June 2019 Newsletter

GORDON COPE’S NEWSLETTER, JUNE 2019

Queen of Oklahoma

Our friend Coleen is a petite blonde from Oklahoma. She was married to Carl, the captain of the university cheerleading squad, and lived with him for 30 years until he came out of the closet and ran away with a cellist to Puerto Vallarta. “I should have guessed when he sewed all the curtains for our home,” she says.

Coleen is retired, having spent her adult life running her own chain of art galleries. She now spends her time managing her fortune and lavishing her children and grandchildren with love and unwanted advice.

We are at Casa Milagro, a large, four-bedroom home on the beach just north of Manzanillo. Sail boats dot the horizon, and fat, lazy clouds are lit by the setting sun. Coleen is sitting at the patio table, a margarita in one hand. She is busy making out her invite list for a party this Saturday.

“I’m going to invite Rod, he’s really cute,” she announces, writing in his name.

“Isn’t he married to Jeanette?” I ask.

“So what? She’s too old for him.”

“She told me she was 53,” says Linda.

“What? That woman’s got condoms in her purse that are older than 53!” Coleen shakes the gold bangles on her arm, admiring the way they tinkle. “Besides, I’m not going to steal him, I just want to borrow him.”

“What for?” I ask.

“What do you think?” Coleen takes a deep drink of her margarita. “I haven’t been properly laid since the Nixon administration. I want to get banged like a screen door at least once before I die!”

RECIPES THAT APPEAR IN MY BOOKS – GORD’S SECRET BBQ RIBS

I’ve been making these BBQ ribs for over thirty years, and dinner guests love them! The secret is that I don’t use tomatoes or ketchup in the marinade; they taste decidedly different from classic Tex-Mex recipes.

Ingredients

1 kg of back-ribs for every two guests, cut into separate ribs.

Marinade

1 cup of brown sugar.

½ cup of yellow mustard.

½ cup of soy sauce.

6 garlic cloves, minced.

2 Tsp of ground black pepper.

2 Tsp of Frank’s hot sauce (or similar brand).

Cooking Directions

1. Mix the marinade in a disposable tin roasting pan and immerse the ribs for at least one hour.
2. BBQ the ribs on a hot, open flame (approximately 5 minutes per side). Watch to flare-ups.
3. Return the ribs to the roasting pan, dipping each in the remaining marinade.
4. Prior to serving, place the roasting pan back in the BBQ and let them cook on medium heat for approximately 30 minutes, enough time for them to cook through to the bone. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Goes well with baked potatoes, corn, coleslaw and beer!

UPCOMING EVENTS

The release of Runaway Bomb is now scheduled for August 9, 2019! You can pre-order by going to Amazon.

PREORDER RUNAWAY BOMB HERE!

RUNAWAY BOMB BOOK GIVEAWAY!

That’s right, I’m giving away the very first edition of  Runaway Bomb! The draw will be held on July 1, 2019, and everyone who subscribes to my newsletter will be included!

STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE

I took this photo of an S&M boutique window display in Soho, London. The street was lined with peek-a-boo joints and XXX video outlets. I used the setting in my first FBI Jack Kenyon mystery series, Secret Combinations, as a venue where Jack could hide out while on the run from Scotland Yard. Check out the nails sticking from their bustiers!

MY FAVORITE BOOKS

NEWS OF THE WORLD: A NOVEL

By Paulette Jiles

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, born in 1798, has fought in three wars for his country. Now, at the age of 72, he tours Northern Texas with a portfolio stuffed with newspaper and journals, reading the news of the world to rural citizens. He has a full head of white hair, stands ramrod straight, and tucks a Slocum .32 caliber pistol in his waistband.

Captain Kidd is in Wichita Falls near Indian Territory when Britt Johnson, a free black man, attends his reading. A mule freighter by trade, Johnson often travels through the untamed country to the north, delivering goods to the army at Fort Sill.

Johnson has a sad tale to tell. Four years prior, a marauding Kiowa party had attacked the Leonberger family farm near San Antonio. They murdered the father and mother, then fled with their 6-year old daughter Johanna into Indian Territory. The surviving relatives had begged the Indian Agent to locate and retrieve the child.

The Agent recruited Johnson to transport Johanna across the Red River into Texas, but the latter faces a dilemma; the freighter has to travel with a 10-year old white child through a State filled with folk still angry at the outcome of the Civil War. Could Captain Kidd deliver the child back to her family?

Captain Kidd is dubious. The child, with blue eyes and pale blonde hair, is dressed in a deerskin shift decorated with elk teeth. She looks like a wild thing caught in a trap, ready to flee at the slightest chance. Four years had totally erased all memory of her early life; she is a Kiowa warrior now.

But Captain Kidd also has two grown daughters of his own. He knows that this one’s only chance at a future is to take her back to her kin and hope for the best. Reluctantly, he agrees.

His first task is to clean the child and dress her in urban clothing. The women at Lottie’s bordello wrestle the Indian garments from Johanna and scrub her clean with blue soap, then struggle her into a dress, stockings and shoes.

Captain Kidd purchases a spring wagon painted a glossy green. Tucking a shotgun under the front seat, he harnesses his packhorse, loads Johanna into the wagon, and heads south.

The journey, of several hundred miles, is replete with danger. Flooding rivers, marauding Apache and a man intent on kidnapping Johanna for his child brothel all seek to thwart their journey. Together, they battle their way through adversity.

Although News of the World is, on its surface, a classic western, the author transcends the genre with a story that is replete with a poet’s images of a world both long gone, yet as close as the smell of wild sage after a thunderstorm. It is story of a tired old man and a lost child who somehow find in each other a reason to live.

Through her astute ability to evoke characters, vivid imagery of the wild Texas plains and laconic frontier dialogue, the author creates a lively novel that has universal appeal.

MY FAVORITE TV AND MOVIE ADAPTATIONS

HARRY BOSCH SERIES

By Author Michael Connelly

I’ve been a fan of Michael Connelly for several decades now, following his police procedural series featuring LAPD detective Hieronymous ‘Harry’ Bosch. The video series, now with 5 seasons, was produced by Amazon Video and loosely-based on several of Connelly’s books. The lead character (played by Titus Welliver), has been rejuvenated a generation younger, having fought in the first Gulf War instead of Vietnam, but still brings the same grit and unwavering determination to solve murders. This inevitably leads him into conflict with his superiors and the DA, forcing them to do their jobs in spite of their conflicting agendas. Well-cast and acted, the series is highly addictive – I can’t wait until the next season is released in April, 2020, on Amazon’s Prime Video!