The last, and most exciting, installment in the series, Steam! Romance and Rails.
The Pinkerton & the Outlaw
May 1874, Indian Territory
A female Pinkerton detective and an Irish-Cherokee outlaw form a temporary partnership to solve a mystery and get caught in a net of corruption, crime, and murder.
The Steam! series follows a trail of historical events surrounding the expansion of the railroad across the American West. For Lawless Hearts, I took inspiration from the history of the Pinkerton Agency and the country’s first female detective.
Brigit Stevens is modeled after the young female detectives employed by the Pinkerton Agency in the nineteenth century. These women defied cultural norms and broke down societal structures. In that sense, they were truly “lawless” in their pursuit of justice.
The outlaw who becomes Brigit’s unwilling partner is a complex, contradictory character. Jasper Byrne isn’t the devil described in the Wanted posters, but he doesn’t perceive himself as a hero either. In fact, he’s confused when Brigit treats him like one.
After spending half his life making the wrong decisions, Jasper takes Brigit up on her offer to join her on the right side of the law. Unfortunately, there are some who have the law on their side and are using it for nefarious purposes, and they have Brigit and Jasper in the crosshairs.
Can’t get enough Steam!? Check out the entire series:
Tom wins an international grand prize!
How did the cardinal get its beautiful coloring? In this Cherokee tale, Raccoon (gv-li) loves to tease Wolf (wa-ya). One day Wolf is chasing Raccoon so long he becomes exhausted. While he sleeps, Raccoon covers Wolf’s eyes with mud, which hardens. After Wolf awakens, he can’t get the mud off and he can’t see. He begs for help, but Raccoon just runs off.
This traditional Cherokee legend contributes a core element in my love story and the hero’s journey. As a boy, Jake is enthralled by the story about the Sun’s daughter. He forms an image in his mind about what she might look like, and even sees her in a vision, which later directs his path in ways he could never have predicted. The original legend is rather long, so I’m going to paraphrase most of it.
A rich, white heiress. A Cherokee outlaw. They have nothing in common except a desire for peace…and each other.
Where Tom’s story is an action-adventure, Huck’s story is a journey. Throw in one young orphan who idolizes his famous uncle and a spinster who is determined to civilize them, and you have a recipe for Huck’s greatest challenge.
Embark on a new adventure with an old friend
In those days, it took nerves of steel to pilot a steamboat on the wild, untamed Missouri River. A few of the things steamboat pilots encountered: elusive, ill-defined and ever-changing channels, getting stranded in low water, innumerable and often invisible snags, whirlpools, Indian attacks–to name but a few.
Near Kansas City, a construction company dug up a steamboat from the 1850s out of a farm field (the river had long since changed course). While there were no human casualties, the boat went down with its entire load of supplies. The 
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This Colorado boomtown located ten thousand feet high in a valley of the Rockies, became famous for its silver mine. But the town got its start when gold was discovered there around 1860. The stream gorge, named California Gulch, instantly became the site of a rip-roaring gold rush, and crude dwellings and businesses sprang up along the narrow gulch. Two years later, the gold ran out and miners abandoned the town in droves.
An English nobleman, an Irish laundress… Only in America would Fate would be foolish enough to put them together.
find shelter in each other’s arms, and love where they least expect it.
A spinster kidnapped to become the bride for a bootlegger finds an unexpected chance at love.
Ross must marry a proper lady to reclaim his inheritance. Susannah is the one he wants, but she hates him…passionately. When all else fails, try seduction.
