ECHO BRENNEN
returns to Wyoming to regain her self-confidence following an abusive
marriage. She renovates an old house of ill repute that she dubs, The Yellow
Bordello and transforms it into her dream--an exclusive hotel and
restaurant.
Her dream
soon becomes a nightmare when art conservator, RANDALL HALSTEAD
arrives to repair an old mural depicting four ladies of the evening
dressed as prostitutes in an old western movie. The ladies come to life,
Randall’s recently deceased sister takes up residence in Echo’s body and
despite it all, love again returns to The Yellow Bordello.
ISBN:
978-1-935048-13-8 1-935048-13-9
Word Count: 70,192
EBook $6.49
Trade Paperback
$11.49 plus shipping.
YouTube Book Trailer
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT
The Yellow Bordello by Bev Haynes
This reviewer highly recommends
THE YELLOW BORDELLO to any lover of suspense, ghosts and romantics. This is
one book that won't disappoint any reader.
~Shaiha Williams
SUITE Magazine
~
Ms. Haynes brings romance, murder and a
wonderful conclusion to this EXCELLENT story!! 4-1/2 Bells!!
Donita Lawrence, Bell, Book and Candle
~
WOW! Seems that Hell hath no fury like
murdered women's spirits!...Bev Haynes has written a story that will remain
in your mind long after you have finished the book!
Huntress Book Reviews
~
EXCERPT
August, 1948
The wind blew something fierce and the air,
heavy with moisture pressed a foreboding awareness into his back and
shoulders as he pushed open the curtain and gazed down the street. It was
just past sun-up. No one would be hanging around the dilapidated whorehouse
this early in the morning. Besides, this old place was on its way out of
favor in the community. As far as he knew, only Maggie and Jewel still took
in customers. As he dropped the tattered floral curtain, he watched his hand
tremble. Damn. He needed to think.
If he took the ladies’ clothes and all the
woman garbage from the tops of the dressers, everyone would think they
all had packed up during the night and left town. That was it, the
answer he needed. Excitement surged through his body.
He ambled across the room to the closet and
then pushed aside the plastic curtain that Maggie had strung up over a heavy
cord to hide her two dresses hanging in there. At the back, he found a
battered suitcase hugging the shadows.
Thirty minutes later, he had one trunk, three
suitcases and a pillowcase filled with Maggie, Jewel and Fire’s personal
belongings. He didn’t take everything, only enough to make the sheriff think
the women had moved to a more welcoming place. However, he had to figure out
what to do with all of this junk. He guessed it meant a trip back into the
tunnel.
He hadn’t meant for any of this to happen.
He’d left Maggie’s room in the middle of the night hoping she’d think he was
gone. But he had waited…waited until everyone left the building except the
women.
He’d wanted to convince Maggie to go away
with him. He loved her so much. Observing from the end of the hallway, he’d
watched her make her way to the ballroom and then he’d followed her to the
balcony where the orchestra had set up back in the heydays of the house.
Maggie knelt on the floor and he watched her take her nightly earnings from
a pocket in her robe. Effortlessly, she raised a floorboard, but she shocked
him. Withdrawing a Derringer, she turned and pointed it at his heart.
“Magnolia, darlin’ what the hell are you
doing with that?” he had cried using her full name instead of his endearing
nickname, terrified that she’d really use the gun on him.
She stared at him with eyes round as saucers.
“What are you doin’ here? I thought you were a robber.”
“I came to take you away with me.” His heart
pounded out a staccato of fear when he realized that she knew it was him and
she still had the gun pointed at him.
She shook her head slowly back and forth, her
curls bouncing against her neck. “Forget it. I wouldn’t go with you now if
my life depended upon it.” She continued to point the gun at him. “I’m not
goin’. Now leave me alone.”
He lunged toward her and she fell against the
railing. At the last instant before she fell over the edge, their gazes met.
Hers were filled with hate.
If onlysweet Maggie had left with
him…
It took two trips to the basement to lug all
that junk down there. He would be the last one to see the prostitutes alive.
No one knew that a spur off the main tunnel still existed. He found it
accidentally while waiting night after night. Waiting for the men to
leave Maggie’s room. He and Maggie had talked for weeks about the life they
would have when she left here…until a week ago. That’s when she found out
that he wasn’t a rich rancher, only a hired hand.
Damn.
It had taken a lot of work to pile the large
rocks in front of the plank door. Now he had to move them again. The women’s
clothing and notions must disappear to have his plan work. He started moving
the rocks.
“Help! We’re in here! Let us out!”
He could barely make out the muffled sound of
female voices screaming in terror. They pounded on the door and the rocks
began to move from their attempts to break free. He propped the flashlight
in the rocks he’d already moved and then swung open the door with one hand
while keeping the gun pointed toward the captives.
Three sets of eyes rounded with terror.
Swallowing past the greasy lump in his throat, he fired three times and
watched with dismay as two bodies dropped. He couldn’t believe he was
actually doing this.
The older woman, Madam Madeling Brown, Miss
Fire they called her, glared at him. “Why are you doing this?” she asked
bitterly, her voice strong and demanding. She didn’t look down to see if her
daughter Jewel was dead or alive.
“I don’t have a choice! Maggie is dead
because of me.”
“You shot Jewel and Lolly! They didn’t
deserve this.” Her voice was a whisper.
He aimed the gun at her chest. “I’m doing you
a favor. It’s better to go like this than if I left you in here to starve to
death.”
