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    Woman of Ill Fame
    Woman of Ill Fame
    Woman of Ill Fame
    Audiobook11 hours

    Woman of Ill Fame

    Written by Erika Mailman

    Narrated by Tiffany Morgan

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Looking for a better life, prostitute Nora Simms arrives in Gold Rush San Francisco with a plan for success: to strike it rich by trading on her good looks. But when a string of murders claims several of her fellow women of ill fame, Nora grows uneasy with how closely linked all of the victims are to her. She must distinguish friend from foe in a race to discover the identity of the killer.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 23, 2017
    ISBN9781541472570
    Woman of Ill Fame
    Author

    Erika Mailman

    Erika Mailman is the author of The Witch's Trinity, a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book and Bram Stoker Award winner, and Woman of Ill Fame, a Pushcart Press Editor's Book Award nominee. She's a Yaddo fellow and lives in Northern California with her family. www.erikamailman.com

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    Reviews for Woman of Ill Fame

    4/5

    23 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      What a delightful character Erika Mailman has created: bawdy, funny, brave, gutsy, and imperfect. Set in Gold Rush San Francisco, the life of a prostitute, a woman of ill fame, was difficult and often short. Nora hasn't been bamboozled into this life: indeed, she sometimes quite enjoys herself. But she is determined to be her own person, beholden to no one. And determined to stay alive, since someone is killing prostitutes and each death seems linked somehow to Nora and her missing trunk...A good read!
    • 5/5
      Women of Ill Fame is a term used to describe prostitutes in the late 1800's. Nora Simms is one of these women in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era. A women who accepts her lot in life as a 'loose woman' but does want to better herself. Instead of staying in the crib row houses where she plies her trade, she wants to work in a parlor house where the clientele is a little more refined, or so Nora thinks. When she leaves Boston and arrives in San Francisco, Nora's trunk is stolen. At first she is rather upset with the fact that she lost what was left of her money and her clothing. She resigns herself to the fact that the trunk is gone, but when murdered prostitutes are turning up and each of these women are wearing an item of hers from her trunk, she thinks she may know who is doing the killing. Nora is finally able to get a position in a parlor house and is able to wear nice clothing, but she is still worried about the fate of her fellow workers back in the cribs. She warns the women and does what she can to protect them from ending up like the murdered women. I usually do not read a lot about this time in American history, I would rather read about medieval history but as I read this book I realized that even though times were tough for women back then and it was a hard life for the lower class people, women like Nora were able to take what life threw at them and go on to the best of their abilities. It was a fight or die type of situation for some of these women of ill fame and I really enjoyed reading this tale. I loved the inner dialogue that Nora has and the descriptions of the men she encounters is hilarious at times.I loved the character of Nora because she is a women who will tell it like it is but at the same time knows that she also, in order to get ahead, will do what the client wants and not be ashamed that she is a prostitute. She has a very matter of fact way of looking at her life and does make the most of it. The mystery of who the murderer is crucial to the story in the fact that the reader is pulled into the story of this type of life and can hope that the person is found and dealt with.The historical aspects of the story seem to be accurate for the time period and the author knows of what she writes. The novel is written in such an easy manner that it can be read in a few sittings. If you love American Historical novels then you are sure to enjoy this one.
    • 4/5
      San Francisco is the setting of Erika Mailman's exciting historical mystery WOMAN OF ILL FAME, which takes place during the madness of the California Gold Rush. The story is told through the eyes of a young prostitute named Nora who has just arrived from Boston seeking her own fortune. Nora becomes wrapped up in a gruesome murder mystery when the bodies of prostitutes are found around the city with their throats slashed, and all the victims have a connection to Nora.I couldn't help but love Nora from the very beginning. She was strong, resourceful, clever, and unapologetic of her lot in life. She was also rather forward-thinking when it came to sex and protecting herself from the dangers of her profession. Nora's journey was an eye-opening experience for me. From her tiny crib in the "cowyard" to an elegant room in the best parlor house in the city, Nora gave readers a vivid picture of daily life for "soiled doves" of the time.WOMAN OF ILL FAME was a well-researched and engaging novel that presents San Francisco's Gold Rush Era with richness and realism. Nora is an unforgettable heroine who reminds readers that women of ill fame were an integral part of the time. Highly recommended to fans of historical fiction and mystery alike!Source: Review copy provided for participating in the author's book tour.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I was surprised by the ending, though I did have a feeling that the professor's "friend" would not be what Nora expected him to be. Though Nora was a prostitute, I felt that she was a likable person and found myself rooting for her throughout the book.
    • 4/5
      Nora Simms, a beautiful, young prostitute from Boston, arrives in wide-open San Francisco in 1849, intent on starting a new life. Although she is a kind, sympathetic person, this is no hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold story. The only gold Nora is interested in is what she can get out of the miners’ pants in exchange for her considerable talents. But, before she even gets off the boat, she is victimized by a galley boy who steals the trunk containing all of her clothes and the stash of gold she had earned on the voyage. Then several of her fellow “women of ill fame” fall prey to a serial killer. When Nora realizes that all of the murdered girls were in possession of an article of clothing from her stolen trunk—and that the police have very little interest in investigating—she knows that the killer must be someone close to her and that it will be up to her to find him before she, herself, ends up dead.