As long as there have been outlaws dogging American economy, there have been outlaw women. One of the traits that draws my fascination to western outlaw women is their handy capability. Many, like Laura Bullion and Belle Starr, could outride and outshoot most men and often had a mean streak, to boot. But other women who ran with the unruly gangs of the western wilderness didn’t actively participate in the crimes. The famed Etta Place, her true identity swathed in mystery, traveled with Wild Bunch’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as a companion. Of the same gang, Elza Lay wooed and married Maud Davis, who fell madly in love with the part-time outlaw while he was employed cutting hay with her brother and married him later that same year.
What drew these women to wanted men? Men who quite often left home for months at a time, who were tight-lipped about their doings; men with a glint to their gazes that spoke of unsavory deeds desperately committed, or otherwise. It could have been the fun-loving lifestyle many such men engaged in. Certainly a significant draw was their access to extravagant expenditures, thanks to the payouts of their crimes. Perhaps it was merely exciting to follow such eccentric figures.
Some western women lacked the attachment of any singular outlaw man. The Bassett women of Brown’s Hole were fiery, independent women who provided a home and meal for any traveler, those wanted by the law included. Ann Bassett, known as Queen of the Rustlers, was darned proud of the title. She was known for tracking and killing bears, having a way with men, and getting whatever she set her cap for. When she wanted to, she could behave with all the polish and refinery of any eastern expectation, as she’d attended fancy finishing schools before taking over her mother’s ranch.
It was with these women and several others in mind I sat down to write Mollie Moore, which is, of course, an alias. Young, independent, and intelligent, Mollie utilizes her safe-cracking skills and fine horsemanship to rob and race through the southern Utah landscapes along the famed Utah Outlaw Trail.
Her first appearance is a short story detailing one of her early escapades in Silver Reef, Utah, which is an abandoned mining town near to my home. The summer desert is no easy terrain to traverse, especially with the inconvenience of being chased, but Mollie is clever and careful and doesn’t travel alone. Love’s Holdup is a FREE story for my newsletter subscribers that you can download here: https://BookHip.com/NGMKBD
I didn’t finish there. I decided to take Mollie – settled as a rancher near present-day Bryce Canyon, Utah many years later – and give her a new challenge: Matchmaker. That’s right, Mollie never got caught for her crimes and is hankering for something to give her life meaning and tickle her pride at the same time. When her niece comes to the ranch and asks that Aunt Mollie find her a husband, the Outlaw Matchmaker is born.
Mollie finds she likes it.
The Widow’s Match will be followed by several other titles I have planned for the Outlaw Matchmaker series, at the head of which is the entertaining Mollie Moore, aka Outlaw Matchmaker.
I’d like to give away a free ebook copy of The Widow’s Match here today. To enter, comment below about the traits you believe it would take to make a western outlaw woman. If you have anything to share about an outlaw or place you visited where some historic criminal event took place, I’d love to hear about that, too. Thanks for having me today!