Legacy

Shakespeare used the idiom, "But in the end truth will out." The apropos title of this book, "The Legacy" is based on a true story. This is a historical novel based on the life of Mary Fisher. Born in a slave shack in 1871 to a black mother amidst flooding and a malaria epidemic the heroine of the story was the daughter of the widower plantation owner. Severe flooding and a yellow fever depredation left her with only an older half-sister, Emerald, and her father, Col. Gallager, who fictionally named her Felice in the story.

Raised as daddy's little princess she had an idyllic childhood. Though her father died when she was a teenager, he had arranged for her to attend a Catholic boarding school in New Orleans. There she acquired a proper education and mastered the social graces. After graduating she remained at school since she had no place to return to.

Stunningly beautiful, for a time she worked as a governess to relatives of the Louisiana governor. After a disappointing first love affair she matured to become as an adult a passed-for-white madam of a bordello in New Orleans. Under Jim Crow laws it was illegal for black women to even be present in such an establishment, much less own one.

By the Roaring 20's a few Corpus Christi community leaders decided that the only thing missing from their fair Gulf Coast city was a first class bordello. The gentlemen went to New Orleans where they asked the real Mary Fisher to relocate her operation. She realized the value of protection and benefits that these men could provide and took them up on their offer. After decades in business and retired at age 75, with abundant jewelry, cash and rental property the woman was murdered. The story evolves into a true crime mystery with an unexpected ending.