This book is a follow-up to Cottonwood (2004) which featured a Kansas town in 1872 and saloon owner and photographer Bill Ogden. Eventually, Bill turns up in San Francisco in 1980, but it's not clear what he's been doing in the interim. Hop Alley answers those questions, and gives us Bill Ogden, now living as Bill Sadlaw, in the frontier town of Denver in 1878. He's now running a photo studio near the Chinese part of town knows as Hop Alley, and carrying on an affair with Priscilla, a singer addicted to laudanum. However, Bill's life isn't easy; he has to face the murder of his housekeeper's brother-in-law, Priscilla's increasing instability, and the riot that is simmering in Hop Alley.
Admittedly, I would not have picked this book up if it hadn't been part of a project I'm working on right now. I don't usually read westerns (Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is the exception). The fact that this is a western written by an author who is known for his noir writing does make it more interesting. However, I never warmed up to Bill, or really cared about him too much. The fact that he has a lively sex life (not romantic life; there is a distinction) didn't really add much to the story for me. What I found more interesting was that he is a photographer, and I would have liked a bit more about that in the story.
I'm not sure what kind of reader I'd suggest this book to. It's not noir, but I don't know if it has enough appeal to readers who really enjoy westerns. My suggestion, if this sounds like an interesting story to you, would be to read about it on Goodreads and see if it sounds like your kind of book.
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