This tragic event comes on the heels of the still-unsolved murder of Miss Starling's fiance, Mr. Taylor Wells, who was also slated to co-star in the M-G-M feature. The two had been vacationing in Ensenada, Mexico, when Mr. Wells was shot on Monday night at close range by an unknown assailant.
Mr. Nicholas Williams, wealthy scion of the Williams family of San Francisco, had been sus-pected by the state police of Baja California but was released yesterday and has left Mexico to return home, according to the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles.
Author's Note
Thank you for buying and reading this book!
I hope you enjoyed this second book set in the world of Nick Williams and Carter Jones.
When I first wrote this book, I didn't completely understand what it would develop into. As of this writing, I've completed sixteen additional books and feel like I've only barely scraped the surface of what is possible.
The proposition of this ongoing story is simple: what happens when someone is outed (long before that term was invented) and doesn't back down? We've now seen what happens as Nick and Carter encounter friends and foes, alike, out in the world. If you'd like to discover more about what might happen as the summer of 1953 really takes off, The Sartorial Senator is next in line...
And, if you'd like to see how these first two stories appeared through the eyes of Ben White, you can read all about it in The One He Waited For which not only shows that fateful night at the Top of the Mark through Ben's eyes but also tells the story of how the love between Ben and Carlo caught fire.
Acknowledgments
Many, many thanks to the first readers and reviewers of The Unexpected Heiress who asked for more! It was beyond gratifying to be asked, again and again, when the next book would be available.
Just as with the first book, the details of this particular story came out of thin air. But the mood and the style of the tale is the evolution of a story that I had in mind for many years: a gay satire of the Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. His books have been favorites for many years. The gay twist was inspired by Mabel Maney's three novels featuring the lesbian adventures of Cherry Aimless, Nancy Clue, and their pals The Hardly Boys. They are great fun to read and I highly recommend them all.
J. B. Sanders, author of the Glen & Tyler series of books, is a personal hero who has written bold gay male characters in love. I want to acknowledge and thank him for all the hours of fun in reading his stories and for the inspiration his work has given me. I feel that, in a way that I hope pays homage where it is due, Nick & Carter are earlier, grittier versions of his protagonists.
For historical perspective and details, I have relied heavily on one particular book: Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 by Nan Alamilla Boyd. I have referred to Ms. Boyd's research for the names of bars and nightclubs and specific historical events that affected the LGBT community of San Francisco. I have also relied on her descriptions of the era, which has been very useful. I am deeply grateful for her research and this book. Any mistakes, of course, are mine alone.
As to the form of writing a mystery, my chief inspiration is more from Dorothy L. Sayers than anyone else, although you may be hard-pressed to see that. If you know the Lord Peter mysteries, however, you may find a few small homages to them in these pages.
I was inspired to just sit down and write the first book after a number of helpful and powerful conversations with several friends: Benny, Paula, and Piper Jackson; Jody Ben-David, Edward Vilga, and Karen Cuccioli.
David Tangredi offered wonderful feedback and helped me remember that not everyone in the world watches old movies constantly.
Finally, my mother, Carol Haggard, gave me the gift of storytelling or, at least, a deep interest in telling good stories. Hopefully that is what has happened here. Again.
Historical Notes
The events in this book take place between Monday, May 18, 1953, and Friday, May 29, 1953.
The primary characters are all fictional. There are, however, several historical persons and locales portrayed in a fictional manner.
Eddie Mannix was the infamous fixer who worked for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The Beverly Hills Hotel first opened in 1912. The Fountain Coffee Shop at the hotel is, as of 2016, only open until 7 p.m., but in the heady days of the 1950's, I'm guessing it would have been open all night.
The Hotel Riviera del Pacifico opened as the Hotel Playa de Ensenada in 1930. It didn't do well after the end of Prohibition in 1933. Marjorie King Plant, who was a Ziegfield dancer, appeared in a handful of films in the late 1920's and early 1930's, and performed on the New York stage through the 1940's, was given the hotel by her elderly boyfriend, Jerome Utley of Detroit. In order to be able to legally own the hotel under Mexican law, she married a local lawyer named Alfonso Rocha to gain Mexican citizenship.
Marjorie changed the name of the hotel to Hotel Riviera del Pacifico, renovated the building, and led it to the height of its popularity in the early 1950's.
Among the many origin stories for the invention of the Margarita cocktail, one says that it happened in 1938 at a restaurant near Tijuana. According to this story, the drink was named for Marjorie who was allergic to most liquors but not tequila. There are many other competing origin stories, my favorite being the one where it was invented at the Balinese Room in Galveston in 1948 and named for singer Peggy Lee (Margaret). I like that story since I can imagine my grandfather, who was a native of Galveston and known to frequent the Balinese Room (and its hidden gambling tables in the back) being somewhere nearby when that happened.
What is undisputed is that Marjorie constantly claimed that the origin story that put her at the center was the real one.
In 1956, the Governor of Baja California, one Braulio Maldonado Sández, did indeed expropriate the hotel. Maldonado served as Governor from the end of 1953 through the end of 1959. From all accounts, he was a vicious, petty dictator. He did have a group of enforcers known as Los Chemitas. Pistolero is a generic term that I preferred to use.
Part of the hotel was destroyed by the state government in 1964, but much of it is still standing in Ensenada and the building is now a cultural center and contains a historical museum. Early photos show that the hotel was initially a beachfront property but there is now a road and a marina in front.
More Information
Nick Williams Mysteries
The Unexpected Heiress
The Amorous Attorney
The Sartorial Senator
The Laconic Lumberjack
The Perplexed Pumpkin
The Savage Son
The Mangled Mobster
The Iniquitous Investigator
The Voluptuous Vixen
The Timid Traitor
The Sodden Sailor
The Excluded Exile
The Paradoxical Parent
The Pitiful Player
Nick & Carter Stories
An Enchanted Beginning
Golden Gate Love Stories
The One He Waited For
Their Own Hidden Island
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The Amorous Attorney (A Nick Williams Mystery Book 2) Page 18
