Featured April Authors: Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger
April 29, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as A Slylar Drake Mystery, hard-boiled mysteries, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, Will Zeilinger
Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn wrote individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1956-57. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.
The next Skylar Drake Mystery, fifth in the series, GAME TOWN is available now and yes…they are still married!
Game Town
Excerpt
Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger
Two o’clock in the morning. I’d just left the Emmy Awards ceremony at the NBC Television Studio in Burbank. All of Hollywood and its finest had shown up to honor the best of television for 1956. The winners and losers were either at a party celebrating or hiding somewhere licking their wounds. My partner, Casey Dolan was in the passenger seat. It was pouring rain when we left Burbank, but seemed to be lessening as we headed away from the valley.
We’d been hired by Epic Studios to escort a couple of their up and coming starlets to and from the event. In truth, we were their bodyguards. The motion picture and TV studios weren’t taking chances with their human investments.
The two young ladies in the back seat were passed out cold. I suspected they’d had a little too much Champagne before and during the ceremony.
I drove through one of the most exclusive and expensive neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Ahead we spotted a lot of activity on the street. Dolan sat up and stared at the mess ahead, “What the Hell?”
Several police cruisers and what looked like government cars were lined up in front of a house. As we got closer, I saw the address. 859 in brass letterabove the front door – the address where I was to deliver the girls.
I parked at the opposite corner. Dolan said, “I’ll stay here and keep watch on the girls.”
When I sprinted up the wet sidewalk and ducked under the yellow police tape, I heard a familiar voice.
“Drake, over here!” It was FBI Agent Olivia Jahns
I followed Jahns into the mansion where the body of a woman in a pure white coat with a white fur collar was sprawled on the hardwood floor at the foot of a marble staircase. Her light blonde hair and fur coat were soaked with blood. The handle of a knife protruded from her waist.
“Who is…?”
“The victim’s name is Silver Brovor-Smith. She’s the mother of Holly Becker, one of the young ladies in your charge.”
We looked out the front door. The press had already gathered on the front lawn which didn’t help the chaos as the street.
The two starlets came running past me, “No!” Holly yelled when she saw her mother’s body on the floor.
Theresa, the other young lady, shouted, “Oh my God. Oh my God!” She struggled to join her friend Holly, but Dolan had his hands full, holding her back from the scene.
I took Holly by the shoulders and turned her away from the bloody scene. She looked toward the stairway.
“What did you do to her?” Holly shouted at an older man wearing a white tuxedo coming down the stairs. Holly broke away from me and ran toward him. She began kicking and punching him, screaming, “What did you do to her?”
Several officers pulled her away, but she continued kicking and flailing, “You killed her!”
The Skylar Drake Mystery Series
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April Featured Authors Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger
April 21, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Featured Author of the Month
Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn wrote individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1956-57. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and lives in Southern California.
The next Skylar Drake Mystery, fifth in the series, GAME TOWN is available now and yes…they are still married!
Greenblat’s Deli & Fine Wine Shop
8017 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046
We started researching our new book GAME TOWN, in Hollywood. Since this was a fact finding “mission” we decided to take the time to sample the delis that our characters would frequent for meetings, dates, etc. (Or an excuse to sample great foods) we found ourselves in Los Angeles.
Greenblatt’s Deli was established by Herman Greenblatt in 1926. At the time, Sunset Blvd was still a dirt road West of Doheny. Greenblatt’s was purchased by the Kavin Family in the early 1940’s, and has been operated by the family for three generations.
Greenblatt’s has catered to the entertainment industry and been “The Place To Go” in Hollywood for Deli, Wines, and Spirits. Almost everybody who has worked in the Hollywood Entertainment field over the last 80 years has shopped at Greenblatt’s. To name a few: Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Groucho Marx, Errol Flynn, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Janis Joplin, Bing Crosby, Peter Lawford, Boris Karloff, Bobby Darin, Rita Hayworth, Kirk Douglas, Bella Lugosi, Marlon Brando, Peter Lorre, Lenny Bruce, Shelly Winters, John Belushi, Danny Kaye, and Billie Holiday were a few of the many regulars.
The corned beef and potato salad are to die for!!! Upstairs is intimate and quiet.
During lunch we imagined our characters having dinner. Because it has the charm of old Hollywood, it was the perfect place for Skylar Drake to woo the pretty Miss Anne.
The Skylar Drake Mystery Series
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Will Zeiling & Janet Elizabeth Lynn April Featured Authors
April 14, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as hard-boiled mysteries, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery Series, Will Zeilinger
Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn wrote individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1956-57. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.
The next Skylar Drake Mystery, fourth in the series, GAME TOWN is available now and yes … they are still married!
Biltmore Hotel
We started researching our book GAME TOWN, in Hollywood, on Hollywood Blvd. This time we were looking for a nice hotel for our PI and hopefully a future girlfriend to meet for lunch. We checked the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, it was called the Biltmore Hotel in 1957. We visited the historic hotel and were amazed at the fine craftsmanship in the lobby and hallways!
The Millennium Biltmore Hotel, originally named the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel is a luxury hotel located across the street from Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles. Opened in 1923, the Los Angeles Biltmore was the largest hotel in the U.S. west of Chicago, Illinois.
In 1969 the Biltmore Hotel was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles. The hotel has 70,000 square feet (6,500 m) of meeting and banquet space. Of its original 1500 guestrooms it now has 683, due to room expansion and reorganization.
Walking through the lobby we found a great place for a high priced but fabulous brunch or dinner for that special someone. Instead, we used the lobby for a clandestine meeting between the FBI and Skylar Drake and partner Casey Dolan.
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Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger: April Featured Authors
April 7, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as A Skylar Drake Mystery, Featured Author of the Month, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, Partners in Crime, Will Zeilinger
Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn wrote individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1956-57. Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus a couple of short stories. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.
The next Skylar Drake Mystery, fifth in the series,GAME TOWN is available now and yes . . . they’re are still married!
In addition to Janet’s and Will’s monthly column, Partners in Crime, each week in April they will share with us some of the research they used to write GAME TOWN.
The Academy Awards
1957
We started researching our new book GAME TOWN, in Hollywood, on Hollywood Blvd. Since we are keeping the story in Hollywood, we decided to include the Award Ceremonies of 1957. The Academy Awards were at the RKO Pantages. Since ceremonies were only ten days apart and we couldn’t decide which one to use—we decided to include both! So, the book begins with the Emmy Awards and ends with the Academy Awards
The 29th Academy Awards-Oscars was held on March 27, 1957 at RKO Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. The ceremony was hosted by Jerry Lewis and Celeste Holms.
To enjoy the humor of that night, go to (Lewis’ monologue begins at 7:25)
The winners were:
Best picture – Around the World in 80 Days
Best actor – Yul Brenner for King and I
Best actress – Ingrid Bergman for Anastasia
Best Song- Que Ser Sera in from the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much
Best Short Cartoon -Mr. Magoo-Puddle Jumper
April Featured Authors Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger
April 1, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as April 2019 Featured Authors, hard-boiled mysteries, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery Series, Will Zeilinger
Published authors Will Zeilinger and Janet Lynn wrote individually until they got together and created the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1956-57. Janet has published seven mystery novels and Will has three plus a couple of short stories. Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. This creative couple is married and live in Southern California.
The next Skylar Drake Mystery, fifth in the series, GAME TOWN is available now and yes . . . they’re are still married!
In addition to Janet’s and Will’s monthly column, Partners in Crime, each week in April they will share with us some of the research they used to write GAME TOWN.
The Emmy Awards 1957
My husband Will Zeilinger and I co-write the Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries, a hard-boiled 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 Companies in Los Angeles.
While doing in-depth research into 1950s Hollywood, we came across news that amazed us! We discovered that the Emmy Awards and the Academy award were ten days apart. We wrestled with which one we should us in our novel. Since we couldn’t decide, we chose to begin the novel with the Emmys and end with the Academy awards.
The 9th Emmy Awards was held on March 17, 1957 at NBC Studios in Burbank. The ceremony was hosted by Desi Arnaz of I LOVE LUCY fame. Hence the book begins here.
The winners of the Emmy Awards were:
Best 1/2-hour series – Phil Silver Show
Best 1-hour series – Caesar’s Hour
Best New Program Series- Playhouse 90
Best actor in a comedy series – Sid Caesar for Caesar’s Comedy Hour
Best actor in a drama series – Robert Young for Father Knows Best
Best actress in a comedy series – Nanette Fabray for Caesar’s Comedy Hour
Best actress in a drama series – Loretta Young for Loretta Young Show
The Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries Series
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