find the mine against small town prejudice.

Another good tale from Inga Vesper


Thank you to Netgalley and Bonnier Publishing for the chance to review this book.

This was an enjoyable read that took me a while to get into, but once I did I enjoyed it a lot more. The writing was good and the story was interesting with a dual timeline, the characters were well developed but there was a lot of characters which got a bit confusing at first, but again when I got into the story this was easier. Overall an enjoyable read,

This story is set across two time zones, 1930’s and 1970. Boldville is a quiet town, which was a popular during the gold rush. Since those times it has become somewhere that time forgot, with the fortunes of the locals much diminished. There are events that are not talked about, and a lot of the residents have a secret or two.

I seem to be in the minority in that I really liked this book. I found the storytelling intriguing and captivating, and the quality of writing excellent. There were a lot of characters which took some time to get familiar with, but they were well written. The ending was a little drawn out, but it did all tie up.

I absolutely loved The Long, Long Afternoon, and whilst this wasn’t quite up to that it was still very enjoyable and I would definitely recommend.

One small point - the Ben and Jerry comment just under a third of the way through - couldn’t have been said in 1970, as B and J was founded in 1978!

Thank you NetGalley.

Reading This Wild, Wild Country by Inga Vesper is one I devoured in no time and is exciting a read as her first novel.

Meet Glitter, a young hippy woman in 1970 trying to settle her commune back in her old home town of Boldville. Why has Glitter returned to the place where the residents frown upon her lifestyle and shun her and her commune family? Well, her cousin, Mike has a fondness for the town and thinks the commune could settle there to share their message of love. However, after one eventful party Mike if found dead, which leads Glitter on a decades old mystery.

Cornelia Stover is struggling to keep her hotel afloat in 1933. Running the business on her own in Boldville, New Mexico and the locals don’t feel its right that a woman should be doing such a thing on her own and least of all with a Native Indian as a staff member. When Cornelia stumbles upon a hidden secret high in the hills she takes off but leaves behind her daughter Geraldine and disappears.
Back in 1970 and Joanna Riley is looking for a place to hide from her abusive husband, but she’s not sure she will ever be far enough away, and can she really leave him for good? As Joanna parks up in Boldville she realises that something isn’t quite right with the town, as an ex cop her senses tingle. When Joanna comes across Glitter and the death of her cousin Mike, Joanna can’t help but look into the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. Joanna and Glitter get caught up in a dark and twisted mystery leading back to Glitter’s grandmother, Cornelia Stover at the heart of it and the towns shady secrets.

There are some tough themes explored within this story, and the way the characters behave within their situations and surroundings really make you think. The dividedness of the central family relationships and seeing how they realise that their good intentions were causing chaos, that reached through the decades was something I enjoyed seeing unravel.

This story is perfectly constructed with the mystery revealed through the timelines of our main characters telling us their story. Each element is crafted at the opportunistic moment for greater impact, but it did keep a little bit of the mystery aside until the last moment. The writing is effortless and really showcases the talent of Inga Vesper as everything has been thoughtfully planned. I think I may have said after reviewing Inga’s first novel that she is a talent to keep an eye on, and I am certainly going to be seeking out her next novel.

"They hate me down there, in Boldville. I can read it in their eyes, smell it on their noxious breaths. That dreaded little town hates everything about me: not just my personality and form, the clothes I wear, but the way I think. The things that I know."

It's 1970 in the small town of Boldville, New Mexico. At the Stover Hotel, run by Geraldine Stover and recently returned hippy daughter Lauren (AKA Glitter) and her commune firneds, have a new guest. Joanna, a former cop from Alberque, has fled her abusive husband. When Glitter's cousin Mike is found dead from an apparent overdose, Glitter and Joanna discover Boldville's residents are hiding so very old secrets.
In 1934, widowed yet determined Cornelia (Nellie) Stover is broke, struggling to run the Stover Hotel. She gets the scent of gold in the hills and sets off with her indigenous American worker, Lonan, hoping to solve her money worries. But Lonan doesn't return and soon Nellie has disappeared too, leaving daughter Geraldine. Will Glitter and Joanna uncover the town's dirty secrets in time?

With three strong female protagonists and two time periods, the focus is on the dilapidated, former mining town of Boldville, with its racism, misogyny, its fear of 'hippies' and its sinister and controlling sheriff. Atmospheric and simmering with the heat and the dust of the mountains and the lies and desperation of the townspeople, there is a mystery to be revealed. As with the author's debut, The Long Long Afternoon, I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the characters, the setting and the beautifully written plot. Thank you to the publisher for giving me access to a @netgalley eARC.

I think this book would make a great movie. Set in the mountains and spanning generations of gold diggers with unsolved mysteries, it makes quite a complex read. At times I struggled to keep up with all the characters, particularly as some had two names - their given name and new hippie name. I liked the thread about Joanna and her abusive husband the best. Women did not have a good deal in the seventies!

Desolate town in the middle of nowhere with secrets and a tragic past. Yes please!
Deeply disturbing with a sense of foreboding which built nicely.
The setting is excellent and the characters creepy. Good to have the two time lines as you often don't with crine or suspense novels really.

This author is fast becoming one of my favourites after having also enjoying the long long afternoon, this book didn’t dissapoint.

My only criticism would be that I was confused at time between which character I was reading. Possibly a lack of concentration on my part however just a little more could have been done to make them more distinctive.

Otherwise really enjoyed! One thing this author does well is settings and I felt like I was there in the mountains! Look forward to more from this author!

Honestly? loved this book! It’s unlike anything else I’ve read recently, so it really stood out to me.
I got caught up in the adventures of Glitter immediately. It was so well written, the characters had really been thought about and their personalities revealed themselves as the book went along. The atmosphere the author created was just….electric! I hadn’t expected to be so invested in this book yet, here I am.
It does, at times, require a bit more concentration as it’s hard to lose the narrative of who’s speaking when. (But that’s just being a big picky and it seems to be a common thread with readers), it doesn’t detract from the story and doesn’t change the fact that I loved it.

I also didn’t realise that the author had a previous novel, so I’ve now ordered that for myself also, cannot wait to read more from this author.

Thanks to the author, the public and Netgalley for my arc.
5 out of 5!

This Wild, Wild Country
Cordelia Stover is mountain climbing in the chilly pre-dawn in New Mexico. Left a widow with a young daughter and a failing business, she is determined to achieve a better life. It’s 1934 and the people of Boldville whisper about her. ‘She’s crazy!’ they say and make insinuations about her having a Native American, Lonan, living in her house and working for her. But Cordelia’s come to the mountains on a quest for something that will solve all her problems. But neither she or Lonan are ever seen again and she leaves her young daughter Geraldine behind, to be brought up by her grandmother.
It's now 1970 and hippiedom is still holding sway although the flipside of the summer of love, Altamont and the Manson murders, have happened. Glitter aka Lauren has returned to Boldville from San Francisco and is keen to establish a commune in her mother’s backyard at the Stover hotel with her similarly exotically named friends. And they’ve brought the local biker gang, the Blood Brothers, to join in. But for all the high ideals and talk of love and peace, it still seems to be the women who do the housework, raise the children and provide sex. When she complains, her partner, Ziggy, merely says ‘I love it when you go all bourgeois baby.’ Glitter grew up on the story of her wayward grandmother, Cordelia, a woman ahead of her time.
Joanna has run away from her abusive husband Dwayne and when her gas ran out, she found herself in Boldville. The town is preparing for its centenary and the impending amusement park to bring in visitors. She knows that Dwayne will be at a strip club, stop by the gas station to buy her flowers and then come home to tell her that he beats her because ‘he loves her too much’. But this time he will find her gone. She’s an ex-cop, tired of doing the admin work considered appropriate for female cops, but still keeps up her links with the force.
Boldville is not an exciting prospect despite the coming celebrations and has ‘all the airs and graces of a 40 year old spinster’. There are 2 hotels: the Stover and the Grand Bonanza, both a little shabby. The Grand Bonanza is ‘like the old women at church whose lipstick always goes over the lines in – inexpertly maintained but with an underlying sense of dignity.’
Then one of Glitter’s group, Mike, is found dead and, although it’s seen initially seen as a fall after taking an overdose, it soon becomes apparent that it’s murder. He said before his death that ‘this town is pure poison.’
And the whole town knows the legend of Tomkins gold mine up in the mountains. But is it more than a legend? Joanna starts looking into it and so do other people. All is not well under the apparently ordinary façade of the town. People have a habit of disappearing; Cordelia, Lonan, Eckersley who tried to report Sheriff Nickel for failing to investigate a suspicious death in 1944 and Tomkins’ gold mining partner, Prosperity Rogers. There’s also the matter of who owns the land on which the legendary gold mine and proposed park are on…someone knows what happened to Cordelia and why… The strange atmosphere of the town and the surrounding landscape add to the mysterious events but is there really a dark spirit at work or is it just greed?
I really enjoyed Inga Vesper’s first novel, ‘The Long, Long Afternoon’ and was looking forward to her second one. It didn’t disappoint. 1970 was an interesting year to use as a backdrop as American society was in transition. Glitter does question her role within it as she is between 2 worlds: conservative Boldville and her alternative lifestyle.
But then all 3 women are outside the norm; Cordelia, a businesswoman on her own but who can’t get a loan to save her business, Joanna leaving her husband and Glitter looking for another life. And its Glitter and Joanna who discover the awful truth about what happened to Cordelia. This was a very well plotted book with enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages. The plot structure also worked well with Cordelia telling her story in flashback and Joanna and Glitter in the present day. I also really liked the supernatural element to the story as well with Cordelia feeling that she may have brought something bad back with her on her first visit to the mountains. She sees a man watching the hotel and senses dark spirits.
A good, solid murder mystery with believable characters set against an exciting time of change. Already looking forward to the author’s next book!
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC

It’s the start of a new blog tour and also publication day for This Wild, Wild Country by Inga Vesper, so I’m pleased to be able to start it all off on an enthusiastic note.

Although neither of the dual timelines in this novel feature the Old West, it really does have that feel to it. Perhaps it’s because, even though Joanna is living in the 20th Century, the town of Boldville really isn’t. Even in the 1970s, the men still hold sway and the old American ways are refusing to make way for the new.

When Glitter returns to her home town with her friends and attempts to set up a commune, bad things start to happen including the death of her cousin – are the authorities too quick to write it off as a tragic accident?

As Joanna’s cop-sense starts to tingle, she and Glitter delve into a decades-old mystery that has its roots in the Gold Rush and led to the disappearance of Glitter’s grandmother. A wall of silence, the Wheeler-Howard act and Glitter’s distrust of Joanna as one of the ‘Pigs’ all stand in the way of the truth…

I love a dual timeline novel and this one handles the switch between timelines really well. There are similarities between the two time periods that Inga Vesper has chosen, and the spirit and determination of the women in these time periods really shines through.

I really liked Glitter as a character – she has left home at the earliest opportunity to find a new way to live, and she’s returned home still determined to live her own life, but disillusioned with much of what she’s experienced. I felt she really grew as a character as she discovered more about her grandmother and her determination.

There are some really tricky subjects covered in the book, and they are very sensitively handled. Domestic violence is a big part of Joanna’s story and, although she is in a better place after the novel is finished, I would love to know how she fares after the final chapter.

A thoroughly enjoyable book, and a group of strong, inspirational women – highly recommended.