In any case, I hope she likes the book.

Rock on, Ileana!

If you look carefully over my right shoulder, you can spot another Ileana, although this one is spelled Yleana, also a Cubana. My lady, Yleana Vural. She’s in a white dress and she appears to be checking out another woman’s shoes. Two Yleanas in one photo! The room is spinning!

Rock on, Yleana!

It doesn’t get better than that.

When a woman is murdered at his nightclub, Robbie makes it his mission to find out who and why– he’s a bit of a shady character himself, but a feeling of responsibility drives him on. Teaming with the victim’s reporter sister, he finds himself caught up in the dark, sinister underworld of Key West, and uncovers a mind-boggling conspiracy that dates back decades. Robbie is no stranger to violence, but now it seems he may have bitten off more than he can chew…

The Ghosts Of Havana is a relentlessly fast-paced conspiracy thriller, the sort of book that keeps you reading all through the night. I devoured it in two sittings, on the edge of my seat the whole time to see what unexpected turn of events would occur next. Mike Dennis does a terrific job of revealing the seamy side of Key West, with the sort of intimate touches that only a native of that place would be capable of. And his protagonist, Robbie, moves through this dark world as if he’s right at home. 

And the secret behind the conspiracy, once it’s revealed, will blow your mind. Top-notch suspense here.

Heath has written a game-changing novel, The Bastard Hand, as well as a short story in the horror-western-noir genre, That Damned Coyote Hill. He’s also got a short story collection that’s well worth your attention called Dig Ten Graves, along with various other stories and an upcoming novel. Yes, he is productive, and I’m very pleased that he did this review of my novel while he’s on his way up, and still has the time.

Anyway, I thought I’d do a little post about my favorite Christmas movies. These films convey to me a Christmasy feeling, even though some of them don’t deal directly with the Christmas holiday. In no particular order they are:

HOLIDAY INN (1942) / Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale. Director: Mark Sandrich. Crosby-Dale-Astaire song and dance team is broken up when Astaire takes Dale away. Crosby eventually heads for Connecticut (always shown in these movies to be a rural kind of place populated with funny Hollywood types), where he opens up an inn that operates only on holidays. Irving Berlin wrote a song for each of the major holidays, including the legendary White Christmas, performed for the first time in this film. Lots of charm as Bing sings and Fred dances. As expected, Berlin’s tunes are top drawer.

YOUNG AT HEART (1954) / Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Gig Young, Ethel Barrymore. Director: Gordon Douglas. Classy remake of 1938 film, Four Daughters, in which a down-and-out piano player arrives into a warm and fuzzy home, and things are never the same. Sinatra shines as the loner with an attitude and Day warms up her cutesy persona that would permeate her films of the late 50s and early 60s. Barrymore, as Aunt Jessie, delivers many great lines.

A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) / Peter Billingley, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon. Director: Bob Clark. Now-classic holiday yarn set in the 1940s, told from Ralphie’s (Billingsley’s) point of view. He craves a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, but his parents are adamant: it’ll put your eye out. McGavin scores big as Ralphie’s father, the “furnace fighter”, and Dillon as the weary mother. Movie touches every Christmas nerve in your body and gets better with each viewing. Often runs as a 24-hour marathon on Christmas day.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) / James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore. Director, Frank Capra. Stewart runs a small-town building & loan company and is well-liked by everyone but Barrymore. Things turn sour for him and he’s about to commit suicide when he is saved by his guardian angel, unforgettably played by Henry Travers. What follows is a look at what his life would’ve been like if he’d never been born. Imaginative, fanciful piece of filmmaking by Capra, who was inspired to make this movie after visiting Seneca Falls, New York, the town on which the fictional “Bedford Falls” was created.

CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (1946) / Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet. Director: Peter Godfrey. Stanwyck writes for Greenstreet’s magazine and has everyone fooled into thinking her Martha Stewart-type articles reflect her real lifestyle, when in fact she is completely un-domestic. Enter returning war veteran Morgan and the fun begins. Pour some hot cocoa and curl up with this film on Christmas Eve.

I’LL BE SEEING YOU (1945) / Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple. Director: William Dieterle. Wartime tale has Rogers as convict on Christmas leave from prison. She meets Cotten, a war vet who has recovered from his physical wounds but not from the mental problems he incurred during the battles. Memorable MGM drama with the stars at the top of their form. Haunting title song stays with you.

MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1947) / Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, Edmund Gwenn. Director: George Seaton. Gwenn is hired as a last-minute replacement Santa Claus for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, eventually becomes the store Santa for the Christmas season. Pretty soon, he’s claiming to be the real Santa Claus. Good-natured film hits all the right spots in attaining its well-deserved classic status. Film won four Oscars, including one for Gwenn in a supporting role. Lost out for Best Picture to Gentleman’s Agreement.

I’ve been following the “People vs Frank Miller” inquisition with interest. I have to admit I’ve never read anything by either Miller or Alan Moore. I saw the movie of SIN CITY years ago, and I didn’t particularly care for it, but that’s as close as I’ve come to any familiarity with either writer.

Having said that, I think it’s ridiculous to trash a fellow author and his work on the basis of his politics, which is exactly what this is all about. Miller made a few comments about the occupiers (which should have been confined to his dinner table) that were unpopular. Okay, you disagree. Maybe I do, too. But in the wake of these comments has come a torrent of rage and piling on that’s out of control and totally unjustified. About the only reaction I haven’t seen is demanding the death penalty for Miller, although they’ve certainly demanded it for his work.

I routinely buy books by authors whose politics are not in line with mine. All I care about is what’s on the page, and does it make me want to find out what’s on the next page. I don’t give a shit how the author feels about the trade deficit or the capital gains tax.

A lot of creative people in the past have espoused unpopular points of view. Artists are by nature contrarian. What else is new?

Who among us can say that we conform perfectly to the opinions of our times?

Who among us can say that someone with “forbidden” political views is unwelcome in the world of crime fiction?

Who among us can say we will ONLY read the work of those whose politics we agree with?

I loved Chinatown. I loved the Thriller album. I still do, even after learning that Roman Polanski and Michael Jackson were probably child rapists.

Cutting oneself off from artists who think differently is never a good idea. Because who knows where that kind of thinking might lead?

Coming in the immediate wake of the Kennedy Assassination, the song was a welcome shot of sunshine over a darkened nation. It caught on immediately, and within three months, the group landed at Idlewild Airport in New York for their first US tour. It would be an abbreviated visit, highlighted by appearances in two consecutive weeks on the Ed Sullivan Show. The first was in New York at the CBS theater and the second was in Miami Beach. Between the Sullivan shows, however, the Beatles took a train to Washington, where they would play their first real US concert at the Washington Coliseum.

I was in college at the time, going to Georgetown in Washington, and a friend approached me the day of the show, asking if I wanted to buy his ticket. He had purchased it, but something came up and he was unable to attend. It was a $4 ticket, the most expensive, in the fourth row. I remember seeing it on the ticket. He was letting it go for $2. I refused, thinking the Beatles were nothing more than a flavor-of-the-month fad, whose principal asset was their ability to make screaming teenage girls throw jellybeans at them. I have kicked myself so many times over the years, my ass is about worn away.

And it all started 48 years ago today.

It’s a tense tale of old vendettas, the second book in my Key West Nocturnes series, where I lift the veil off Key West, revealing it as a true noir city. Here’s a brief description of The Ghosts Of Havana.

A young woman is brutally murdered in the back of a Key West nightclub. Robbie, the club’s owner, and Elena, the victim’s sister, believe that a local strip club operator is to blame. However, they soon learn that larger, far more sinister forces are behind the killing, and they become ensnared in a deadly race to a safe deposit box in Las Vegas, whose contents hold the key to decades-old secrets and threaten national security.

The second exciting novel in Mike Dennis’ Key West Nocturnes series, The Ghosts Of Havana continues to lift the veil off Key West, revealing it as a true noir city, on a par with Los Angeles, New Orleans, or Miami.

This book can fairly be called a noir thriller, if there is such a thing. It’s currently available on Kindle, Nook, and iPad for $3.99. The paperback, which is a couple of weeks away, will be $14.95. All formats come with a sneak preview of Man-Slaughter, the third novel in the series.

Please, everyone rush to Amazon, specifically here, or B&N’s Nook page (here), and buy the book. You won’t be sorry. And neither will I.

There’s an old song called Lucky Touch, which I play once every year around Thanksgiving. It’s a dark song, a reminder to myself to show gratitude for my good fortune and that things can always be a lot worse. Used to be, I would play it on Thanksgiving night in whatever club I was appearing that year, but since I retired from my musical career a few years ago, I just play it at home, usually by myself. Last night, I did it in front of a half-dozen friends. They got the song and the sentiment behind it. It was a very profound moment for me.

There are other important things in my life for which I’m thankful, but I won’t go into it here. Suffice it to say today is a good day for me.

I hope it is for you, too.