AUTHORS WILL ZELLINGER AND JANET ELIZABETH LYNN WRAP UP THEIR SKYLAR DRAKE #MYSTERY SERIES

Married authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Elizabeth Lynn wrote individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. The fifth and final book in this hard-boiled series based in old Hollywood of 1956-57 is now available. Learn more about Janet and Will and their books at their respective websites.  

Creating a Satisfying Conclusion to a Series

My husband, Will Zeilinger and I co-write the Skylar Drake Mysteries, a hardboiled detective series that takes the reader to 1950s Los Angeles and other areas of the west. Our new book, Game Town, is set in Hollywood and exposes a scandal that rocks the toy industry in Los Angeles.

The Skylar Drake Mystery series ends with Game Town. We found ourselves spending more time outlining this final book than the others. In the end we scratched our head and wondered "Why was it so difficult?"

We wanted to tie up plots and sub-plots rather than just not answer series questions.

The conclusion of a series is just as important as the beginning of a series. The reader has to be satisfied that there may not be a happy ending. After all, in mysteries, lovely characters die or don't get what they want or deserve. However, things need to end okay, so the reader who has been following the series feels satisfied.

Ending the series can also be a big letdown for the writers. Remember, we have been living with these characters for years. In our case, for five years.  During this time it was not unusual for our characters to follow us into the car and argue in the back seat over a moot point we hadn't addressed. Or we could have been happily writing an intense scene that took blood, sweat and tears by the time we finished, only for the character to put their foot down and demand a change because-it didn't work in the book.

The important thing in ending a series is to deliver on the vow made in the previous books to take the reader on a journey they will enjoy to the end and leave with memories of the trip.

Game Town

A Skylar Drake Mystery, Book 5

Skylar Drake is hired as a bodyguard for two young starlets. He delivers the actresses home after the Emmy Awards ceremony, but stumbles onto the murder of Silver Brovor-Smith, the mother of one of his charges. The FBI is on-scene. He wonders why they are there for a simple murder.Drake and his partner, Casey Dolan, are now on the case as suspicion shifts between the victim’s husband and her three brothers. Drake and Dolan are misled while kidnapping and mysterious deaths take them into the world of Hollywood backroom deals. They must keep the high-profile family from becoming front page news. Drake meets the perfect woman to help him move on, but is she a suspect? The letters P-E-G-O seem to appear everywhere. He thinks they may be connected to the crimes.Follow Skylar Drake to Hollywood parties where the forbidden is accepted and games played are for keeps.

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MEET P.I. SKYLAR DRAKE

Catalina Island in the 1950s

Today we sit down with private investigator Skylar Drake from Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger’s Skylar Drake Murder Mystery Series.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

My life? I didn’t have much of a life after I lost my wife Claire, and Ellie, my beautiful three-year-old girl. They died in a house fire three years ago when I was undercover for LAPD. The circumstances were suspicious, and I started a lawsuit against the LAPD that got me fired. My dream is to open my own gym and find out who was behind the fire that killed my family. But you know, when I’m desperate to pay my bills, I work as a stuntman for Prestigious Studios. I still take on one of their gigs when money is low.  The work is fun. I get to meet many stars. Most (not all) are just plain folks with a special talent trying to live their lives.

Before these writers came along and threw a couple wrenches into my life, I was having nightmares from my time in Korea. Even with the distraction of interesting cases, I still wake up in a cold sweat— but only once in a while.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

About the time Lynn and Zeilinger wrote their first story for me I inherited a detective agency from my late wife’s brother. He’s going to be out of the picture for three to five years.

The LAPD taught me how to be a pretty good investigator, so I got together with my partner Casey Dolan. Our clients are happy in the end, some are saddened, but the mystery is always solved. I must say that my detective agency, D&D Investigations has brought in interesting cases. I’ve doubled the amount of cases and money since I took over the agency.

What do you like least about yourself?

I don't trust anyone except my partner Dolan and Lory Carrington, my secretary. Even good people need to prove themselves to me. It embarrasses me when they prove they can be trusted and I’ve treated them badly.

What is the strangest thing your authors have had you do or had happen to you?

Everyone seems to want me to date again, but I have trouble leaving the memory of Claire and Ellie behind me. Along with that, women whose first names end in "y" are unlucky for me.

These authors keep naming the interesting women in my stories with first names that end in "y.”  Take Mary Black in my latest case, Slick Deal. This lady is the spitting image of Ava Gardner.  But they’ve written her so I can’t get too close. She’s a sweet girl and a stunning beauty. I’ll have to find a way around the authors’ plot ideas.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

You should see the outlines these two make. It's horrific the way they have me fighting and getting beat up. I'd be exhausted to say the least. I don't always have to fight to get my point across. So I argue with them and try to get them to add more "reasonable" characters. They usually listen to me but only after the first edit.

What is your greatest fear?

Other than the outline? I'd say there are two things that I worry about in all four books:  One, that the bad guys gets away with the crime, leaving dead people in their path. It's never happened because I make sure the authors listen to me. And second, I miss not being in love, and worry love won't be in the stars for me... because of these word jockeys.

What makes you happy?

Memories of my wife and daughter and solving the unsolvable. And it's great to prove the "experts" wrong. I'm happy when my partner and I see eye-to-eye. Dolan and I go way back to our days at the LAPD, and since 1955 when I took over this business, we've worked well together, always have.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would definitely change the names of the Femme Fatale's and not make their names end in "y". Many times I have to bite my lip, turn and walk away. Hey, it's not easy. Why you ask?  This may sound corny, but I'd like to fall in love again.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

In the first book, Slivers of Glass, I met FBI Agent Olivia Jahns. A gorgeous, smart and sexy women whose name doesn't end in "y". She keeps an eye on me and my partner. You’d think a lady like her could think outside the box once in awhile. Since she can't seem to do that, she could listen to me, but what woman ever does?

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Softy Moreno, a big time gangster in LA, He’s a really cool cat. I don't agree with his methods for getting things done. He's been my nemesis for four books now. I admire his charm with the ladies and his fortitude. When he makes a promise he never fails to follow through, good or bad. In Desert Ice he actually promised to get the person responsible for the violence that everyone blamed on him. And he did exactly that. Too bad the writers don’t let people like him tell their side of the story often enough.

Tell us a little something about your authors. Where can readers find their website/blog?

It amazed me how they make each book happen. They don't believe in just researching the mid-1950s. They have to experience each location before they put pen to paper. So they took me with them to rural Santa Rosa, California, pre-statehood Hawaii, gang-infested Las Vegas, and the sleepy town of Avalon, on Catalina Island. It's been a joy to travel with them and it's exciting to guess what they have planned for me. They each have a thing they call a website:

www.janetlynnauthor.com, www.willzeilingerauthor.com, and together they have a blog: www.themarriedauthors.blogspot.com.

What's next for you?

I enjoy staying close to LA, where my office has easy access to the film and TV studios. Traveling by rail or flying out of the area is time consuming and expensive. So I hope for the next one they'll let me stay in L.A. or Hollywood. There's plenty of excitement in both cities, but with these two authors... one never knows.

Slick Deal

On the eve of the New Year, 1956, oil tycoon, Oliver Wright dies suspiciously at a swanky Hollywood New Years Eve party. Some think it was suicide. His death is soon followed by threats against the rest of his family.

Private Investigator Skylar Drake and his partner Casey Dolan are hired by an L.A. gangster to protect the family and solve Oliver’s mysterious death. Clues lead them to Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, a Hollywood movie star playground. A high profile scandal, mysterious women, treason and more deaths complicate matters, putting Drake and his partner in danger.

Twenty-three miles may not seem far away but false identity and corruption on this island could squash their efforts to answer the question—How in the world can a dead man commit suicide?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHORS JANET ELIZABETH LYNN AND WILL ZEILINGER

Shrimp Cocktail still served at the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino

Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger had been writing individually until they got together to write the Skylar Drake Murder Mystery series, hard-boiled tales based in Hollywood in 1955. Learn more about them at their individual websites.

Desert Ice is the third hard-boiled Skylar Drake Murder Mystery. A murder in L.A. takes Drake to Las Vegas in search of answers. Since much of mid-1950s Las Vegas was demolished and reclaimed for more modern building, it was obvious we needed to go there to research Sin City ourselves.

At that time, the mob was alive and well. The locals welcomed the gangsters to the open city. This allowed them to enter the city and do what they did best, operate gambling and prostitution establishments— legally. They may have been criminals in other parts of the country but the minute they set foot in Nevada, they became legitimate and very successful businessmen.

While there, we had the opportunity to interview several professors at UNLV as well as researchers of old Las Vegas.  Among the people we spoke to who lived in Las Vegas during the 1950s were the daughter of a mobster and a dancer. The subjects that kept cropping up during our interviews were the Mob and (believe it not) Shrimp Cocktail.

We learned that Shrimp Cocktail was introduced to Las Vegas by Italo Ghelfi, a restaurant/bar owner from San Francisco. He and his partners were lured to Las Vegas to buy the Western Hotel then owned by Emilio "Gomba" Giorgetti. Giorgetti controlled illegal slot operations, liquor sales and a number of powerful politicians. When this reputed mob boss was subpoenaed to appear before the Kefauver Committee on organized crime, he decided to leave town—fast.  Giorgetti sold the hotel to the partnership.

Two years later the Western was sold, and the partnership opened the Golden Gate Casino on the main floor of the Sal Sagev Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas spelled backwards). To attract gamblers he introduced and sold the "Original Shrimp Cocktail” for fifty cents. It was small salad shrimp with cocktail sauce served in a tulip glass. Tourists and locals couldn't get enough of it. Successful? Ghelfi managed the casino for forty years.

Keep in mind Ghelfi not only displaced a mobster from Las Vegas, he also began the shrimp cocktail tradition that still thrives.

With this in mind, we had to include it in our story. Skylar Drake, along with an FBI agent and three female Pinkerton detectives, enjoy the appetizer as the mystery begins to intensify in Las Vegas. The Pinkerton detectives are from other parts of the country, so the idea of shrimp in a tulip glass with delicious sauce does tend to preoccupy them when off duty— so to speak.

Las Vegas made Shrimp Cocktail popular in the western states in the 1950s. People who visited Sin City would return home wanting the tasty shrimp.

Shrimp Cocktail

for the shrimp:

8 cups 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

Combine all the ingredients for the shrimp except the shrimp in a 4-quart pot over high heat and bring 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.

Drain the shrimp in a strainer and transfer them to the baking sheet, arranging in a single layer. Be sure to remove and discard 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:

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.

Desert Ice

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 his gut tells him to find his fellow Marine.

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#TRAVEL TO MOLOKAI, #HAWAII WITH AUTHORS JANET ELIZABETH LYNN AND WILL ZEILINGER

When they met it was murder... like a real Hart to Hart. Authors Janet Elizabeth Lynn and her husband Will Zeilinger have been writing separately for over a decade. They’ve recently begun writing the Skylar Drake Mysteries together with two books out and more on the way. Learn more about Janet and Will at their websites.

Pre-Statehood Hawaii, Molokai Island

Strange Markings is the second in the Skylar Drake Mystery series. The novel begins in San Pedro, California. The clues lead to pre-statehood Molokai, Hawaii, 1955. Even after spending hours searching online, we found a research trip to the Hawaii State Public Library in Honolulu and the Molokai Public Library was a must.

Our first stop was Molokai and its public library, one of three places on the island that had AC and plenty of drinking water, both of which are in short supply on the island. We spent hours going through newspapers, telephone directories, and local magazines from the period. The librarian was more than helpful, pulling out old materials, blowing off the dust and piling them up on the table in categories. We were shocked that after 58 years, the town had not changed that much. Photos of the main street Ala Malama Ave. showed it exactly the way it looks now. The history of how the island’s ownership of the sugar mill switched between cattle ranches and crops was like a chess game and played an important role in the island’s development.

We took notes and gauged our exploration according to what was found in the newspaper articles. The sugar mill was in ruins but many parts of the interior and actual mill were intact. As we walked around the overgrown landscape, our original plot changed drastically, especially the Kapu (curses.) The locals believed the mill was haunted toward the end of its run.

The trip through the west part of the island was dessert-like, flat, dry, red dirt and plenty of places to dump dead bodies. On the west side, tropical foliage with cliffs and beautiful beaches with crashing surf. We took a side road through hills covered with dense forest and large groups of birds fluttering and singing. After a short hike on the trail we came across an old rusty, abandon shack with saplings pushing against the dilapidated roof and bent sides. A perfect place to hide someone or something illegal perhaps?

The remaining two days on the island were spent interviewing the locals. Since we were out of our element and had some understanding of the layout of the island, we asked our usual question, "Where would you dump a dead body?" We discovered early on that people react differently. Some smiled and walked away, others didn't even smile when they left. However, quite a few gave us cross streets, and specific building on the main street to check out.

Kaunakakai, circa 1950s, looks much the same today.

The largest town is Kaunakakai, consisting of three blocks of mom and pop shops, a single traffic light, and one gas station. The population hasn’t grown very much since the 50's, and the residents love their isolation. Air conditioning is reserved for the medical center, post office, and library. There are still many unpaved roads.

Molokai is a time capsule. The growth that occurred on the other islands has been restricted in Molokai due to insufficient water and electrical resources. Families still live near the water’s edge and fish for their living. The main street is still the gathering place for the latest news and gossip.

After Molokai we spent two days in the Hawaii State Public Library to get an idea of what life was like in 1955 Honolulu. We even found great articles about the Red Light District, the perfect place for Skylar Drake and his partner to drown their sorrows. We learned there was a large, well-organized group of locals opposed to statehood during this time, and politics under the provincial government in Honolulu was as crooked as it was on the mainland. Also, traditional Hawaiian music was mostly replaced with Latin music, and Huli-huli chicken was developed the summer of 1955. It went on to become a popular food item in Hawaii and the mainland soon after. How about that!

On our second day at the library, the librarian asked if we’d be interested in some of the legends, superstitions, and curses from that time. We spent the remainder of the day reading amazing stories, personal accounts, and research into the origins of many of them.

Strange Markings

The Pacific breezes blow many things in from the ocean. This time its power, greed, and murder. At the dawn of the television age in 1955, Skylar Drake is called to identify the remains of a fellow movie stuntman found buried in a shallow grave. While there, he’s shown mysterious wounds and strange tattoos on two additional bodies.

A wealthy Bel Air matron sends her enticing niece to enlist Drake’s help in locating a missing nephew. The search takes him back to pre-statehood Hawaii where he stopped off on his way to the hell of the Korean War. Unexplained deaths, politics and superstitious locals turn the tropical paradise into a nightmare where nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted.

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