We
decided to set DESERT ICE, our third novel in the hard-boiled Skylar Drake
Murder Mystery series, in 1955 Las Vegas.
When
people found out we were taking a week long research trip to Las Vegas, they insisted
we visit the Mob Museum. We decided to take them up on it.
At
noon on the first day, we arrived at the museum, located in the old post
office. As we ascended the broad stone
steps of the building built in1933, we were bathed in music from the 1940s-50s.
It made you want to smile and put you into the mood of the era.
With
four floors of mob memorabilia the ticket person suggested we plan two hours.
The displays showed the very beginnings of the mob in the US and how the
organization grew and spread throughout the country.
Great
technology, state-of-the-art presentation, and knowledgeable, helpful staff on
each floor brought the the history of the mob to life, particularly in the Las
Vegas Area. An entire floor was devoted to tricks the mob used to hide assets
from the government. It was extremely enlightening to learn how they were able
to move money, gems, jewels and drugs out of Las Vegas
through a highway of
connections throughout the nation. Since Las Vegas was an "Open City"
there was no one gang or mob family controlling things. Each mob group was
happy to make money for themselves and didn't mind what their competitors were
doing. Mobsters who were operating illegal businesses like gambling and
prostitution rings in other states found a haven in Nevada and became
"legitimate businessmen." These were savvy businessmen who knew how
to take an opportunity and grow it for themselves. It was interesting to learn
of people on both sides of the law and learn their role in history.
Locals
opened their arms to the gangsters who provided jobs and gave back to the
community i.e. building schools and hospitals for them. They loved them for it.
However greed set in, money laundering and “skimming” money from what was owed
the IRS made the FBI crack down on the profitable Las Vegas life style for them
and their families.
When
we finished the four floors we were surprised we had been at the museum for
three and a half hours!
Unfortunately, there is little left of
1955 Las Vegas, so our research week in Sin City was full of interviews and
book work at libraries. We did squeeze in dinner at the Luxor Hotel and Casino.
We "just had" schedule it in.
Blurb
In 1955, a missing Marine and stolen
diamonds lead Private Eye Skylar Drake to Sin City, where the women are
beautiful and almost everything is legal—except murder.
The FBI and a Las Vegas crime boss
force him to choose between the right and wrong side of the law. All the while,
government secrets, sordid lies and trickery block his efforts to solve the
case.
Common sense tells him to go back to
L.A. but is gut tells him to find his fellow Marine.
Buy
link http://didrake.blogspot.com/
Excerpt
This was the first Veteran’s Day Parade
I’d attended since I got back from Korea. Seems like a lifetime ago. Claire
wanted to go every year, even offered to make it a family affair... I never took
her up on it.
Standing at
attention, I saluted as the color guard passed. Next came the tanks and trucks
and I was transported back to my time in the Corps. A pretty young girl dressed
in red, white, and blue approached me with a basket full of tin American flag
lapel pins. She held one out to me. The paper tag attached to it read Veteran’s
Day, November 1955, but my hands wouldn’t come out of my pockets.
“Here sir, take one,
they’re free.”
I reluctantly pulled
out my hand. She placed one in my palm, and smiled and turned away. The cadence
of the drums sounded like artillery as a formation of jet fighters passed
overhead. I was back in Korea on Jeju Island, snow, guns, bombs... I shut my
eyes and clenched my fists.
A woman wearing a big
hat bumped into me. “Oh, excuse me sir.”
Slowly I opened my
hand. The sharp edges of the flag pin were stained with my blood but I didn’t
feel a thing.
“You should get
something for that hand,” she said.
I couldn’t move.
“Come.” She led me to
a hot dog stand and handed me a couple of paper napkins.
I leaned against a
chain link fence, wrapped the tin flag in a napkin and dropped it in my pocket.
I looked down at my blood smeared hand, the one that took shrapnel at Jeju. My
head spun. I leaned forward until my head rested on the fence. “Keep
breathing,” I told myself.
“So you’re a vet,”
the lady with the hat said. “Korea?”
I nodded.
She lit a cigarette.
“Here.”
I shook my head. “No
thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” She
hung the cigarette in her mouth and took my hand. After she wiped the blood,
she wrapped another napkin around my palm.
“Just a minute.” She
disappeared into the crowd. I stepped back and rested against the chain-link,
staring at the tops of the trees. She returned and handed me a cup of coffee. I
don’t know why, but my hand shook when I reached for the cup.
“It was pretty tough
over there.” Her large hat covered most of her face.
I nodded, “How would
you know?”
“47th M.A.S.H.,
Ouijonbu.” She joined me against the chain link fence and sipped her coffee.
There wasn’t much more to say. After a few moments I looked at her. “Jeju
Island, 1948. We got caught up in the rebellion.”
She held out her
gloved hand. “I’m Nancy.” Still hidden under her hat she said,, “Pleasure to
see you again, Mr. Drake.”
I studied her. “Have
we met before?”
“We have a mutual
association with an Officer Graves of the LAPD.”
I spit out the coffee
and threw the cup in the trash. “Did that ass send you to...?”
Nancy shook her head.
“No, he didn’t.” She took out a jeweled compact, held it at an angle and looked
behind her with the mirror. “I didn’t say I knew him. I said you and I had a
mutual association.”
Still checking behind
her, she whispered, “Meet me at Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights."
Bio
for Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger
Published authors Janet
Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger had been writing individually until they got
together and wrote the SKYLAR DRAKE MURDER MYSTERY Series. These hard-boiled
tales are based in old Hollywood of 1955.
Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus two
short stories. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and
crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.
Las Vegas made Shrimp Cocktail popular in
the western states in the 1950s. People would visit Sin City and return home
with want the tasty shrimp. The Flamingo Hotel and Casino is featured in one of
the scenes in DESERT ICE, a hard boiled murder Mystery.
SHRIMP COCKTAIL
8 cups (2 quarts) water
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 medium lemon, thinly sliced
3 fresh Italian parsley sprigs
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 pounds (21/25-count) shrimp, peeled
except for the tails and deveined
for the cocktail sauce:
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon
juice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black
pepper, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
for the shrimp:
Combine
everything except the shrimp in a 4-quart saucepan or pot over high heat and
bring it to a boil.
Add
the shrimp, stir, and remove the pan from the heat. Cover with a tight fitting
lid and let sit until the shrimp are opaque and just cooked through, about 10
minutes. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with paper towels and set it aside.
When
the shrimp are ready, drain them in a strainer set in the sink. Transfer them
to the prepared baking sheet and arrange in a single layer, removing and
discarding any solids from the poaching liquid that have stuck to the shrimp
(discard the contents in the strainer as well). Let sit until cooled to room
temperature, about 10 minutes
Transfer
the shrimp to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled,
at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Meanwhile, make the cocktail sauce.
for the cocktail sauce:
Stir
all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Taste and season with more
pepper as needed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until ready to
serve. Serve the shrimp with the sauce for dipping.
Have
you ever wondered, "Is there any way I can write the ending of my story that isn't an insult to my
audience's intelligence, and so I can still look myself in the mirror in the
morning?" I think there is. I divide the endings in two categories:
