Second Lives is set in 1880s Denver, that period in our history known as the Gilded Age, when large fortunes were made and lost quickly, particularly in the West. This is not your typical western. No gunfighters, no Indians, not even a cowboy. Nobody gets shot or even beat up in a bar fight. And three of the principal characters are women.
Wheeler invents interesting folks.
Lorenzo Carthage, a.k.a. Lorenzo the Magnificent, is a mining genius who makes it and blows it all on monster parties and then makes it again. In describing Lorenzo's mining efforts, Wheeler clearly knows as much about 19th century mining practices as Terry C. Johnston, award-winning author of The Plainsmen , knows about frontier firearms. But the three females provide the material that makes Second Lives transcend the normal period piece. Dixie Ball loses a fortune on her first mining endeavor, ends up returning to her old job as a hotel maid, and works herself back to restaurant owner.