California Scheming

One of the fun things about doing this blog is getting to see new books that are coming out and learning more about the authors who write them. As a long time reader of a number of mystery series, I am always looking forward to the next book in the series to read. Today's guest in My Writing Corner, Susie Black, brings us the fourth book of her Holly Swimsuit Mystery series. We have had the good fortune to feature two of her previous books (Death By Sample Size and Death By Pin and Needles) in this series and now she is back to present her latest mystery!

First let's learn about Susie Black.  She was named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. She says she began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries. 

Susie says she reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since she says life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she says she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and she tells us she has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect. 

Her latest book is Death by Cutting Table. Now that title is an immediate attention grabber. Let's get a blurb:

Butch Oldham didn’t have an honest bone in his body. So, the question wasn’t who wanted him dead. The question was, who didn’t. Mermaid Swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik finds colleague Queenie Levine standing over Mermaid CEO Butch Oldham’s bloody corpse nailed to a fabric cutting table with a big honkin’ pair of cutting shears plunged deep into his chest. When the cops discover Queenie’s blood-soaked sweater, learn about her stormy relationship with the victim, and her public threats to make Butch pay for destroying Mermaid Swimwear by stealing it blind, Holly’s colleague shoots to the top of the suspect list. When Queenie is arrested, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to flesh out the real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a slinky, and nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent for revenge.

Let's chat with Holly to learn about her life and the latest mystery in which she is involved.

Welcome Holly, tell us a little about your town and its people.

Hello. I am Holly Schlivnik. I am the President of the private label division of Mermaid Swimwear. I also seem to have a knack for solving murders.  I live and work in two different places, so I’ll tell you a little about both:

I work at the California Apparel Mart in downtown Los Angeles, California, in the heart of the garment industry. Los Angeles is a big city, but because it is spread out, it has the feel of a smaller town. LA is a melting pot of many nationalities with thriving ethnic area such as Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and Koreatown. All those neighborhoods offer an opportunity to experience exotic foods and interesting cultural customs. But the culture that permeates every aspect of LA and the rest of California is the Hispanic culture. While we have small neighborhoods with people from virtually every Central and South American country who have brought their food and cultures with them, by far, the most influential one of all is the Mexican one. From Olvera Street---the original Los Angeles founded in 1781, to every aspect of life in LA-from apparel, architecture, food, language, street names, and music-- there is no part of LA that is not impacted or influenced by the Mexican culture. LA’s cultural diversity is its greatest asset. Speaking Spanish is not exactly a necessity, but it sure helps if you do…even if you sound like you’re Mildred from Michigan who went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the natives.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, a series of small towns strung together by a series of 7-11 stores and freeways. The valley is about thirty miles northwest of downtown LA and is nestled between two mountain ranges. Now I live with my standard poodle, Sigmund Freud Schlivnik, on a houseboat moored in Marina del Rey. Located between Santa Monica to the north and LAX to the south, Marina del Rey is a typical beach community with a variety of quirky, but overall friendly people who look out for one another. Among my dock neighbors are a feisty octogenarian sailor extraordinaire and an ex-Navy Seal…both of whom have my back and saved my bacon numerous times. Marina del Rey is a compact, upscale neighborhood with a wide range of excellent restaurants and specialty stores with a population of 10,000 people and a boat population of 5,000 in all sizes and price ranges. 

Who was Butch and what are some of the reasons people might have wanted him dead?

Smooth talker Butch Oldham could charm a snake and was deadly as a cobra. Butch was a sneaky, unscrupulous SOB who fast-talked his way into several companies and left them all under a cloud of suspicion. When the last company fired Butch, my boss David Workman, who went way back with Butch, hired him as our COO at Mermaid. But it didn’t take long for Butch to go behind David’s back and sweet talk our board of directors to demote David and give Butch David’s job. Once Butch and his dishonest CFO wrapped their tentacles around the company, they stole it and our suppliers blind. Butch and Dick ultimately drove our forty-year-old iconic swimwear company into bankruptcy and ruined the lives of hundreds of employees and destroyed a number of suppliers. So, it was no surprise somebody knocked Butch off. A cast of thousands would have gladly done the honors…the only surprise was what took someone so long?

Tell us about your relationship with Queenie--why do you want to help her?

Queenie Levine and I have been professional colleagues and personal friends for a number of years. We first met at a swimwear industry organization meeting where we were the only two women representing their companies. Queenie is irreverent, wise-cracking, never shy to speak her mind, loyal to a fault, and honest as the day is long. Why do I want to help her? Simple. She didn’t do it. Oh, Queenie might have fantasized about killing Butch, but really…who didn’t? But she’d never actually do the deed. Why? Well, for one thing, she’s no killer…but more importantly…Queenie Levine do ANYTHING that might break a fingernail or chip her nail polish? Ha! Fat chance.  

What was Queenie's connection to Butch? 

Years ago, as Royal Swimwear CEO, Butch hired relative newbie Queenie Levine and ex-swimwear buyer David Workman to run sales and design, so the three of them have a long history together. Queenie recently admitted that she and Butch had a torrid affair that didn’t last long while they worked together at Royal. According to Queenie, the affair was over in a flash and before Queenie could say kiss me, she was replaced by the next flavor of the month in the blink of an eye. Coupled with the fact that Queenie rightly blamed Butch for the demise of Mermaid and said publicly that he should get his…so, there was no love lost between the two of them. 

Holly, are there other suspects you think might be involved and what would their motives be?

Well, like I’ve said, honestly, there are a legion of viable candidates both inside and outside of Mermaid Swimwear. The list of suppliers alone that Butch screwed is as long as your arm. But if I just go by who were the ones with the most to lose and hurt the most by Butch, I’ve culled the list down to four prime suspects:

Kelly Oldham: The spouse is always the primary suspect. Blond and hot as a pistol, Kelly is Butch’s much younger second “trophy wife.” Kelly and Butch were headed to divorce court and Kelly was in the Mermaid factory the day of Butch’s murder. In fact, I ran into Kelly wandering around the offices looking for Butch so they could finalize their divorce settlement that day as I was on my way to the warehouse. Kelly and Butch had signed a pre-nup. So, she was screwed if he tried to worm his way out of the divorce settlement. Maybe he refused to sign on the deal and in a fit of rage, she killed him? Could be her story that he never showed up to finalize the deal was a big fat lie and she saw me as an alibi witness. 

David Workman: I hate to put my boss on the list of suspects, but I’ve got no choice. Design and sales mogul CEO David Workman brought his friend and mentor Butch Oldham to Mermaid for self-serving reasons-to protect him from the board of directors who were displeased with David’s lack of business and production acumen. Without any warning, Butch stole David’s job and kept him in the dark about what he and the CFO were doing to the company. David was betrayed by someone he trusted and had to be furious with Butch for what he did. 

Diane Gentry: Production guru Diane and Butch were actually friends and co-workers long before either of them knew Kelly. Butch brought Diane into Mermaid as a production expert. She pissed off everyone from Bernice, our head patternmaker to all the designers with the drastic changes to our fit that she tried to implement. Then suddenly, Diane mysteriously quit, but no one knew why. The scuttlebutt around the office water cooler is that Diane and Kelly were secretly lovers and that the reason Kelly filed for divorce is that she’d left Butch for Kelly. My theory is that the rumor was true and that Diane was furious when Butch reneged on his divorce settlement with Kelly and Diane killed Butch in a rage. 

Mariana Green: Mariana is the wife of Dick Green, the disgraced CFO Butch brought with him to Mermaid. Dick and Mariana were caught trying to leave the country with several suitcases stuffed with cash. They were arrested but Marianna was let go. Dick made a deal with the Feds and is going to serve some serious time. Marianna blames Butch for throwing Dick under the bus, destroying the Green’s lives, and not being punished for what he did. The FBI was closing in on Butch, but he was murdered before they could arrest him. Marianna was at the Mermaid factory the afternoon of the murder to collect Dick’s things from his office. She could have gone into Queenie’s open office that is across from Dick’s and stolen Queenie’s sweater that was found blood-soaked in the warehouse and used to frame Queenie for the murder. 

 

Thank you Holly. It seems like you are already well on your way to resolve this mystery! Good Luck!

Now, how about an excerpt from Death By Cutting Table:

        The psychedelic light shows off the emergency vehicles flashing strobe bubbles created an eerie specter as they bounced off the walls of the apartment buildings across from the marina. While the firemen examined the breaker box, two LA County Deputy Sheriffs kept my dock neighbors at a distance from my houseboat now swathed with yellow crime scene tape. 

        After the Deputy Sheriffs arrived, Antonio, the security guard, called the Dockmaster to bring her up to speed. Twenty minutes later, Dock Mistress Audrey Camarillo showed up at my slip to consult with me and the first responders. 

        A fireman squatted in front of the breaker box and electric outlet. “See this?” Siggie sidled over next to the fireman and the nosy parker hound rested his head on the guy’s shoulder for a closer look. The fireman laughed and gave my curious canine a howdy-do scratch behind the ears. 

        The fireman pointed to the marine power cable connected from the outlet to my boat. The interior guts of the marine cable are covered by a protective rubber encasement. The cable was slit open, exposing the wiring inside mid-cable to the prongs of the tampered plug. Several strips of aluminum foil anchored in place by a fistful of pennies laid on the dock adjacent to the breaker box. 

        The fireman said, “Whoever did this is no amateur. They knew exactly what they were doing. If they hadn’t been interrupted, they would’ve jammed the pennies in the breakers and wrapped the breakers with the aluminum foil. The breaker would’ve blown and ignited a fire. With the rubber-coated power cable serving as a connector, the fiberglass boat would’ve burned to a crisp in a matter of minutes.” He stroked his gloved hand across Siggie’s head. “It’s a darned good thing Ms. Schlivnik’s dog scared them off.” He turned a one-eighty around the basin. “With all the gasoline-powered motors, they came within a hair of blowing up the dock and burning this entire basin to ashes.” The fireman shoved his helmet to the crown of his head and whistled through a gap in his front teeth. “Somebody wanted Ms. Schlivnik dead. They came mighty close to succeeding.”

        The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department detective turned to me and asked, “Any idea who is responsible?”

        I motioned to the gate above the gangplank. “That’s a security gate. You need a key to get into the basins. Every tenant has a key to the gate and their key works on every gate in the marina. I’m not saying boaters don’t let outsiders in, because we all do. But this time of night, I doubt if a boater is still out, and if someone was, they certainly wouldn’t let a stranger in.”

        Audrey shrank back in horror. “You’re saying one of our tenants is responsible?”

        I nodded. “Yeah, and I’ve got a pretty good idea which one. She was aboard her boat last night.”

Sounds like there's plenty of mystery in the garment business. Want to read more? You'll have to get the book. Here are the buy links:

Amazon:      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C62HRJXM

Barnes & Noble:  Death by Cutting Table by Susie Black | eBook | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Looking for more? Contact Susie at:

        Website: www.authorsusieblack.com

        E-mail: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com

Thank you, Susie, for being my guest today.  Any questions or comments for Susie?