The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES S.R. Mallery's Book: Trouble In Glamour Town.
Author S.R. Mallery is the award-winning author who writes stories with authentic characters. Sarah writes Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction, and Mysteries.
Trouble In Glamour Town
Author: S.R. Mallery
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Hollywood, 1926. Where actors’ and actresses’ dreams can come true. But do they? While silent screen movie stars reign supreme, a film producer is gunned down in cold blood. Enter Rosie, a pretty bit-player and her bitter, stage-mother, Beatrice. As real celebrities of the time, such as Clara Bow, Lon Chaney, Gloria Swanson, and Rudolph Valentino float in and out, a chase to find the killer exposes the true underbelly of Los Angeles––with all its corruption.
Excerpt from Trouble In Glamour Town
PROLOGUE
January 4, 1926, 1:15 p.m.
IT WAS ANOTHER glorious day in Los Angeles. Sparkling like actress Theda Bara’s bejeweled robe in the 1917 movie, Cleopatra, the Hollywood hills behind the man and his rifle glistened in the midday sun as each ray glanced off the small, jagged rocks. With his 1903 Springfield bolt-action sharpshooter locked tight against his shoulder, the assassin slowly rolled the scope ring around to set the precise distance. He knew from experience that with the wind factor leveled near zero, his chances were good for a clean hit.
For the third time, he peered through the lens. Fifty yards directly south of his position on the low-lying rooftop was Medford Studio’s back lot. There, on the outdoor set, where a Bell & Howell 35mm camera had been set up on a wooden tripod, an agitated film director was busy barking orders through his giant megaphone, while all the actors remained frozen in their assigned positions.
Yet to the killer, none of that scenario was important. All he cared about was how his target stood off to one side, in perfect alignment with his scope view.
“Here we go, here we go,” he muttered. He steadied himself against the roof edge and made sure the bolt was in the forward down position. With one eye pressed against the scope, he curled his index finger around the trigger and squeezed.
On the set, the director was still hollering his directions to the actors and crew when the shot rang out.
“Man down,” the shooter said as human screams from below echoed up to him.
With a quick ‘that’s done’ sigh of relief, the killer, still clutching his rifle, wiggled backward on his belly before he stood up out of sight of the ensuing chaos. A glance down at his shoes assured him the cloth swabs covering them were still in place. Then, his bag tucked under his arm, he hurried over to the outside ladder on the roof’s back edge. From there, he deftly descended, grateful he had practiced this procedure at least once beforehand.
“Oh my God! Mr. Harris has been shot!” shrieked a nearby actress.
“Somebody get help!” screamed several others.
In a flash, a small crowd had surrounded the victim, who wore a leather World War I bombardier jacket, expensive trousers, and lay face down in his own blood. Underneath his balding head, bright red liquid fanned outward as two men attempted to turn him over to check his pulse.
Stunned murmurs fused with one or two muffled sobs. Someone sprinted into the main building, yelling over his shoulder that he would phone the police. Soon, the faint sound of sirens could be heard, growing louder and louder by the second until finally, the blare was so deafening outside Medford’s front gate, people plugged their fingers in their ears.
Within minutes, the set swarmed with police––pushing, shoving, and steering people away from the man with a hole in his forehead: Chester Harris, the film’s producer.
A detective grabbed the megaphone from the director and bellowed, “Folks, nobody leaves the set!” He paused for several seconds.
“Everybody needs to stay put so we can get your information.”
When two men sporting “coroner” labels turned over the corpse, the detective approached them, side-stepping a pool of blood.
“Yep. He’s a goner, Detective Lozano,” one of coroners said.
Author Genre: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction, Mystery
Website: S.R. Mallery's AND HISTORY FOR ALL
Twitter: @SarahMallery1
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Author Description: S.R. Mallery, Gold Medalist winner of the 2016 READER'S FAVORITE Book Awards for Anthologies and 2017 READERS' FAVORITE Gold medalist for Historical Fiction Personage, has been labeled nothing short of 'eclectic'. She has been a singer, a calligrapher, a quilt designer, and an ESL teacher. As a writer, History is her focus and is woven into her stories with a delicate thread. When people talk about the news of the day, or listen to music, Sarah's imagination likens the story to a similar kind of news in the past and is conjuring up scenes between characters she has yet to meet.
Author's Book List
Love in Times of War
- Boxed Set Romance Bundle - 12 Romance StoriesAt no other point is passion put to the test as in dire times of war. From the American Civil War to WWII, from Vietnam to the War in Afghanistan to the Persian Gulf, the stories in this boxed set summon the strength of true lovers. Written by bestselling, award-winning, and USA Today authors, the novels and novellas in this collection tell of overcoming the odds to celebrate the victory of love.
If you like Military Romance, Wounded Warrior Romance, Historical Romance, Contemporary Romance, or Romantic Suspense, this anthology invites you to triumph over the worst of conditions. Together with these unforgettable lovers, go through coping with loss, struggling with injuries and rehabilitation, and facing difficult homecomings. And just like them, inspired by desire, find the courage to bring forth the best in us.
Dancing with Air by Uvi Poznansky In WWII London, Lenny is involved in a covert intelligence ploy. His task must remain confidential, even at the risk of Natasha becoming suspicious of him. Will their love survive the test of war?
Two Hearts Unspoken by Tamara Ferguson Beth Bowen is a single mom of an autistic son. Zach Logan is a wounded warrior searching for a life after Iraq. Can two lonely people discover that love is that something unspoken, missing from their lives?
The Rebel's Redemption by Jacquie Biggar When an old enemy follows him from Iraq and causes mayhem in Tidal Falls, can Jared overcome the odds to protect the woman he's always loved?
Broken Wings by D.G. Torrens Joshua, a bomb disposal expert in Afghanistan. Angelina, an editor of a local newspaper. Both avoiding love at all costs, until they are unexpectedly thrown together. Tested beyond belief… Can their love survive?
A Soldier’s Promise by Angelica Kate Ryker is most comfortable in the regulated world of the military. When he is sent to Darby’s doorstep to keep a promise to one of his fallen team members, every rule he holds will be challenged!
Returning Home by the Sea by Traci Hall Brayden and Zoe wed before he went to Iraq. Once united in passion, a lot has changed in the six years he's been away. Will their love survive his homecoming?
A Weldon Family Christmas by Jennifer St. Giles A frightening event with an uncertain outcome sends Emma and John's memory to the past, where her helicopter went down in Vietnam enemy territory, and he risked everything to save her. Can she save him now?
The Magic of Snow by Regina Puckett When Staff Sergeant Charlie Prince’s letters stop arriving from Afghanistan, Sarah White waits in agonizing suspense to discover what has happened to the man she loves.
Mademoiselle by Suzanne Jenkins To Philipa, working at Mademoiselle Magazine is more important than anything, even love. Her friend, Walter, hopes for a change, but not until his trip to the Persian Gulf does she begin to listen to her heart.
Genteel Secrets by S.R. Mallery In 1861 America, can the love between a Confederate female spy and the Pinkerton detective hired to shadow her survive, or will their story become just another casualty of war?
Moving to Forever by PJ Fiala Danny Schaefer returns from Afghanistan broken in body, battered in soul. Tammy Davis, betrayed in a most personal way, struggles against her tormentor. She and Danny must help each other heal, by the power of love.
Lovin’ Those Navy Games by Susan Jean Ricci Michael Burke has two passions: his high-school sweetheart and baseball. When someone dear to him perishes in Vietnam, will the shock alter his future goals? Will it isolate him from Ellie or deepen their love?
Book Trailer: Love in Times of War
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Genteel Secrets
What do a well-bred Southern Belle and a Northern working class Pinkerton detective have in common? Espionage . . . and romance. At the start of the U.S. Civil War, while young men begin dying on American battlefields and slavery is headed toward its end, behind the scenes, female undercover work and Pinkerton intelligence are alive and well. But in the end, can this unlikely Romeo and Juliet couple’s love survive, or will they be just another casualty of war?
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The Dolan Girls
The Dolan Girls by S. R. Mallery has it all. Set in Nebraska during the 1800s, whorehouse madams, ladies of the night, a schoolmarm, a Pinkerton detective, a Shakespeare-quoting old coot, brutal outlaws, and a horse-wrangler fill out the cast of characters. Added to the mix are colorful descriptions of an 1856 land rush, Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show, Annie Oakley, bank/train robberies, small town local politics, and of course, romance. Two, in fact!
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Unexpected Gifts
A TRUE AMERICAN FAMILY SAGA: Can we learn from our ancestors? Do our relatives’ behaviors help shape our own?
In "Unexpected Gifts" that is precisely what happens to Sonia, a confused college student, heading for addictions and forever choosing the wrong man. Searching for answers, she begins to read her family’s diaries and journals from America’s past: the Vietnam War, Woodstock, and Timothy Leary era; Tupperware parties, McCarthyism, and Black Power; the Great Depression, dance marathons, and Eleanor Roosevelt; the immigrant experience and the Suffragists. Back and forth the book journeys, linking yesteryear with modern life until finally, by understanding her ancestors' hardships and faults, she gains enough clarity to make some right choices.
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Sewing Can Be Dangerous and Other Small Threads
WHEN HISTORY, MYSTERY, ACTION, and ROMANCE ARE ALL ROLLED INTO ONE!
2016 GOLD MEDAL WINNER of Reader's Favorite contest in Anthologies, these eleven short stories range from drug traffickers using hand-woven wallets, to a U.S. slave sewing freedom codes into her quilts; from a cruise ship murder mystery with a quilt instructor and a NYPD police detective, to a couple hiding Christian passports into a comforter in Nazi Germany; from an old Salem Witchcraft wedding quilt curse to a young seamstress in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; from a 1980's Romeo and Juliet romance between a Wall Street financial 'star' and an eclectic fiber artist, to a Haight-Ashbury love affair between a professor and a macramé artist gone horribly wrong, just to name a few.
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TALES TO COUNT ON
Curl up and enter the eclectic world of S. R. Mallery, where sad meets bizarre and deception meets humor; where history meets revenge and magic meets gothic. Whether it's 500 words or 5,000, these TALES TO COUNT ON, which include a battered women's shelter, childhood memories, Venetian love, magic photographs, PTDS fallout, sisters' tricks, WWII spies, the French Revolution, evil vaudevillians, and celebrity woes, will remind you that in the end, nothing is ever what it seems.
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Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
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