Paul's new novel, Houdini Pie, was completed in 2007. It is a picaresque tale of bootlegging, baseball and buried treasure, set in Depression-era southern California. The premise for the tale is based in fact; a madcap hunt for a legendary cache of gold supposedly buried by an ancient tribe of Indians beneath the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Indeed there was such a hunt, sanctioned and permitted by the City in its struggle to recover from the twin financial debacles of the Wall Street collapse and the 1932 Summer Olympics. The treasure, not surprisingly, was never found, and the story and its characters faded into the mists of urban folklore. Based on historical research and his whimsical imagination, Paul has brought the legend back to life, peopling it with -- among others -- a family of reformed rum runners, a suspect Hopi chieftain, a corrupt and conniving mayor, a reluctant professional psychic, an obsessively eccentric geologist and the barnstorming ball teams of the California minor leagues. By turns rollicking and mysterious, the novel paints a colorful picture of greed, gullibility, loyalty, intrigue and even love in early 20th century America. Houdini Pie is under representation by Barbara Braun Associates, Inc. of New York, New York. You can read an excerpt of Houdini Pie here. |
Houdini Pie
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| Los Angeles City Hall, circa 1934 |
