ST. LOUIS HUSTLE

It should have been a simple case. When sleek EMILY DAVIES begs ELVIN SUGGS to trail her philandering husband, NICK, it seemed like an easy request. Before long, Elvin and his friends, DIMOND “DI” REDDING and COBRA GLYNES, are entangled in a web of lethal deception. There is no escape.

The three Vietnam vets, now co-owners of Grapevine Investigations, agree to take Emily’s case. Di distrusts Emily, a nurse at People’s Hospital. Soon, they are snooping around the Coral Courts Motel, a famous St. Louis “no tell motel.” The mousy desk clerk, WALDO E., knows his “regulars,” but he refuses to divulge his secrets.

Nick and his young lover, ANGEL CLEARY, are frequent guests. When Angel doesn’t arrive for a date, Nick is alarmed. He drives to her apartment, and almost hits a Mercedes driven by Angel’s landlord, OTTO PENNZEL.

Distraught, Nicks enters her apartment. He discovers her bludgeoned corpse, and his white shirt becomes soiled with her bloodstains. Sleazy landlord OTTO PENNZEL seizes his opportunity. He summons REGGIE COMBS, a St. Louis police detective, and launches a murder investigation. Nick becomes a suspect.

Emily begins an affair with LEON MORGAN, a married plastic surgeon. ROSA, a nosy motel maid, is mysteriously smothered in their room at the Coral Courts. FLORENCE PODOWSKY, the Davies’ babysitter, suspects Emily. She alerts her drinking buddy, MAISY, and before long, Maisy is dead.

Elvin suspects Waldo E. of foul play, but Waldo is a victim. Through Waldo, Elvin learns of Pennzel’s sordid past, a tale that is rich with indiscretions and accusations. Pennzel also owns a significant portion of the city’s properties. “Otto gets what he wants…or else,” says Waldo. “Blackmail is his friend.”

Though Nick appears to be the murderer, Reggie isn’t convinced. Frustrated by the swirling rumors, and eager to snatch the “word on the street,” he collaborates with Elvin, Di and Cobra to find the killer.

When the group finally descends on the Coral Courts Motel, a showdown ensues. Nick meets Cobra’s girlfriend, a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, VALERIE GAINS. Elvin, Di, Cobra and Reggie discover that a despondent Waldo E. has committed suicide. Otto Pennzel is waiting, with a gun. He is desperate to conceal his notorious past. Angel, Rosa and Maisy threatened to expose the real Otto Pennzel, and Otto murdered them. He is about to kill Reggie and the Grapevine detectives.

Otto is no match for Cobra, a former Marine sniper. Cobra shoots Pennzel, and he dies. Cobra and Valerie are reunited. A stray cigarette sparks a blaze in Emily and Leon’s room, and they die together.

Without Pennzel, the Coral Courts Motel is an orphan, destined to be abandoned. Like its former owner, its past remains immortal. Otto can check out, but he can never leave.

THE END

WHAT’S NEXT

This has been a productive year, but it isn’t over yet! Two new romantic suspense novels await debut. News from the World of Writing Competitions…

UNCHAIN MY HEART
By
Claire Applewhite

2009 Semi-Finalist, Novel Category, Romantic Suspense
William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition
New Orleans, Louisiana
Words & Music Festival
November 19-22, 2009
www.wordsandmusic.org

When the past is just a bad memory, a new beginning is the only answer. Or is it?

Backstage at a Las Vegas nightclub, KIMMY CHANG, a glamorous showgirl waits to make her debut. Elated, yet plagued by bittersweet memories, her mood is riddled with the shards of broken dreams. If only her latest ex-husband, Attorney LEONARD GRAPE, could see her tonight! So much has happened in the past two years, so many people coming and going, some never to return…

It all began at the Humboldt Inn in Mittlestadt, Missouri on a stormy New Year’s Eve, when six hopeful strangers meet in search of a soul mate. Can romance blossom among the thorns of lies, drugs and yes, even murder? Though each guest struggles to escape a shady past, a new beginning appears even more daunting.

There’s LUPE MORTON, a devoted wife and mother of the hyperactive DIEGO, abandoned by her distant husband, ARTHUR, an alcoholic psychiatrist. Arthur is now consumed by his plans to marry HELENA LUCIFO, the wealthy heiress to a spaghetti sauce fortune. Pursued by LEWIS LEBOWSKI, a medical student, Lupe is unaware that he is a married man with sordid secrets of his own. LEONARD GRAPE, a prominent personal injury lawyer, has a rocky matrimonial record, peppered with allegations of abuse, infidelities and embezzlement; he is the perfect love match for BARBARA “BARB” LE BARB, the resident drug dealer and one woman escort service. She and EDDIE MC PHEE, her sleazy supplier, keep the town of Mittlestadt and the Humboldt Inn stocked with illegal drugs.

LARRY IGGSBY, a wealthy married executive is searching for a discreet companion to distract him from his doldrum marriage. Imagine his shock when his true love, CHARLENE “CHAR” CHIX appears at the “Waves of Wonder” meeting for lonely hearts. For the past 20 years, he had believed her to be dead, and now, he has gotten a second chance. Never mind that Larry’s wife, SONJA, is very much alive, and Char’s husband is a prisoner with a life sentence.

If only BECKY BLING, the cantankerous transvestite, hadn’t died during the meeting. If only the guests were honest. If only the owners of the Humboldt Inn, Boldt and Mallory Maws, weren’t so bankrupt and desperate to accept cash from anyone, anywhere, anytime to survive. Despite the deaths, their inn flourishes. Nothing and no one is as it seems; romantic illusions rule, and dangerous lies abound.

No one questions Becky’s true identity. Had anyone asked, the reason for the sex change would have been discovered. His appearance was simply a clever disguise. DR. RUFUS DERRY, Head Pathologist at the People’s Charity Hospital recognized Becky immediately as JACKSON HYDE, the man who murdered his fiancé twenty years earlier. When he hires Lupe to work in his office, his life is renewed when a relationship develops between them. He especially likes Diego, which in Lupe’s opinion, is extraordinary. Dr. Derry, Lupe and Diego have found happiness.
In the end, Char, Barb, and Eddie meet tragic ends. The corpse of the dapper Attorney Leonard Grape is discovered in the infamous Room 12A, as well as the corpse of his client, Dr. Arthur Morton. Did Morton’s torrid affair with former patient Kimmy Chang, and his decision to cancel his wedding have anything to do with their murders? It is likely that ex-fiance Helena Lucifa knows the truth. Becky Bling’s autopsy reveals an overdose of diet pills, erasing all blame and accusation.

Kimmy Chang? Now a Vegas showgirl, her friends’ deaths have left a painful void in her life; one that she attempts to fill through the daily episodes of City Hospital, a soap opera they all enjoyed. Though she celebrates her victory in Las Vegas, she is left to begin again, along with Helena, Lewis and Larry. Helena sets her matrimonial sights on Lewis, never mind his wedding ring. Lupe, Dr. Derry, and Diego gaze tentatively into the future. As love resurrects their tired souls from the ashes of the past, the survivors do what they do best. Once again, they begin.