The Day Before…

Anna Hoyt was raised with harrowing tales of her family’s poverty during the last smallpox epidemic. But despite her parents’ deaths a year ago—in 1744—Anna believes she’s found security. She inherited her father’s tavern, the Queen’s Arms, a busy place located in a prime location on Boston’s bustling waterfront. More than that, she has the unusual right to run the place on her own, with a legal decree stating she is “feme sole,” and does not need the “guidance” of her father or her husband—or any other man—to run it as she pleases. Before he passed away, Anna’s father drilled into her the notion that nothing was more sure than property and that the only two books she needs to attend are her account book and her Bible. She is devoted to all three, ever vigilant against the uncertainty of this world.

It’s a better life than most, despite the hard work: preparing food and attending the customers, making sure the ale and rum never stop flowing. Her man of all work, Josiah, helps with the heavier tasks, hauling barrels and chopping wood. A local boy fetches water from the well, sweeps, and cleans the never-ending parade of crockery. Anna knows that she’ll be safe and secure, as long as she has the tavern. And no one can legally take it from her.

Today was a good day: the customers were celebrating someone’s return from sea, the tavern rowdy but merry. A boisterous crowd was fine, so long as the mood didn’t sour and the men descend into squabbling and blows. Any waterfront establishment can foster trouble, but Anna’s husband Thomas keeps an eye on the punters. Anna herself has grown up in the tavern and developed a second sense of when trouble is brewing.

The problem is, despite the full cash box, Anna sees that Thomas is eyeing her the way he often does before a beating. Anna runs down the events of the past week but she can’t imagine a day more perfect than this one. Even in their revelry, the sailors were respectful, so Thomas couldn’t complain she was flirting with them, but he doesn’t need an excuse, and who’s going to call him out for disciplining his wife?

Unless—? Just yesterday, Hook Miller, who runs every shady business along the waterfront, demanded Anna sell him the Queen. She was too smart to laugh in his face, but assured him that she could not, for how would she and Thomas live? But now…she wonders. Thomas aspires to be just like Hook and is desperate to impress him. Anna knows too well that, if she did sell the tavern, Thomas would lose the money as soon as they got it. She’s vowed to never fall into the straits her parents did and the Queen is key to that.

As soon as she puts these thoughts together, Anna knows it’s true. Neither Thomas nor Hook care about legal niceties of her status, and why should they? They can always blackmail or threaten a lawyer into making a case against Anna. She realizes she faces a choice between a violent death and a longer life of desperate privation. If Anna has little legal protection and no one to stand up for her, what will she do?

Anna Hoyt, A Novel of Colonial Crime
Genre: Thriller
Release: October 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Anna Hoyt is in the enviable position of owning and running her own tavern; in 1745 Boston, Massachusetts, women had to be granted the legal right to run a business alone. The Queen’s Arms is located on the busy Boston waterfront and the thriving tavern’s location makes Anna a target for the toughs who want her to sell the place to them. The tavern is Anna’s only security, and she’s stubbornly determined not to sell, despite the threats of her abusive husband and the thug he wants to impress. There’s no one to turn to, no organized police force to protect her, and while the law may be on her side, a piece of paper won’t stand in the way of dangerous men. Faced with the choice of a quick and brutal death or enduring misery in poverty, Anna takes matters into her own hands.

About the author
Dana Cameron writes across many genres, but especially crime and speculative fiction. Her work, inspired by her career in archaeology, has won multiple Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity Awards, and her short story “Femme Sole” was short-listed for the Edgar Award. Dana is best known for the Emma Fielding archaeology mysteries (now on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries) and the Fangborn urban fantasy novels.