My Story Inspiration for Between Love & Lies

  
By Jacqui Nelson

What inspires a story? For me, it's often reading about history and then saying, "What if...?" 

That's what happened when I read about Dodge City, the Queen of Cattle Towns, and the damage something as tiny as a tick could do—and might do in my story. 

Below is the Story Inspiration page (a page I've included in the back of all of my books) for Between Love and Lies (book 1 in my Gambling Hearts series)...

BETWEEN LOVE & LIES 

Story Inspiration page ~ from the back of the book

The spark for Between Love & Lies came from the letter below and my collection of Time-Life Old West books containing these lines: “The longhorns were carriers of a microscopic tick. The Texas animals were immune to the parasite, but the same tick produced deadly splenic fever in local cattle.”

I imagined a small farm, held together only by the grit and hard work of its owner, might not survive such an event. I wondered what might happen next, both on that unlucky farm and in the nearest town: Dodge City, the Queen of Cattle Towns—where life would be challenging for a woman who luck had deserted.



January 1, 1878 - Letter in the Washington, D. C. Evening Star



“Dodge City is a wicked little town. Here those nomads in regions remote from the restraints of moral, civil, social, and law enforcing life, the Texas cattle drovers, from the very tendencies of their situation the embodiment of waywardness and wantonness, end the journey with their herds, and here they loiter and dissipate, sometimes for months, and share the boughten dalliances of fallen women.”

BETWEEN LOVE & LIES

Gambling Hearts Series, Book 1

Dodge City, Kansas – 1877

Sadie Sullivan lost everything when a herd of longhorn cattle bound for Dodge City destroyed her farm. Now she works in Dodge—one of the most wicked and lawless towns in the West—at the Northern Star Saloon. But her survival in this new world of sin and violence depends on maintaining a lie so deadly it could end her life before the town of Dodge can.

The one man capable of unraveling Sadie’s secrets is Noah Ballantyne, the Texan rancher whose herd destroyed her home. Back in town and taking up the role of deputy alongside legendary lawman Bat Masterson, Noah vows he won’t leave until he’s made things right. But with the saloon’s madam unwilling to release Sadie and a rich cattle baron wanting her as well, the odds aren’t in favor of finding love…or leaving town alive.

In a town ruled by sin, will he earn her love or her lies?

Click here to read an excerpt on my website.

THE GAMBLING HEARTS SERIES 

Between Love & Lies, book 1

Between Home & Heartbreak, book 2

Click here to see a summary of all of my books on one page.

Hope you enjoyed my writing inspiration and that your Friday and your August are...filled with many relaxing moments enjoying the summer—and lots of good books too! ❤️📚

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Just a Few Tidbits About The Old West

www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com

Between the years of 1870 to 1885 (the heart of the Old West) there were 45 homicides in the then ‘wild cow towns’ of Kansas combined. Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City and Caldwell. Of those 45 murders, (or shootings) 16 were committed by law men. And other than Ellsworth and Dodge City, none of those towns ever had more than five killings per year.

Abilene, once known as the wildest of cow towns, went for over two years without a single murder. Wild Bill Hickok was elected sheriff of Abilene in 1971—back then, before being made famous by overly inflated stories, he was known as “Duck Bill” because of his ‘somewhat on the large size’ nose. Buffalo Bill Cody fired Wild Bill from his stages shows because “Hickok had a voice like a girl.”

Another famous lawman—Wyatt Earp—was arrested for horse theft in Arkansas, and he and his brother Morgan were arrested for running ‘bordellos’ in Chicago before they made their way west. Though proclaimed to be a Buffalo Hunter, Earp never shot a buffalo, he did drive a wagon on a hunt once.

The first gold rush wasn’t to California in 1849, but to New Mexico in 1832.

Henry the Kid doesn’t have the same ring as “Billy the Kid” does it? Well, Henry McCarty, AKA, Billy the Kid, who supposedly shot 21 men before his young death, in fact, only shot about 4.

In the early 1800’s North America had over 300 different languages being spoken between its borders.

Saloons in Deadwood, SD were the first to start covering their floors with sawdust. The shavings would conceal the gold dust customers dropped and was swept up and sifted every night by the saloon owners.

Speaking of Deadwood, it was the second community in the US to have a telephone. The first being Washington D.C.

Cole Younger, who rode with Jesse James, after serving over 20 years in prison, got a job selling tombstones when he got out.

Camels were used as pack animals in Nevada until the late 1870’s. 

An estimated 350,000 people traveled the Oregon Trail. One in seventeen did not make it to Oregon. The most common cause of death was cholera.

A Colt Peacemaker cost $17.00 in 1873, therefore making it a very expensive weapon. Not really designed for anything outside of killing, they were not practical to own or buy—and stood out like a sore thumb. 

I've gathered the above tidbits while researching over the years and I can’t claim they are 100% accurate, but I usually don’t save something in my ‘interesting facts’ file unless I’m pretty-darn sure, meaning it’s been verified by more than one source. I pulled the file up this morning when I was reminded it was my turn to blog here at Cowboy Kisses today and I didn't have anything ready to go. I have to say, I'd forgotten some of these little tidbits and hope you enjoyed reading them. (I have many, many more, but figured this was enough for today.)

Enjoy your "cowboy" ;), and thanks for stopping by.