Bad Women of the West

As a western writer, I spend a lot of time reading books about the time period. Much has been written about bad men, but what about outlaw or bad women of the west? From the beginning of time women, just like men have gone astray. In the current book I’m writing my heroine who is a bounty hunter, is working as a card dealer in a saloon to catch the man she’s hunting.

The idea came from reading a book called The Lady Was A Gambler: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West by Chris Enss. The book tells the tales of fifteen women who either gambled or were dealers at the saloons or gambling halls. Interesting reading of how women were used to distract men and help them lose their money.

Another book I’ve found very interesting for research is The Bedside Book of Bad Girls: Outlaw Women of the American West by Michael Rutter. The story about Kate Bender at Benders Bloody Inn was one of the scariest tales I’ve read. It made me think twice about stopping at a hotel for the night.

My latest read is a book called Tough Towns: True Tales from the Gritty Streets of the Old West by Robert Barr Smith. This book is about how ordinary citizens took back their towns from the bad guys who invaded. I haven’t finished this book yet, but so far it’s been interesting reading.

Coming Release -- Deadly: Lipstick and Lead Series Book 2

This Friday, the first full length novel Deadly, in my new series Lipstick and Lead comes out. The heroine in this story is one of my favorites and in fact all of the sisters in these books have been fun to write, but Meg has stayed with me.

We first met the sisters in the Novella, Desperate.

Meg's a woman forced by life to take over the care of her sisters, wear men’s clothes and when her father dies, she must find a way to save their family farm. After trying a typical job for a woman back in her time period, she and her sisters become bounty hunters like their father. It’s a profession they know, but they’re women chasing bad guys.

Only Meg has a dream. A dream of owning her own dress shop and dressing like a woman. And her hero…well let’s just say they have a past that involved her leaving him tied up and naked on main street.

Here’s an excerpt from Deadly:

Vacation - All I Ever Wanted

So it’s June. School is out or very nearly out for many kids, and it’s time to start thinking about getting away. We leave very soon for Colorado where we will visit family and go up to our property and talk to the builder we’ve chosen. While we’re there, we’ll do some hiking, fishing and resting. I’m emphasizing that last point because frankly I’m needing the resting part.

To me there are two types of vacations. The whirlwind where you’re trying to see and visit everything and the one where you’re just resting. I have to say that the one we’re about to embark on will be a combination of both. There will be some downtime, but there is also the whirlwind where we will visit three different family members in three different cities. There would have been a fourth, but I nixed that one and said sorry. No time.

My favorite vacations are the ones where you rent a house on the beach, and all you do is go down the steps to the ocean get wet and then go back in the house or sit on the veranda and stare at the ocean. You can do this with the mountains as well, but most of the time we’re out hiking or doing something in the mountains.

Saloon Girls of the Old West

Yeah, I knew that would grab your attention right away, and I aim to please. If you were around in the sixties and even the seventies, I’m sure you saw Gunsmoke with Marshal Matt Dillon. And who else…Miss Kitty.

Did anyone else realize that Miss Kitty ran the saloon and would have been a well dressed whore? I was only five years old, how would I have known that she was sleeping with the cowboys for money. And why didn’t the sheriff ever marry her?

Since I like for my westerns to be as historically accurate as possible, I do a lot of research on the west.  One of my favorite books is Hell’s Half Acre by Richard F. Selcer. This book is about the half acre of Fort Worth, Texas back during the height of the cattle driving days.  He talks about prostitution back in the old west and how it contributed to the local economy. Women were not allowed in most saloons, but they were close by. Most women rented rooms above the saloon where the randy cowboys would pay them a visit.  

While we like to think of a prostitute in the old west looking like Miss Kitty, most were between the ages of fourteen and twenty and were hardened women with names like Big Nose Kate, Squirrel-Tooth Alice, Irish Kate and Monkey. Yes, can you imagine a cowboy coming in and asking for Monkey?