Research, research. I think it’s the reason I write historical novels. Here are some places that are mentioned in the novel set in San Antonio, Texas, 1901.
Menger Hotel (lots happens here)
County courthouse
Brackenridge Park
Otto Koehler’s house
Southwestern Insane Asylum
Buckhorn’s Saloon
Alderman Richter’s Bakery
San Pedro Park
Meta’s homestead
And, believe it or not, the original location of Fannie Porter’s bordello at the corner of Durango and San Saba. (a bit different now!)
My novel, The Last Bordello, is not merely a who-dun-it. It’s a story about powerful women on opposing sides of a coin (or a bordello chit).
Unable to obtain money in other ways, some women found prostitution to be their only means of survival.
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Suffragettes fought to improve the lives of all women. At the time, they were seen as an opposing force to the ladies of the night. But were they?
The Last Bordello depicts the struggle of both sides.
Inspirations for the novel – true characters in The Last Bordello (San Antonio in 1901) Opposing forces or unified goals?
Madam Fannie Porter
Butch Cassidy
Kid Curry
Etta Place and the Sundance Kid
Helen M. Stoddard
Mayor Bryan Callaghan
Mary Eleanor Brackenridge
Minnie Fisher (Cunningham)
Carry Nation
Mayor Marshal Hicks
Otto Koehler
It’s done. Finished. Inches away from publication. Whew!
Madam Fannie Porter runs the best bordello in Texas. Just ask the outlaws she harbored and entertained for the weekend—Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch.
But when the gang rides off, Sadie, her best soiled dove, is left unhinged.
While the Pinkerton Detective Agency remains in hot pursuit of the outlaws, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union plans a town rally against alcohol and prostitution.
Neither is good news for Miss Fannie.
First, she will never give up a client. Second, while pondering the upcoming temperance powwow, she relies on her business savvy. She forbids her girls from attending the meeting and hires a pianist, the talented, yet virtuous, Meta, to keep the customers coming.
When a temperance woman is found murdered, Sadie becomes the key suspect. Now, Miss Fannie and Meta must discover the truth before the WCTU—or the killer—nails the red door, or another coffin, shut.
Carolyn Dennis-Willingham 