The unsolved 1955 murder of Charlie Wall, a true-life Tampa mobster, is the centerpiece of this Technicolor homage to a particular time and place. As the novel opens he's elderly, but still enjoying his rakish reputation in the bars of Ybor City, Tampa's Latin Quarter, telling stories about bolita rackets and rum-running in the good old days.
When Charlie is murdered in his home, everyone wonders who's going to fall next. And two men in particular want to find out who's responsible: reporter L.B. Turner and Detective Ed Dodge, who follows the trail all the way to Batista's corrupt Havana.
Atkins imagines a twisty solution to this real-world mystery using police reports and newspaper accounts. In many ways, the life and death of Charlie Wall is dwarfed by his colorful world and the novel's evocative language. White Shadow recreates a vanished world in lush, tropical detail.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
