READERS MAY find it useful to know that I drew on past events and real locations for much inspiration. All of the locations in Coeur d’Alene and the Silver Valley described in this novel really existed in the 1980s and ’90s, including Albi’s Bar and Grill, the Oasis Brothel Rooms, the Sixth Street Melodrama, the old sheriff’s office, the Sunshine Mine, the Coeur d’Alene Resort (built on the site of the Potlatch mill), the office next to the resort, and the cabin where Kev died.
A trip to the real Silver Valley is mandatory for those interested in the region, especially a visit to the Wallace District Mining Museum, curated by the able and helpful John Amonson. I also recommend these books: Fire in the Hole: The Untold Story of Hardrock Miners, by Jerry Dolph (Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press, 1994); Wyatt Earp and Coeur d’Alene Gold! Stampede to Idaho Territory, by Jerry Dolph and Arthur Randall (Coeur d’Alene, ID: Museum of North Idaho, 2008 / Eagle City, 2005); The Sunshine Mine Disaster (poems), by James Brock (Tampa, FL: Florida Gulf Coast, 1998); Steamboats in the Timber, by Ruby El Hult (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Press, 1952).
Further helpful information came from Robbie Burrows of the Seattle FBI Field Office and Father Tom of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Wallace, both of whom I thank for their assistance. The assistance of Kootenai Health (formerly Kootenai Memorial Hospital); the Thurston County Sheriff’s Department in Olympia, Washington; and the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has also been invaluable.
I will take this opportunity to point out that every one of the sheriff’s deputies, law enforcement officials, and citizens of Shoshone and Kootenai Coun ties who assisted me in research for this work were kind and noble persons. In particular, I recall with pleasure my time in Kellogg with Sherrill and Pat Grounds, who are the only real people to appear as characters in this story. I hope to honor Pat’s memory with a book that I think she would have greatly enjoyed.
Pat and I both knew that no Idahoan would undertake the unsavory and unethical activities I describe. Thus it was necessary to invent a completely fictional place—Bitterroot County—of wholly imaginary persons who were less noble and more suspect, all in the service of an interesting novel. I do hope that the people of Coeur d’Alene and the Silver Valley will forgive my depredations on the good character of their delightful communities.