Roaring 20's Romance

Martini Club 4 – The 1920s

Amanda McCabe, Alicia Dean, Kathy L Wheeler and Krysta Scott have a unique friendship. Yes, they are all romance writers, and at different stages in their writing careers. But every Friday night, schedules permitting, they meet at the Martini Lounge in Edmond, Oklahoma where they chitchat, plan retreats to get away and for just a general get away. Over a period of time the idea to create a series of stories where the Martini Lounge would serve as a backdrop—well, as writers, that was inevitable. So here we are with our first go at it. Welcome to 1920s New York City where four young women run away from England excited to make their own way in a new world.

All four stories are now available for the pre-order price of **$0.99** until February 26, 2015, the official release.

Rebellious: Martini Club 4 Series – The 1920s

Amanda McCabe

Blurb: Can an aristocratic lady melt the cold heart of a Russian gangster? 

Lady Jessica Hatton fled her high-society London debutante life for one of investigative journalism in New York—only to be relegated to the fashion pages. Searching for a juicy story leads her to Club 501, the city's most glamorous speakeasy—and its handsome, mysterious owner, Frank Markov. But his past of war and revolution puts their hearts—and their lives—in danger... 

Excerpt: “Do you smell that, Meggie?” Jessica Hatton cried as she leaned into the cold, salt spray wind, her t-strap shoes perched on the lowest rung of the ship's railing.  She'd lost her hat, and the short strands of her hair blew into her eyes, but she didn't care.  England was far behind them.  They had escaped.

          “It smells like freedom!” she shouted, and threw up her arms.  It felt like she could fly all the way to America.

          “I only smell old fish,” Meggie said.  “Now come down from there, Jess.  If you tumble into the drink, it will all be over before it even starts.”

          Jessica laughed and shook her head, but she did climb down.  She spun around to see Meggie stretched out on one of the deck chairs, the glossy mink collar of her coat drawn close around her.

          The sky was grey and dismal-looking, the water not as glassy-smooth as when they slid past Ireland yesterday and headed out to open sea.  Several of the passengers had retreated to their cabins, but Jessica couldn't stand staying inside.  Not when there was so much to be seen.

          “It smells like fish and freedom,” Jessica insisted.  “But we can go in now.  Maybe Charlotte and Eliza will want to play some cards or mah-jong.”

          “Finally,” Meggie grumbled as she swung her feet down to the damp deck.  But her smile was broad.  Jessica knew Meggie was loving it all just as much as she was.

Bio: Amanda McCabe wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen--a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject...)

She's never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOK Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion.  She lives in Oklahoma with a menagerie of two cats, a Pug, and a very bossy miniature Poodle, along with far too many books. 

When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network--even though she doesn't cook. 

Amazon buy link: http://amzn.com/B00RICWBC8 

Contact info: http://ammandamccabe.com

Ruined: Martini Club 4 Series – The 1920s

Alicia Dean

Blurb: She vowed she’d be no man’s doxy, but fate had other plans... 

After the Earl of Goodwin attempts to force himself on her, housemaid Eliza Gilbert flees England for New York, hoping to build a better life. But the land of opportunity proves as harsh as the London docks, and she finds herself in a situation more dreadful than the one she escaped. 

Former boxer, Vince “The Fist” Taggart dreams of marrying, having a family, and living a quiet, peaceful life. But when a girl he's known since childhood disappears, he heads to New York in search of her and meets Eliza, a woman with a less than honorable reputation. Inexplicably captivated, Vince can’t force himself to stay away, especially when he learns Eliza is the key to finding his missing friend. 

Excerpt: Eliza lifted her gaze, then looked away when she met his eyes. They were just too…striking, too blue. “I’m afraid you’ll have to speak to Oscar. He handles all my transactions.” She could never have a normal outing with a man. A lump of regret rose in her throat. She turned and started up the stairs.

Vince caught up to her in a few steps and grabbed her arm, taking the bag from her at the same time. “That was a lousy thing to say.”

She opened her mouth to accuse him of going around Oscar so he didn’t have to pay. But that was ridiculous. He hadn’t taken what he’d paid for the first time. She lifted a hand and rubbed her forehead. His attention confused her. What was his angle? He didn’t want sex. Did he think she was hiding something about Cynthia and if he spent time with her he could draw it out? “What do you want from me?”

“A picnic.”

Bio: Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. She has three grown children and a huge network of supportive friends and family. She writes mostly contemporary suspense and paranormal, but has also written in other genres, including a few vintage historicals.
Other than reading and writing, her passions are Elvis Presley, MLB, NFL (she usually works in a mention of one or all three into her stories) and watching her favorite televisions shows like Vampire Diaries, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Haven, The Mindy Project, and Dexter (even though it has sadly ended, she will forever be a fan). Some of her favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Sharon Sala, Jordan Dane, Ridley Pearson, Joseph Finder, and Jonathan Kellerman…to name a few.

Amazon buy link: http://amzn.com/B00RICLM2I

http://aliciadean.com

http://aliciadean.com/alicias-blog/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008364070487

https://twitter.com/Alicia_Dean_

http://www.pinterest.com/aliciamdean/

Reckless: Martini Club 4 Series – The 1920s

Kathy L Wheeler

Blurb: Lady Margaret turned Lady Bootlegger… 

Singer Margaret (Meggie) Montley needs money…fast. Her friend is in a dire situation with nowhere to turn. While Meggie is on the brink of stardom, it’s not soon enough to save her friend. 

Harry Dempsey is out to avenge the deaths of his father and brother at the hands of a ruthless gangster. But trouble spirals out of control when Meggie Montley shows up the night he meets his nemesis to settle the score. Saving the impetuous woman from a crime lord might be easier than saving her from her own reckless behavior. 

Excerpt: Meggie launched herself from her hiding place and threw her arms about Harry’s neck. Locked in his muscular embrace, she rested her chin on his shoulder. His arms tightened around her. “Oh, Harry. I came as fast as I could. Just as we’d planned.” The words, she’d intended to carry, came out breathless.

“Fast, huh?” The whisper was against her ear where no one else could hear, raised goose prickles over her entire body. “Guess I’ll have to do something about that.” He lifted his head. “What are you doing with my girl, Joe?”

Joey’s hands flew into the air, indicating his surrender. “Sorry, Dempsey. Had no idea she was anyone’s quiff—”

Meggie’s cheeks burned, and she stiffened at the insult. Harry’s one arm gripped her closer. The other shot up, jerking her body like a rag doll. She couldn’t see Harry’s face with her own now buried in his neck, but she felt the corded muscles contract.  

Bio: Kathy L Wheeler (also known as Kae Elle Wheeler) writes both Contemporary and Historical Romance. She was born in Presque Isle, Maine.  How she ended up in Texas, then Oklahoma is as much a mystery to her as anyone. She graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a BA in Management Information Systems and a minor in Vocal Music.

She is published through The Wild Rose Press. She loves to travel.  Ports of call include a three week stint in Europe covering Madrid, Barcelona, Avignon, Paris, Koln, Amsterdam and London.  Other exciting places she’s visited are Grand Cayman, Puerta Vallerta, Mexico, Vancouver, Canada, and roaming from one romance writing conference to another nationwide.  You may have met her in Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego, New York or Atlanta.  She is a member of the Oklahoma RWA Chapter, Dara, and The Beau Monde. Kathy lives with her musically talented husband in Edmond, Oklahoma. They have one grown daughter and one bossy cat, Carly!

Amazon buy link: http://amzn.com/B00RICW0G0

Contact info: kathy@klwheeler.com

http://kathylwheeler.com

http://kathylwheeler.blogspot.com

http://facebook.com/kathylwheeler

http://twitter.com/kathylwheeler

http://pinterest.com/kathylwheeler

Runaway: Martini Club 4 Series – The 1920s

Krysta Scott

Blurb: Can she prove her innocence before more than her dreams are destroyed? 

After escaping an arranged marriage, Lady Charlotte Leighton lands on a new shore, determined to realize her dream of opening her own bakery. But her plans are shattered when her former fiancé follows her to New York. Now, she finds herself in a fight for her freedom. 

Haunted by a string of failures, Detective Felix Noble is determined to solve his latest case. But his efforts to find a murderer are jeopardized by a forbidden attraction to his number one suspect. While he’s certain Charlotte Leighton is keeping secrets, instinct tells him she’s not the murderess he first believed. 

Excerpt: Long thin fingers curled around a glass and lifted it from the tray. Charli followed the direction of the drink. Derrick Chaunce, or as the local duffs referred to him, “Slick”, grinned, exposing yellowed teeth.

“You … You…” Her throat closed. The rest of her diatribe wouldn’t budge.

He winked. His thin hair slicked back in the latest fashion exaggerated the gaunt cheekbones and sunken eyes, tinging him with an unhealthy, dilapidated look. He gulped the whiskey. A bit of the amber liquid escaped through the gap in his teeth and down his chin. Her stomach lurched.

“Thank you, sweet cakes. Put it on my tab.” He skulked off.

Charli whirled around. How did the bounder get past Tiny? Ira fumed about customers who ran up a high tab without reconciling at the end of the night. Now she would have to explain yet another charge added to Slick’s mounting debt. She sighed and rolled her eyes to the heavens. The customer was always right. Even when they were wrong.

Bio: Krysta Scott is a family law attorney in her false life. After years of writing and winning contests, she is now taking the plunge into publishing. A fan of sci-fi and dark stories surrounding people in crisis, she also enjoys way too much TV including Vampire Diaries, Breaking Bad, and Sherlock. Runaway is her breakout story.

Amazon buy link: http://amzn.com/B00RIFHGPC

Contact info: http://krystascottauthor.com

Speakeasys, Opium Dens, and Brothels Part 3

The middle of the Pendleton underground tour actually took us up two flights of stairs to the second floor of a building that had been in the same family for years. After the brothels were run out of town, the daughter of the original building owner had the second floor boarded up. She didn't want anyone to know they had that profession working in their building.

At one time one full block on both sides of  Emigrant Street had 18 brothels on their second floors.When the cowboys were in town, girls would hang out the windows waving to the lonely cowboys as they roamed the street. Many of the brothel's were set up and called boarding houses, but it was pretty clear what really went on in the boarding houses.

The one on the tour was last run by Stella Darby before it was boarded up. And because it was boarded up a lot of the furniture and items in the rooms were there when they pulled down the boards and persuaded the woman who owned the building to allow the historical society to give tours.

One of the bedrooms

Stella took in young women who had no where else to go. They did work as prostitutes, but she also taught them domestic chores and most girls worked there in hopes of finding a husband. There was a room with an organ that allowed the girls to have church on Sunday with a traveling minister. The prostitutes weren't allowed in the regular churches but Stella gave them the opportunity to attend the small "chapel" which any other day but Sunday was  where the clients waited their turn.

Stella also had a doctor come regularly to make sure the girls were healthy.

Girl's Claw foot tub

The girls had their own bedrooms and one they used for "business". They had a pretty claw foot tub in a communal lavatory for their use.

Where the men "cleaned up"

Down the hall was a small room with a table, pitcher and bowl, soap, and a razor.This was the Gent's Toilet where "customers" went to make sure they were clean before visiting a girl.

In Stella's bedroom there is a secret passage that leads out of her bedroom and into the room of their one tenant who was an artist and their "bouncer".  If there was a prominent local man visiting during a raid they could hide him in the passage until the room had been searched then let him out and down the stairs before anyone saw him.

Speakeasys, Opium Dens, and Brothels Part 2

As promised another part to my underground tour in Pendleton, Oregon.

The underground tunnels were made as a means not only for the Chinese to travel about the city without setting foot  above ground but for valuables to be hauled from the train station to down town and the banks.

Back in the late 1880s Pendleton was a wild bustling town. It had famous outlaws and a reputation for lawlessness. It was also one of the largest towns close to the Blue Mountain gold mines.

bunk beds where they slept

Many Chinese immigrated to the U.S. looking to make money to send back home. But the Chinese Exclusion Act only allowed male Chinese to enter the U.S. It was felt if the women and children weren't allowed to come over they wouldn't stay. They were quiet people who lived together, did menial jobs(if in the cities) or continued to pan in gold mines others had left.  The also worked long hours on the railroads for less pay than their white counterparts.

Kitchen in the same room as the beds

In the cities they weren't allowed to travel the streets after dark. That was one of the reasons the underground tunnels were built in some cities. It provided a way for the Chinese to move about without the threat of harm from drunk cowboys or whites who believed the Chinese were fair game for ridicule and abuse. They lived communally in the tunnels under the bustling streets.

Hop Sing's laundry

The underground tunnels had regular cities with the same conveniences that were found above ground. Hop Sing (the real one not the one on Bonanza) had a lucrative laundry business in the tunnels for 30 years. Boys would pick up the finished laundry from a door leading from the basement laundry to deliver it and bring back the clothes to be laundered. Since Hop Sing was also heating water for washing clothes, he also had bathing facilities. The first bath of the day with fresh clean water was $.50 as the day progressed, rather than lug so many buckets, after each bath he would take out two buckets of the dirty water and add two hot fresh buckets. The last bath of the day was only a nickle and would have water from everyone who bathed before you. I didn't ask about where the dirty water was dumped but the fresh water was from a cistern in the tunnel.

Bath at Hop Sing's

Another unique feature that will make it into one of my books is the Chinese Running Door. While the cowboys who came down to the tunnel's gambling houses drank, the smart Chinese didn't drink and were  adept gamblers. When a China man started winning big, it was in his best interest to get going before the drunken cowboy decided to make an example of him. Without the law on their sides, the Chinese had to always be vigilant to danger. In the tunnels leading out of the gambling establishments there were Chinese Running Doors. These doors looked like all the other doors, but were held in place by a bar in the middle. When a China man saw a cowboy was getting riled, he'd dive for the door, duck, and crawl under the door as it hinged up. The cowboy would run at the door with his hand or arm out,and the bottom would smack him in the shins. He'd kick the bottom, and the top would swing down and bonk him in the head. By the time the cowboy figured out the door, the Chinese man would be long gone down the maze of tunnels.

Cistern and pump in the tunnel

Unfortunately, one of the things the Chinese brought with them from their homeland was opium smoking. Down in the tunnels there were opium dens where the Chinese, prostitutes, or anyone wishing to smoke to get away from their real life could go.

Most items that are in the tunnels are items that were unearthed when the tunnels were reopened in the 1990's. When the tunnels were boarded up very few things were taken from the areas.

More to come....

Speakeasys, Opium Dens, and Brothels- Part 1

I have been jealous of my oldest daughter for a long time. While playing basketball in high school, her coach took the team to the Pendleton Underground Tour. It was a place I have wanted to check out for years. my dream finally came true this past weekend!

When I discovered my presentation on Saturday at the Word Round-Up have been canceled I decided I was going on the Underground Tour.  Saturday morning, I had to drive downtown Pendleton to go to Wal Mart and purchase a plug-in for my phone. On the way I saw signs pointing to the Underground Tour. After getting the plug, I followed the signs and found the tour office. It was closed but said they did have tours at 10:30 and 1:30 that day and to call for reservations. I tried calling and received a voice message that didn't take messages.

I tried again at 9am and still the phone message, finally at 10:01 I found a real person on the other end of the line and made my reservation. Then I closed the computer, shoved my phone in my person and left the motel room because I didn't want to miss the tour!

There were a dozen or so people milling around the gift shop when I entered. I paid and waited with nervous tension until they called us into the parlor. In there we watched a short DVD that told the history of the underground tunnels. Once the video was finished, Kricket, our guide took us outside and noted the different street names carved into the street corners and how the street names were changed when the military had an airfield in Pendleton in the 1940's

Next, she motioned to the spikes sticking up on the handrail that led down to one of the underground bars. The reason the spikes were added had to d do with keeping cowboys and other males from loitering, sitting on the railing while talking with the sporting girls hanging out the second floor windows.

The first room we came to was an underground bar that was reached from the stairs leading down from the sidewalk and had a door that led into the underground tunnels.

Kricket explained how back in the days when gold was being found in the Blue Mountains and the miners came to town to spend it, the bartenders could make an extra $50 a night by having sticky fingers. He would pinch gold dust out of the miners pouch, weigh, it and announce if it was enough for the drink. he'd then pour the gold into the saloons till while spilling some on the bar. His trusty bar rag would swipe the dust onto the floor and the one hour out of twenty-four when the bar closed, the bartender would go outside, get mud on his feet and come back in walking back and forth behind the counter until he had all the gold stuck to the mud on his shoes. Then he'd take the shoes and dip them in a bucket of water until the mud came off. The water would then be panned in the back room.

The saloon girls would take a strand at the nape of their neck and and slick it with butter or lard. Then during their shift when snuggled up to a miner gambling with his poke, she would run their finger across the sticky strand, put their finger in the dust, then rub her finger in her hair again. Adhering the gold to her hair. After shift, she would wash her hair and have gold in the bottom of the bucket over which she rinsed.

That's all I have for the first room on the tour. But I have more tidbits that will be coming your way.

Photos by: Paty Jager