Ill-Fame (A Detective Harm Queen Novel Book 2) (28 page)

Nina Clifford is also an important part of this story’s plot, and she was a very real woman who has taken on almost mythical status in Saint Paul history. In her time, she was as important a figure in Saint Paul politics as the police chief himself. Her bordello was considered the top of the line, and she entertained Saint Paul’s elite for many, many years. One of Saint Paul’s great unresolved bits of historical urban lore has been whether a tunnel existed between Nina Clifford’s home and the Minnesota Club building at 317 St. Peter. Honestly, there is still no definitive answer. Back in 1997 a brief window of opportunity opened, courtesy of the Minnesota Science Museum, which was expanding its facilities. Unfortunately, archeologists, while able to excavate the Bucket of Blood saloon and many of the brothels lining Washington, weren’t able to fully explore the basement of Clifford’s personal residence. Their concern was that it was too close to the actual bluff supports, and didn’t want to interfere with that structural system. And while the Minnesota Club building has long been a cornerstone of Rice Park, it wasn’t actually built until 1915. But because the Minnesota Club building and Clifford’s brothel (which operated from 1889 to 1929) are entwined so tightly together in Saint Paul lore, I chose to move that history forward fifteen years for the benefit of the plot. Interestingly, the Metropolitan Hotel, which preceded the Minnesota Club building, was the headquarters of another gentleman’s group called the “Twilight Club.” So, it isn’t a stretch to assume that the relationship between Nina Clifford and the randy men who frequented her establishment, (just a drunken hike away) had a business relationship that went far, far back. And the Minnesota Club building today still has a sealed door in its basement that, if opened, could answer this unsolved mystery of the tunnel. For once and for all.

No assassination attempt was ever made on Doc Ames, although in real life he’d made comments in interviews that document his fear of an assassin’s bullet. Anarchy was, indeed, a wide-spread movement amongst western countries at the turn of the century. In America, the gilded-age excesses of industrialists like Rockefeller and Carnegie enraged many in the working classes. In fact, in the fall of 1901, U.S. President William McKinley would be gunned down by a self-proclaimed anarchist. So the threats, while probably far-fetched for the Ames camp, still had a sound basis in that period’s history. And to be clear, the 1901 University of Minnesota graduation went off without a hitch. Doc Ames wasn’t actually invited to give the commencement speech. That was made by President Andrew Sloan Draper of the University of Illinois. The words I had Ames utter in his address in fact were taken directly from President Draper’s speech.

One of the most entertaining parts of writing a historical novel is discovering unique period locations that in many cases have been forgotten completely. The cave saloon, known in its day as the “
Felsenkeller,
” must have been an incredible place, with a bowling alley and staircase hand-cut from soft sandstone some of the interior highlights. The only known evidence of its existence comes from an 1891 fire insurance map and a couple of sketches in an 1880s travel magazine. The Saint Paul Public Baths on Harriet Island opened every July to help Saint Paulites beat the summer heat. They were built not only to give relief, but to combat filth and disease, especially for those living in cramped, unsanitary downtown quarters. In Minneapolis, the Theater Comique was the site of some of the most lewd and provocative shows in the city. Among others, the scandalous “can-can” debuted there to scathing criticism by God-fearing civic and church leaders in the 1880s. Nina Clifford’s brothel, and the surrounding brothels and saloons in the Italian district on the lower levee added their own special character to Saint Paul. Minnesota historian Jim Sazevich helped me tremendously in filling out some of the detail of the red light district on Washington Avenue, and is a local expert on the history of Nina Clifford.

My sister Alison, as always, is my loyal beta-reader, and read each first-draft chapter with enthusiasm and speed. My other sister, Jen acts as my research assistant when required; on call to visit the bowels of the Minnesota Historical Society for documents I can’t get online.

It’s been great fun writing this second book in the Harm Queen series, and I look forward to revisiting Detective Queen, Maisy Anderson and the Ames brothers in the next.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the first novel in the series, “The Big Mitt”, it is available at
www.Amazon.com
and many local bookstores.

Also, if you have the time or inclination, visit my author website at
www.ErikRivenes.com
,
www.MostNotorious.com
for true historical crime stories, and
www.facebook.com/TheBigMitt
for the latest series information.