Speakeasy #2
Speakeasy #2
WHISKEY WAR
Sometimes good needs a little help overcoming evil.
After narrowly escaping death at Devil’s Slide, lesbian couple Dax and Rose look forward to a clandestine life together in Half Moon Bay. Dax’s sister, May, makes the Foster House restaurant their refuge at the height of Prohibition and the dawn of the Great Depression while they sit on a gold mine of stolen whiskey from the local speakeasy.
When Frankie Wilkes, the speakeasy owner and Rose’s employer, suspects Dax might have the whiskey, he makes Rose’s life miserable, forcing Dax to scramble to unload the barrels before he finds them. The trip to San Francisco sparks the attention of May’s husband, Logan, who abandoned her and Dax months earlier. He surfaces in Half Moon Bay, looking for money. He quickly puts a wedge in May, Dax, and Rose’s idyllic life and riles up a nasty competition with Frankie Wilkes. Tragedy strikes, and Dax sees the ugly side of the illegal liquor business when left unchecked.
In comes Grace Parsons, a wealthy Hollywood starlet and Rose’s former lover, with a solution to their problems. However, her bold help spirals into a violent feud that leaves no one in their inner circle untouched. How far will Logan and Frankie go to get what they want? Can Dax and Rose find a way out before the whiskey war takes their lives?
Published: December 2023
Series Titles
Speakeasy Series
From the Author
The concept for the Speakeasy series started with the question: What if a group of lesbians operated the poshest speakeasy on the West Coast during Prohibition? That era was a man’s world, wrought by greed and violence, so I had to create female characters willing and able to go toe to toe with the greediest and most vicious of the lot. That responsibility fell to Dax Xander and Grace Parsons—the two characters who would do anything to protect the woman they loved. And in this story, they face the danger without hesitation.
While researching the series, I found an article about the Queens of the Speakeasies. While many women penetrated that dark world, where illegal liquor flowed like water by working as servers and entertainers, few had the fortitude to run the establishments and do whatever it took to stay in business.
Thee women stood out in New York City, where speakeasies were the Starbucks of their time with over 3,200 in the city at its peak. Texas Guinan, Helen Morgan, and Belle Livingstone ran stylish nightclub-type speakeasies for the affluent, the model I used for the Beacon Club in the book. So, in honor of these three trailblazers, I dedicate Whiskey War.
I hope you enjoy reading about the group of sapphic women I’ve created, their rise to power, and the hurdles Dax and Rose face to keep their love alive.
– Stacy Lynn Miller