Tag: Janet Elizabeth Lynn

Home > ArchivesTag: Janet Elizabeth Lynn

Vintage 1950s Cocktail Parties

April 3, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger, Writing tagged as 1950s Research, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery Series, Vintage Cocktail Parties, Will Zeilinger

a woman seated at a home bar with a man pouring a cocktail.

My husband Will Zeilinger and I co-write the Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries. A hardboiled detective series that takes the reader to 1950s Los Angeles and other areas of the west. Our next book, GAME TOWN, the fifth of the Skylar Drake Murder Mystery series, is available now!

Cocktail Parties were all the rage in the 1950s and into the 60s. It was a chance to get dressed up, relax with friends, socialize, impress others and gossip. What would the 1950 have been without Cocktail Parties?

Private cocktail parties were held at people’s homes. They would invite the neighbors, friends, business associates, their boss, or co-workers. There were all kinds of reasons for a get together. We call it networking today, but on a much smaller scale.

For the host, the food and drinks served were very important. The beverages and the canapés complimented each other. The rule of thumb was tart and salty blended best with gin, while heartier foods went with whiskey and beer.

Below are suggestions for the hostess:

Champagne: caviar, chicken l’orange, hearts of palm salad

Highballs: liver paté, stuffed eggs, cheese balls,

Whiskey Cocktail: cheese tarts, curried peanut butter rolls

Gin Cocktail: marinated vegetables, asparagus tips in ham rolls

Beer: stuffed olives, cheese balls, turnovers

Sherry: Apple, raisin and cream cheese balls, bacon balls, chipped beef rolls with mushrooms, stuffed mushrooms, peanut rolls, peanut butter rolls, peanut butter tarts, nut and stem ginger tarts, ham tidbits, chicken, lobster or liver paste puffs, turnovers, cheese straws, sausage tidbits and smoked hickory cheese balls.

Whiskey cocktails: guacamole, anchovy fillet tidbits, bacon and curried peanut butter rolls, East Indian beef balls, clam spread tidbit, pizzas–miniature, smoked oysters in blankets, Camembert cheese and ham tarts, chicken livers and bacon, roast beef snacks, kippered herring and bacon rolls and meat balls (beef in blankets).

Gin cocktails: guacamole, anchovy ham rolls, artichoke hearts, asparagus tips in ham rolls, onion and cheese snacks, onion egg snacks, stuffed olives, codfish balls with cheese, sardine onion snacks, sausage in blankets, sardine macaroni snacks, stuffed dill pickles and marinated vegetables.

Beer: Anchovy fillet tidbits, stuffed olives, cheese straws, turnovers, cocktail frankfurters and sauerkraut, garlic popcorn, cheese balls, chipped beef and sardine rolls, kippered herring and bacon rolls, and tongue rolls or pinwheels.”

A full-size bar would offer all cocktails. But smaller bars in individual homes usually had only a sampling to offer. Thus, making tidbits easier to manage.

Of course, a fruit and cheese plate was a good finish for all cocktail parties

book cover of Game Town shows silhouette of man with gun and a woman in a long gown with palm trees in the backrougnd

GAME TOWN, A Skylar Drake Murder Mystery, fifth in the series. Available Now.

Vist Janet on her website or blog

0 0 Read more

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

Book cover of Game Town and picture of Janet Lynn and 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

SLICK DEAL

GAME TOWN

STRANGE MARKINGS

SLIVERS OF GLASS

DESERT ICE

STONE PUB: An Exercise in Deception

0 0 Read more

Partnering in Writing: Tripping to Places & Times by Janet Elizabeth Lynn

January 3, 2019 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as co-writing, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, Research for Writers, traveling, Will Zeilinger, writing partners

My husband, Will Zeilinger and I co-write the Skylar Drake Murder Mysteries. A hardboilded detective series that takes the reader to 1950s Los Angeles and other areas of the west. Our next book, GAME TOWN, will be available Spring 2019. Needless to say, at this time we are in the throes of writing and researching!

Someone said, “You can’t write about old Hollywood unless you experience it.” This is so true! Neither my husband nor I are from LA and didn’t experience gang infested 1950s LA. So we take field trips, such as the Raymond Chandler’s L.A. Tour. We research the clubs and hangouts of the time then visit the nightclubs, hotels, and restaurants (Turns out to be loads of fun).

Slivers of Glass | Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger

To begin our journey for this series, (even before we started writing), we took a trip to San Diego and the Sheriff’s Museum. We called ahead and scheduled interviews with several retired policemen, including one that worked the L.A. beat in the late 1950s. This gentleman was a wealth of information on police activity in Hollywood and the surrounding area. Our first novel in the series, SLIVERS OF GLASS, takes place in spring, 1955 in Santa Rosa.

Strange Markings | Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger

Research for STRANGE MARKINGS was mostly gathered on our trip to Molokai, Hawaii. Natives we interviewed told us about the many legends and what it was like living in the area in summer, 1955. As each person talked about their experiences, plots and subplots emerged for us.

Desert Ice | Janet Lynn and Will Zeilinger

We found people living in the areas at the time each book took place and interviewed them. Since DESERT ICE takes place in Las Vegas, Fall, 1955. We interviewed a dancer who worked on the, then new, strip. Will also had a college buddy who lived in Boyle Heights in the 50s, so we interviewed him and his sister for the same book where the first murder takes place.

Slick Deal | Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger | A Slice of Orange

SLICK DEAL takes place in Winter of 1955, is base on interviews with local people in Signal Hill, and Avalon, on Catalina Island all in southern California. After lengthy interviews my husband and I commented how the spoken word conjures up images and ideas so easily.

GAME TOWN, our fifth book in the series due for release in April 2019, takes place in spring, 1956. We decided to keep it in Hollywood for the first time. We recently took an afternoon and drove around old Hollywood looking for body dumps that would have been in existence in 1956. We stumbled upon a lovely apartment building, El Royale, circa 1929. We weren’t allowed in the building without permission from a resident, so we drove around and looked it up on the internet when we got home. What an amazing place for several scenes!

Whether writing about faraway places, or in a different era, visiting locations or places that imitate the area helps us develop plots. Interviews with those familiar with the time or location add “flavor” to our story. So if you are writing about a famous lodge in Switzerland, take a trip to a Ski Lodge close to you when it snows.

The results of our research? SLIVERS OF GLASS, STRANGE MARKINGS, DESERT ICE, SLICK DEAL and coming soon, GAME TOWN . . . and yes, we’re still married.