A new project for the new year, The Ninety Three: A Suffragette Mystery. This book, a standalone novel, will be released as a paperback only. I started my writing career in print and feel that it’s time to move away from eBooks and return to my roots.
After the publication of Sunshine and Eve’s Peace, it’s probable that all my future books will be print only. I feel that I’ve gone as far as I can with eBooks and would like to explore other publishing avenues.
I still enjoy writing and I have a number of projects in development including more Sam Smith mysteries, a World War Two trilogy, and my Golden Age of Hollywood series. However, I’ve never enjoyed promoting my books and feel that it’s time to move away from that aspect and concentrate on what attracted me to writing in the first place: the love of the story.
Tula’s story is hard to put down, I read the book in one sitting, This is an engrossing story of a young woman’s childhood of neglect and rejection. Refusing to give up her dream of being a silent screen actress, she navigates her way through a difficult childhood. When Tula does break into stardom, her past continues to haunt her. Tula’s broken spirit and soul threaten everything she worked so hard to achieve. This beautifully crafted story is one of the best books I read this year.
Clara Bow’s forty-second movie was Get Your Man, produced between September 16 and October 13, 1927, and released on December 10, 1927. Clara played Nancy Worthington, a young woman out to ‘get her man’. Photoplay said of Clara’s performance: “Clara continues to charm and fascinate.”
Even though Clara’s movies were the highest grossing in the business, she only received $1,500 a week from Paramount, in comparison to other actresses who received $6,000 a week. Paramount regarded Clara as stupid and docile, and intended to keep her that way because she was easier to control.
Clara was poorly educated, but she was feisty and far from docile. A studio with foresight and compassion would have nurtured Clara. Instead, they sought to exploit her, and suffered in the long run. When it comes to stupid, big business often claims the gold medal.
At this stage Clara split with director Victor Fleming, a man twice her age, 44 to 22, but a stable influence in her life. He wanted stability, while she was still high on the idea of having fun.
Clara’s thinking at that time: “Marriage ain’t woman’s only job no more. A girl who’s worked hard and earned her place ain’t gonna be satisfied as a wife. I know this. I wouldn’t give up my work for marriage. I think a modern girl’s capable of keepin’ a job and a husband.”
Mastodon 1970s Mega Movie Poll, Quarter-Finals
Monty Python’s Life of Brian 71% v 29% All the President’s Men
The Godfather 58% v 42% Jaws
Semi-Finals
Monty Python’s Life of Brian 50% v 50% Monty Python and the Holy Grail*
*Won on tie-break
The Godfather 43% v 57% Star Wars
Final
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 48% v 52% Star Wars
Honey West ran for thirty episodes, from September 17, 1965 to April 8, 1966. The series, which starred Anne Francis, was historic in that it marked the first time a woman played the lead character in a network TV series with her character’s name as the title.
Honey West was one of the first female private eyes to appear on television. Anne Francis initially played her in a second-season episode of Burke’s Law, “Who Killed the Jackpot?”, broadcast on April 21, 1965. That appearance led to Honey West being commissioned as a spin-off.
Honey West was created by Gloria and Forrest E. Fickling under the pseudonym G. G. Fickling. Forrest wrote the stories while Gloria developed Honey’s character. Initially, they envisioned a combination of Marilyn Monroe and Mike Hammer (that’s some ‘love child’).
Anne Francis (September 16, 1930 – January 2, 2011) was perfectly cast as Honey West. Her movie breakthrough arrived with Forbidden Planet (1956) one of the first colour, big-budget, science-fiction-themed motion pictures. In the 1960s she made the transition into television appearing in a large number of popular series. However, her signature role remained Honey West.
The thirty episodes of Honey West were written by various writers including Richard Levinson and William Link, creators of Columbo. They wrote three episodes, including the series finale. The main writers were husband and wife team Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov who wrote ten episodes and co-developed the series.
Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov wrote episode three, “The Abominable Snowman”. The plot centred on cocaine being smuggled inside snow globes, and is one of the earliest references in popular TV culture to cocaine as “snow”.
This comic book addition to the Honey West canon is a curiosity in that some of the scenes are sexually explicit taking the innuendo implied in the TV series, and certainly in the novels, to another level. The drawings vary in quality and Honey is based on Anne Francis.
Honey West appeared in many formats, including a radio play, but I reckon the TV series was the best.
A five-star review for Sam’s Song, the 72nd review of the book
Sam is a Private Detective with a lot of baggage. Others have done well to describe the storyline so I want to focus on content and quality. For me, this was a solid five star read. The character development is amazing and by the end of the first chapter the reader has a pretty good idea of just how messed up Sam’s life really is. Add in the constant drama of self-indulgent, sometimes crazy supporting characters that make it difficult to discern fact from fiction, bad guys that you instantly dislike and an ex-husband that needs a good throat punch and you have a novel that you just can’t help but enjoy.
The book is professionally edited with few if any errors, the plot is suspenseful and the overall story is truly engaging. Sam’s Song has it all – suspense, drama and hope. Throughout the novel the author navigates the reader through a suspenseful investigation while experiencing a rollercoaster ride of humor, frustration, anger and love. For me, the characters made the plot realistic… each character had flaws, which made their story even more genuine and enjoyable. Even lovable, caring Dr. Storey had some baggage he was struggling to overcome. I would definitely recommend it to others and look forward to reading the next book in this series.
An extract from the first Sam Smith Newsletter. The Newsletter will be published, free, in early November and you can reserve your copy by following this link. https://hannah-howe.com/aboutcontactnewsletter/
Sam Smith Characters #1
Dr Alan Storey
Dr Alan Storey provides the relationship strand to the Sam Smith Mystery Series. Alan is a psychologist who practices Humanistic principles, that is a belief in the positive attributes of happiness, contentment, ecstasy, kindness, caring, sharing and generosity. Humanists focus on the individual, especially the concept of personal choice.
Humanistic Psychology developed in the 1960s and it differs from other branches of psychology in that the psychologist acts as a confident or counsellor and the client (not ‘patient’) must consciously and rationally decide for themselves what is wrong and how the problem should be addressed.
In his early forties, Alan is a widower with a teenage daughter, Alis. As well as the romantic element, Alan also provides psychological insight, when required, on the various people Sam encounters. Although there is a ‘whodunit’ element to the series, I like to focus more on people’s behaviours and reasons for their actions.
Hannah Howe 