Ellen Mansoor Collier – Deco Dames, Demon Rum and Death is featured at the HBS Author's Spotlight Showcase

The Showcase is a special feature of the Author's Spotlight. It is designed to highlight Spotlight author's NEW releases and their soon to be released novels.

The HBS Author's Spotlight SHOWCASES Ellen Mansoor Collier's Book: Deco Dames, Demon Rum and Death plus the Jazz Age Mystery series.

Ellen is the author of a Jazz Age mystery series set in 1920s Galveston. She is a Houston-based freelance writer and editor.

Deco Dames, Demon Rum and Death

A Jazz Age Mystery #5

Author: Ellen Mansoor Collier


AVAILABLE
Amazon


When young Galveston Gazette society reporter Jazz Cross hears rumors of grave robbers at the Broadway Cemetery, she and photographer Nathan Blaine investigate, hoping to land a scoop. The newshawks witness meetings held by clandestine gangs and enlist the help of her beau, Prohibition Agent James Burton, who attempts to catch the elusive culprits red-handed.

Meanwhile, the supernatural craze takes Galveston by storm, and Jazz is assigned to profile the society set’s favorite fortune teller, Madame Farushka. Sightings of a ghost bride haunting the Hotel Galvez intrigue Jazz, who sets up a Ouija board reading and séance with the spiritualist. Did the bride-to-be drown herself—or was she murdered?

Luckily, Sammy Cook, her black-sheep half-brother, has escaped the Downtown Gang and now acts as the maître d’ for the Hollywood Dinner Club, owned by rival Beach Gang leaders. During a booze bust, the Downtown Gang's mob boss, Johnny Jack Nounes, is caught and Jazz worries: will Sammy be forced to testify against his former boss? Worse, when a mystery man turns up dead, Sammy is framed for murder and Jazz must solve both murders and help clear Sammy's name.

As the turf war between rival gangs rages on, Jazz relies on her wits and moxie to rescue her brother and her friends before the Downtown Gang exacts its revenge.

Author: Ellen Mansoor Collier

Author Genre: Cozy Mystery, Historical Fiction, Crime

E-Mail: decodame@flash.net
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Author Description:
Ellen Mansoor Collier is a Houston-based freelance writer and editor whose articles and essays have been published in several national magazines. She's interviewed Suze Orman, Nancy Brinker and many unsung heroines and heroes for various publications including: FAMILY CIRCLE, BIOGRAPHY, MODERN BRIDE, FIRST, GLAMOUR, COSMOPOLITAN, COUNTRY ACCENTS, NATION'S BUSINESS, PLAYGIRL, etc. Several of her short stories, both mystery and romance, have appeared in WOMAN'S WORLD. Set during Prohibition in 1920s Galveston, her Jazz Age mystery series was inspired by real-life rival gangs and historic events, but the plot and details were changed to protect the guilty as well as the author.

Formerly Collier has worked as a magazine editor, a substitute teacher, a community newspaper reporter and in advertising/marketing as well as public relations. During college, she once worked as the world's worst cocktail waitress, providing background for her speakeasy scenes. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Magazine Journalism, and served as president of WICI (Women in Communications, Inc.) and as an editor on UTmost, the UT Magazine, her senior year. FLAPPERS, FLASKS AND FOUL PLAY is the first novel in her Jazz Age mystery series, followed by BATHING BEAUTIES, BOOZE AND BULLETS, GOLD DIGGERS, GAMBLERS AND GUNS, VAMPS, VILLAINS AND VAUDEVILLE and DECO DAMES, DEMON RUM AND DEATH.

"When you grow up in Houston, Galveston becomes like a second home. I had no idea this sleepy beach town had such a wild and colorful past, and became fascinated by the legends and stories of the 1920s."




Author's Book List




Vamps, Villains and Vaudeville - A Jazz Age Mystery #4
America's Got Talent meets Lois Lane in this soft-boiled flapper caper. Young and ambitious society reporter Jazz Cross is in for a surprise when she attends a travelling vaudeville show with her beau, Prohibition Agent James Burton, and discovers that an old flame acts in the production. When an actor in the troupe disappears and later turns up dead behind her half-brother Sammy’s bar, he falls under suspicion and Jazz must prove his innocence.

Meanwhile jewel thieves are turning up all over town, stealing precious jewelry from the society set, baffling local police. Is the mob involved? After a rival actor is found strangled, cops blame her ex, Derek. While trying to clear his name—to Burton’s dismay—Jazz discovers the secrets behind the scenes. Worse, Sammy’s old nemesis wants payback and forces him into yet another illegal scheme. Can Jazz help solve the murders and locate the missing gems—so Sammy can escape the Downtown Gang for good?


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Gold-Diggers, Gamblers and Guns - A Jazz Age Mystery #3
Young society reporter Jasmine (Jazz) Cross longs to cover hard news in 1920s Galveston, but she's stuck between two clashing cultures: the world of gossip and glamour vs. gangsters and gamblers. During Prohibition, the Island was called the "Free State of Galveston" due to its lax laws and laissez faire attitude toward gambling, girls and bootlegging.

After Downtown Gang leader Johnny Jack Nounes is released from jail, all hell breaks loose: Prohibition Agent James Burton’s life is threatened and he must go into hiding for his own safety. But when he’s framed for murder, he and Jazz must work together to prove his innocence. Johnny Jack blames Jasmine’s half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis speakeasy, for his arrest and forces him to work overtime in a variety of dangerous mob jobs as punishment.

When a bookie is murdered, Jazz looks for clues linking the two murders and delves deeper into the underworld of gambling: poker games, slot machines and horse-racing. Meanwhile, Jazz tries to keep both Burton and her brother safe, and alive, while they face off against a common enemy.


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BATHING BEAUTIES, BOOZE AND BULLETS - A Jazz Age Mystery #2
It’s 1927 in Galveston, Texas—the “Sin City of the Southwest.” Jasmine (“Jazz”) Cross is an ambitious 21-year-old society reporter for the Galveston Gazette who tries to be taken seriously by the good-old-boy staff, but the editors only assign her fluffy puff pieces, like writing profiles of bathing beauties. The last thing Jazz wants to do is compare make-up tips with ditzy dames competing in the Miss Universe contest, known as the “International Pageant of Pulchritude and Bathing Girl Revue.”

She’d rather help solve the murders of young prostitutes who turn up all over town, but city officials insist on burying the stories during Splash Day festivities. After Jazz gets to know the bathing beauties, she realizes there’s a lot more to them than just pretty faces and figures. Jazz becomes suspicious when she finds out the contest is also sponsored by the Maceos, aspiring Beach Gang leaders and co-owners of the Hollywood Dinner Club, where the girls will perform before the parade and pageant.

Worse, her half-brother Sammy Cook, owner of the Oasis, a speakeasy on a rival gang’s turf, asks her to call in a favor from handsome Prohibition Agent James Burton—an impossible request that could compromise both of their jobs and budding romance. While Agent Burton gives her the cold shoulder, she fends off advances from Colin Ferris, an attractive but dangerous gangster who threatens Sammy as well as Burton. In the end, she must risk it all to save her friends from a violent killer hell-bent on revenge. Inspired by actual events.


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Flappers, Flasks and Foul Play - A Jazz Age Mystery #1
"Boardwalk Empire" meets "Midnight in Paris" in this soft-boiled historical mystery, inspired by actual events. Rival gangs fight over booze and bars during Prohibition in 1920s Galveston: the "Sin City of the Southwest."

Jasmine Cross, a 21-year-old society reporter, feels caught between two clashing cultures: the seedy speakeasy underworld and the snooty social circles she covers in the Galveston Gazette. During a night out with her best friend, Jazz witnesses a bar fight at the Oasis--a speakeasy secretly owned by her black-sheep half-brother, Sammy Cook. But when a big-shot banker with a hidden past collapses there and later dies, she suspects foul play. Was it an accident or a mob hit?

Soon handsome young Prohibition Agent James Burton raids the Oasis, threatening to shut it down if Sammy doesn't talk. Suspicious, he pursues Jazz, but despite her mixed feelings she refuses to rat on Sammy. As turf wars escalate between two real-life rival gangs, Sammy is accused of murder. To find the killer, Jazz must risk her life and career, exposing the dark side of Galveston's glittering society.


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Amazon


Post Created by: James Moushon
Mystery Author, Industry blogger and Author Advocate
James is the author of the following blogs:
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