Oakley Hall. Ambrose Bierce and the Trey of Pearls (2004) 216 pp.
Publisher’s description: “When three pretty young suffragists known as the Trey of Pearls come to San Francisco, the city’s brawling and unrefined men whip themselves into a lather of desire and defiance. But the murder of Reverend Divine, the famous advocate of spiritualism, temperance, and the female vote, sets Ambrose Bierce and Tom Redmond on the trail to uncover a darker side to the girls’ composure and comeliness—free love, a jeweled harem, and a web of San Francisco’s most powerful men desperately trying to cover their pasts. As the two sleuths begin to glimpse the truth, the body count builds and tensions—both political and social—erupt into a standoff among suffragists, hard-drinking diehards, and, lurking in the shadows, the elusive murderer.”