Historical Fiction Virtual
Blog Tours Presents…
Al Capone at the Blanche
Hotel
By Linda Bennett
Pennell
Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel tells a story of
lives unfolding in different centuries, but linked and irrevocably altered by a
series of murders in 1930.
Lake City, Florida,
June, 1930: Al Capone checks in for an unusually long stay at the Blanche
Hotel, a nice enough joint for an insignificant little whistle stop. The
following night, young Jack Blevins witnesses a body being dumped heralding the
summer of violence to come. One-by-one, people controlling county vice activities
swing from KKK ropes. No moonshine distributor, gaming operator, or brothel
madam, black or white, is safe from the Klan’s self-righteous vigilantism.
Jack’s older sister Meg, a waitress at the Blanche, and her fiancé, a sheriff’s
deputy, discover reasons to believe the lynchings are cover for a much larger
ambition than simply ridding the county of vice. Someone, possibly backed by
Capone, has secret plans for filling the voids created by the killings. But as
the body count grows and crosses burn, they come to realize this knowledge may
get all of them killed.
Gainesville, Florida,
August, 2011: Liz Reams, an up and coming young academic specializing in the
history of American crime, impulsively moves across the continent to follow a
man who convinces her of his devotion yet refuses to say the three simple words
I love you. Despite the entreaties of friends and family, she is attracted to
edginess and a certain type of glamour in her men, both living and historical.
Her personal life is an emotional roller coaster, but her career options
suddenly blossom beyond all expectation, creating a very different type of
stress. To deal with it all, Liz loses herself in her professional passion,
original research into the life and times of her favorite bad boy, Al Capone.
What she discovers about 1930’s summer of violence, and herself in the process,
leaves her reeling at first and then changed forever.
Praise for Al Capone at
the Blanche Hotel
5 Star Top Pick
“…brilliantly written…”
BTSemagazine
“…The characters were so
well done that I latched onto them and wanted to know where their journey was
going to end up. It’s a fascinating read. The way the author wrote this story
made it so easy to get a visual of the characters, the setting and just life in
general – you could feel yourself in the ’30′s, living what they were living
and you could feel yourself in the present time, living what Liz was living. I
highly recommend it.”
Maggie Thom, The Write to Read
Excerpt
Saturday June
14, 1930 O’Leno, Florida
Jack jammed a finger
into each ear and swallowed hard. Any other time, he wouldn’t even notice the
stupid sound. The river always sorta slurped just before it pulled stuff
underground.
His
stomach heaved again. Maybe he shouldn’t look either, but he couldn’t tear his
eyes away from the circling current. When the head slipped under the water, the
toe end lifted up. Slowly the tarpaulin wrapped body, at least that’s what it
sure looked like, went completely vertical. It bobbed around a few times and
finally gurgled its way down the sinkhole. Then everything went quiet . . .
peaceful . . . crazily normal. Crickets sawed away again. An ole granddaddy
bullfrog croaked his lonesomeness into the sultry midnight air.
Crouched in the shelter
of a large palmetto clump, Jack’s muscles quivered and sweat rolled into his
eyes, but he remained stock-still. His heart hammered like he had just finished
the fifty yard dash, but that was nothing to what Zeke was probably feeling. He
was still just a little kid in lots of ways.
When creeping damp
warmed the soles of Jack’s bare feet, he grimaced and glanced sideways. Zeke
looked back with eyes the size of saucers and mouthed the words I’m
sorry. Jack shook his head then wrinkled his nose as the odor of ammonia
and damp earth drifted up. He’d always heard that fear produced its own
peculiar odor, but nobody ever said how close you had to be to actually smell
it. He prayed you had to be real close; otherwise, he and Zeke were in big
trouble.
The stranger standing on
the riverbank stared out over the water for so long Jack wondered if the man
thought the body might suddenly come flying up out of the sinkhole and float
back upriver against the current. Funny, the things that popped into your head
when you were scared witless.
The man removed a rag
from his pocket and mopped his face. He paused, looked upstream, then turned
and stared into the surrounding forest. As his gaze swept over their hiding
place, Jack held his breath and prayed, but he could feel Zeke’s chest rising
and falling in ragged jerks so he slipped his hand onto Zeke’s arm. Under the
gentle pressure of Jack’s fingers, Zeke’s muscles trembled and jumped beneath
his soft ebony skin. When Zeke licked his lips and parted them like he was
about to yell out, Jack clapped a hand over the open mouth and wrapped his
other arm around Zeke’s upper body, pulling him close and holding him tight.
Zeke’s heart pounded against the bib of his overalls like it might jump clean
out of his chest.
With one final look
‘round at the river and forest, the stranger strode to the hand crank of a
Model T. The engine caught momentarily, then spluttered and died. A stream of
profanity split the quiet night. The crank handle jerked from its shaft and
slammed back into place. More grinding and more swearing followed until the
thing finally coughed to life for good and a car door slammed. Only then did
Jack relax his hold on Zeke.
“I want outta here. I
wanna go home,” Zeke whispered hoarsely.
Lucky Zeke. Before Meg
left home to move into town, Jack would have felt the same way. Now he didn’t
care if he ever went home.
Jack cocked an ear in
the Ford’s direction. “Hush so I can listen. I think he’s gone, but we’re gonna
belly crawl in the opposite direction just to be sure we ain’t seen.”
“Through that briar
patch? I ain’t got on no shoes or shirt.”
“Me neither. Come on.
Don’t be such a baby.”
“I ain’t no baby,” Zeke
hissed as he scrambled after Jack.
When the pine forest
thinned out, Jack raised up on his knees for a look around. Without a word,
Zeke jumped to his feet and started toward the road. Jack grabbed a strap on
Zeke’s overalls and snatched him back onto his bottom.
“You taken complete
leave of your senses?” Wiping sweat out of his eyes, Jack pushed his shaggy
blonde hair to one side. “Check it out before you go bustin’ into the open.”
“Why you so bossy all
the time? I ain’t stupid, ya know. Just cause you turned twelve don’t make you
all growed up.”
Zeke’s lower lip stuck
out, trembling a little. Whether it was from fear or anger, Jack wasn’t sure.
Probably both. Peering into the night, he strained for the flash of headlights.
Nothing but bright moonlight illuminated the road’s deep white sand. Finally
confident that no vehicles were abroad, he grabbed Zeke’s hand and pulled him
to his feet. With one final glance left, then right, they leapt onto the single
lane track and ran like the devil was on their tails.
Pick up your copy of
Al Capone at the Blanche
Hotel
Miami Days, Havana Night
By Linda Bennett
Pennell
Sometimes our biggest
debts have nothing to do with money.
1926. When seventeen-year-old Sam Ackerman witnesses
a mob hit, he is hustled out of New York under the protection of Moshe
Toblinsky, A.K.A., the mob’s bookkeeper. Arriving in Miami with no money, no
friends, and no place to hide, Sam’s only choice is to do as the gangster
demands. Forced into bootlegging, Sam’s misery is compounded when he falls in
love. Amazingly, the beautiful, devout Rebecca wants only him, but he cannot
give her the life she deserves. When Prohibition ends, Sam begs the mobster to
set him free. The price? A debt, as Toblinsky puts it, of friendship. A debt
that will one day come due.
Present Day. History of American Crime professor
Liz Reams has it all—early success, a tantalizing lead on new info about Moshe
Toblinsky, and a wonderful man to love. Life is perfect. So what’s keeping her
from accepting her guy’s marriage proposals? Confronting a long-standing
personal debt sets her on a journey of self-discovery. While she delves ever
deeper into Sam’s and Toblinsky’s relationship, her understanding of her own
relationships increases as well, but the revelations come at a price. The
emotional and physical dangers of her dual journeys may prove too big to
handle.
Pick up your copy of
Miami Days, Havana
Nights
Giveaway
During the Blog Tour, we will be giving away a signed set of Al
Capone at the Blanche Hotel & Miami Days, Havana Nights! You can enter HERE!
Giveaway Rules
• Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on May 22nd.
You must be 18 or older to enter.
• Giveaway is open to US only.
• Only one entry per household.
• All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
• The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
• Giveaway is open to US only.
• Only one entry per household.
• All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
• The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.
Linda Bennett Pennell
I have been in love with the past
for as long as I can remember. Anything with a history, whether shabby or
majestic, recent or ancient, instantly draws me in. I suppose it comes from
being part of a large extended family that spanned several generations. Long
summer afternoons on my grandmother’s porch or winter evenings gathered around
her fireplace were filled with stories both entertaining and poignant. Of
course being set in the South, those stories were also peopled by some very
interesting characters, some of whom have found their way into my work.
As for my venture in writing, it has
allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures, but
unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily
understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Perhaps you, too, want
to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at
the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental
wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget,
all good fiction begins when someone says to herself or himself, “Let’s
pretend.”
I currently reside in the Houston
area with my sweet husband and a German Shorthaired Pointer who thinks she’s a
little girl.
Connect with Linda:
Thank you so much for hosting Linda's blog tour!
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