In 2022, Charlotte mystery writer Landis Wade launched his Indie Retirement Mystery Series with the publication of Deadly Declarations. I am pleased to report that the second book in the series, Deadly Gold Rush, will be out next month. The official launch date for the book is March 3, 2026, but I had the privilege and pleasure of being able to read an advance review copy.
Deadly Gold Rush brings back the feisty trio of retirees who all live at the Independence Retirement Community (Indie) in Charlotte. Their penchant for solving crimes and their love of North Carolina history brought them together in the first volume, Deadly Declarations, which revolved around a mystery related to the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. In this second volume, they get caught up in a fast-moving case involving the history of gold mining in Charlotte during the 1830s.
As was the case in Deadly Declarations, what happened in the past has present-day reverberations. Deadly Gold Rush involves a dangerous treasure hunt for missing gold coins, a murder trial, and a touch of romance. Deadly Gold Rush is an entertaining mystery as well as a fascinating introduction to Charlotte’s history as the epicenter for the first gold rush in the United States.
I recently contacted Landis and asked him how he went about researching the history of gold mining in Charlotte and how he incorporated this history in Deadly Gold Rush. Here is what he sent to me:
The idea for Deadly Gold Rush came well before the research. In the epilogue of Deadly Declarations, the first novel in the Indie Retirement Mystery series, one main character— the one who loves a good mystery—turned to the other two main characters and asked if they’d heard about the old gold mine shafts beneath uptown Charlotte. “Should we look into it?” he asked. The other characters wanted no part of the assignment, but I did.
My research started with Shelia Bumgarner who was with the Robinson-Spangler room before she retired. She shared what she knew about Charlotte’s Gold Rush period and pointed me to historian Tom Hanchett who shared what he knew and pointed me to Dan Morrill, who was kind enough to share papers he’d written on the Charlotte gold rush period, including the Rudisill Gold Mine, where gold was mined for more than 100 years.
I then used newspapers.com to search for articles from the 1820s to 1860s and scoured the internet for source material, which let to ordering several books, including The Carolina Gold Rush by Bruce Roberts (McNally and Loftin, 1971). I also made an appointment to visit the Mint Museum’s collection where I found blueprints from the first branch of the US Mint built in Charlotte in 1837, and where Ellen Show, Archives Director, kindly gave me a tour of the basement and outside structure built with materials from the original Mint. She also helped with research on the gold eagle that hangs on the backside of the Mint Museum.
When I decided to put a dead body in the old Rudisill Mine in South End and drape it in 1830s gold coins, I connected with Brian Trietley, numismatist with Independence Coin, for his knowledge about rare gold coinage, their value, and forgeries.
When I needed to know more about the history of mining gold in South End and Charlotte’s efforts (or lack thereof) to preserve the history, I connected with Caren Wingate and Mike Sullivan of the Gold District non-profit.
I am grateful to these experts for their time helping me learn about the Charlotte Gold Rush period, a key plot point in the development of Charlotte as a city of commerce. I am hopeful I have packaged just enough history into Deadly Gold Rushto peak reader interest but not too much to slow the action.
For readers who want to know more about Landis and his new novel, please click on the following link: https://landiswade.com/ For readers who would like to meet Landis and hear him talk about his new novel, here is information about three public events related to the launch of Deadly Gold Rush:
March 3, 2026: Park Road Books: 6:30 to 7:30 pm – author reading and discussion:https://parkroadbooks.com/event/2026-03-03/landis-wade-discusses-his-new-book-deadly-gold-rush
March 11, 2026: Hopfly Brewing in South End: 5:30 to 7:30 pm – Book launch with beer, Gold District history, book discussion with mystery writer Cathy Pickens, and socializing.
March 14, 2026: Charlotte Museum of History: 10:30 to 11:30 – Stories from Charlotte’s Gold Rush period, followed by a tour of the Rock House and a cooking demonstration: https://charlottemuseum.org/programs-events/events/deadly-gold-rush-stories-from-charlottes-1830s-gold-rush-and-a-modern-day-mystery/
Landis Wade’s Deadly Gold Rush is the perfect book or all of us in Storied Charlotte who enjoy a mystery with a dash of history.