by Vicki Delany
I have attempted wherever possible to keep the historical details of the Klondike Gold Rush, and the town of Dawson, Yukon Territory, accurate. Occasionally, however, it is necessary to stretch the truth in the interests of a good story. As Fiona remarks, there wasn’t a single murder in Dawson in the year of the town’s heyday, 1898, therefore I have taken the liberty of inventing one. A few historical personages make cameos in the book: Big Alex McDonald, Belinda Mulroney, Inspector Cortlandt Starnes, but all dramatic characters and incidents are the product of my imagination.
The reader who is interested in learning more about the Klondike Gold Rush is advised to begin with the definitive book on the subject Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush 1896-1899 by Pierre Berton. Also by Berton, The Klondike Quest: A Photographic Essay 1897-1899.
Other reading: • The Klondike Gold Rush: Photographs from 1896- 1899 by Graham Wilson • Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush by Lael Morgan • The Last Great Gold Rush: A Klondike Reader, edited by Graham Wilson • Women of the Klondike by Francis Blackhoue • The Real Klondike Kate by T. Ann Brennan • Gamblers and Dreamers: Women, Men and Community in the Klondike by Charlene Porsild • The Klondike Stampede by Tappan Adney For information about the NWMP: • They Got their Man: On Patrol with the North WestMounted by P.H. Godsell • The NWMP and Law Enforcement 1873-1905 by R.C. Macleod • Showing the Flag: The Mounted Police and Canadian Sovereignty in the North, 1894-1925 by W.R. Morrison • Sam Steele: Lion of the Frontier by R. Stewart
Gold Digger
A Klondike Mystery
Vicki Delany
Text © 2009 by Vicki Delany
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Cover design: Vasiliki Lenis
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