The Lure of a Dangerous Man By Cindi Myers
“American history is full of people who, though on the wrong side of the law, captured the public’s attention and became revered in spite of their crimes – men like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Butch Cassidy, and Jesse James. These larger-than-life legends can be both compelling and repelling as we dig into their stories, but for me, the most fascinating things about these outlaws are the families who supported them and the women who loved them. What was it about these men – and what was it in these women – that led them to link their fates to men who almost inevitably came to bad ends?
In a dozen years after the Civil War, Jesse James and his cohorts committed as many as 19 robberies, during which almost twenty people died – some of them members of Jesse’s own gang. He was a super-celebrity, someone profiled in every newspaper and known throughout the country, written about in books and popularized in plays – in the days before the internet, television, or even telephones. And all the while he was carrying out his crimes and growing his legend, he was also a husband and father.
When I began writing The Woman Who Loved Jesse James, I had to dig deeply to find information on his wife Zerelda, called Zee. Zee was Jesse’s first cousin, named after his mother. Delving into census records, family histories and the few lines she merited in the many biographies of Jesse, I discovered a quiet, serious woman enough in love with her handsome, dashing cousin to endure a nine-year engagement. Once married, however, life was not all comfort and ease, as Jesse’s notoriety increased. Zee supposedly begged him to settle down. I imagined Zee, like many woman drawn to ‘bad’ men, torn by her desire for adventure and excitement, and the need to protect her children from danger and uncertainty.
Pictures of Jesse show a blond, blue-eyed man who would have turned any woman’s head. An excellent rider, educated, with good manners and a reputation as a sharp dresser, it’s not hard to see why Zee might have fallen for him. The few images available of Zee James show a tiny (under five feet), woman with dark frizzed hair. She was from a poor family, one of twelve children, and had known Jesse all her life.
Though my book is fiction, it is based on fact. Zee and Jesse did live under assumed names during a time in which Jesse was supposedly trying to go straight. She kept Jesse’s secrets throughout her life and, unlike her mother-in-law, retreated from the public eye after his death, and didn’t try to make money off her tragedy. Looking at photos of her taken after Jesse’s death, it’s easy to see the pain in her eyes. I wanted to know what she thought about the life she had led – The Woman Who Loved Jesse James is my attempt to tell her story.
Have you known a woman who loved a man in spite of his dangerous behavior? What do you think is the attraction for them?”
The Woman Who Loved Jesse James by Cindi Myers is only $0.99 until the 30th! Get your eBook copy today!
Available on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Google, and Apple.
