Behind the Scenes of West Bottoms
Co-authoring the novel West Bottoms with my brother-in-law, Rogers Brazier, was one of the coolest creative collaborations of my writing life. From the start, we agreed on one non-negotiable rule: check our egos at the door. Without that decision, this book never happens.
We both came in with strong opinions, clear instincts, and deeply held ideas about story and character. The only way forward was teamwork. We wrote the novel in a true tag-team fashion—passing chapters back and forth, reworking scenes, questioning motivations, and pushing each other when something didn’t ring true. Sometimes that meant defending a choice. Other times it meant letting go of one. The story always won.
Together, we shaped a narrative that moved fast but still carried weight. Plot points were debated. Characters evolved. Subplots were tightened or scrapped altogether. The collaboration was always productive.
That approach mattered because West Bottoms demanded it.
When it came time to launch the book, we found what can only be described as a perfect coincidence: West Bottoms Whiskey Co. Not only did they host our Kansas City launch event, they embraced the book, the history, and the spirit of the place that inspired it. Their generosity, hospitality, and enthusiasm made the first event unforgettable. It doesn’t hurt that they also happen to serve the best Old Fashioned in the entire Kansas City area. That’s just a fact.
We’re grateful that West Bottoms Whiskey invited us back for additional author reading events, including one coming up Saturday evening, January 10. Sharing this story in the neighborhood that shaped it—inside a space that understands the history—is exactly where this book belongs. A few tickets for the upcoming event are still available and can be purchased at: https://www.facebook.com/westbottomswhiskeyco
The novel is set in Kansas City’s West Bottoms during the 1930s, when the district was a hard-working, hard-living hub of railroads, industry, vice, and organized crime. As the Great Depression tightened its grip, the Bottoms began to suffocate economically—and beneath that collapse, a massive scandal erupted. More than $1 million in forged bonds surfaced, exposing a web of corruption stretching from Kansas City to Chicago and implicating state officials, brokers, and criminals who believed they were untouchable.
At the center of the story is a young woman from Dust Bowl Kansas, pulled into a reckless love affair with a man who trades stability for danger. Their choices entangle them in the scandal and set them on a path marked by heartbreak, misfortune, and death. Running parallel is a group of detectives—each carrying their own damage—trying to untangle the conspiracy while navigating corruption within their own ranks. Bartenders, prostitutes, hustlers, and Chicago gangsters orbit the chaos as lines between justice and survival blur. Years later, an aging survivor recounts the truth to a curious granddaughter, revealing secrets that had been buried.
It’s a story about ambition, greed, loyalty, and consequence—about who survives and who doesn’t when everything collapses at once.
West Bottoms exists because two writers trusted the process, trusted each other, and stayed focused on the story rather than themselves. It was built through collaboration, hard conversations, and shared creative risk. And thanks to a great local partner, it continues to live on in the city that gave it its soul.
