The World of the Annie Fuller/Nate Dawson Victorian San Francisco Mystery Series
Once upon a time I wrote a dissertation entitled “Like a Machine or an Animal: Working Women of the Far West in the Late Nineteenth Century.” For that monograph, I read books, articles, newspapers, diaries, memoirs, novels, and I did a thorough data analysis of the 1880 manuscript census for San Francisco, Portland, and Los Angeles, looking specifically at women who worked. The origins of my Victorian San Francisco mystery series can be found in that academic work, and my desire to illustrate to the contemporary reader what life was like for women who worked in the late 19th century through fiction.
As a result, my novels and short stories draw heavily on my academic expertise. However, there is, of course, much of the historical background that I had to leave out when writing my novels and short stories, so I am using this website and my blog to do some filling in the blanks; providing links, photographs, and additional information on Victorian San Francisco.
What follows is a table of contents of topics connected to my two novels, Maids of Misfortune and Uneasy Spirits, and my two short stories, Dandy Detects and The Misses Moffets Mend a Marriage. Those topics in dark blue are the topics I have already written about and if you click on them you will be taken to the blog pieces on each topic. The rest of the table of contents in black are topics I will be writing about and if you want to be alerted when I have written a new piece, please take the time to go to the bottom left of this page where there is a place to subscribe by email. As I do research and begin to write the third book in my series, Bloody Lessons, and additional short stories I will add to the list.
Thanks,
M. Louisa Locke
Table of Contents:
What was San Francisco like in 1880?
Economic Structure
Social structure
Residential patterns
Maids of Misfortune:
O’Farrell St. Boarding House
Golden Gate Park
The Palace Hotel
Domestic Service
Downtown: Financial district
Western Addition: Laurel St Cemetery
Woodward’s Gardens
Cliff House Inn
Chinese in San Francisco
Short Stories:
Dandy Detects-Boston Terriers and Dogs in 19th century
The Miss Moffets Mend a Marriage–dressmaking/SF and women’s fashions
Uneasy Spirits:
The Irish and Halloween
19th century Spiritualism
Workingman’s Party
Transportation
California Constitution of 1879
Rincon Hill District
1879 Kalloch shooting and mayoralty race
