Tommy Gun Tango: A Novel of Hollywood Crime

Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (9/09) The authors have given readers an opportunity to travel with four main characters back to the 30s in California- the state of reinvention. Along with incredible descriptions of the characters and life in the 30s, the authors have included major news stories that occurred during that era. Marshall Lawe, who was a constable in Peony Springs, Massachusetts, has decided that after losing his job he will travel to California to make a new life for himself. While driving for long hours, Lawe becomes somewhat dazed by the lonely highway and he almost hits a hitchhiker, who is also trying to find his way. Al Haine, an Irishman, is a talker, con-artist, gambler and ladies man. He loves to hear himself talk and really doesn't care if anyone is listening. Although it is never said outright, readers will know that Haine is running from something. Lawe is also heading to California because a past love of his is there and he is hoping to reconnect with her. Gladys is a cook and finds that the world is full of surprises when it comes to people from your past. She runs into her cousin and Lawe. Trying to hide that she knows either of them, she changes jobs frequently. Eventually Lawe and Gladys get together much to the dismay of her Aunt Naomi. The last character to complete the group is a Jean Harlow look-alike, an upcoming actress. Even though she believes she is better than the real Jean Harlow, she finds herself getting into trouble by impersonating her. This is a fast, exciting read with a lot of historical detail to give readers the chance to see what life was like in Hollywood in the 30s. You'll find con-artists, bootleggers, drug dens and much more. Each chapter introduces one of the main characters to provide background on how they ended up in California and toward the end readers will see how each of their lives is intertwined. I didn't have the pleasure of reading the first book, "Blood Harvest," where several of the characters were introduced, but if it is exciting as "Tommy Gun Tango," I can only imagine where the authors can go with this set of characters.

I just finished with Tommy Gun Tango and I loved it. The style of the book reminded me of the movie "Godfather II" where there were two stories in one. I'll be enjoying one story and then be drawn into the other one. Great style. Never missing a beat, the entire book held my interest. Reading about old Hollywood was a joy and I never knew what was true or what part of it was fictional, as it all sounded believable. I would highly recommend this book to all of my friends and especially the ones who work in entertainment industry.

Reviewed by Kam Aures for [....] (08/09) In "A Note From One of the Authors" in the opening pages of "Tommy Gun Tango," Brant Randall states that this book "recounts the further events of three characters: Marshal Lawe, Jackie Sue, and Gladys" from his previous book "Blood Harvest." Although I had not read "Blood Harvest" many parts of that story were recounted in this current book and this novel stands very well on its own. When Marshal Lawe loses his job in 1932, he decides to move out to Los Angeles. On the way there after almost hitting a man named Al Haine with his car, he allows Haine to come along for the ride. In L.A., Lawe seeks employment at a movie company while Haine opts for gambling (which he is apparently very good at). The other main characters of Gladys and Jackie Sue neatly enter into the story as the book progresses. The bulk of the book depicts life in Hollywood during the early 1930's and includes characters such as Jean Harlow and Paul Bern. It is stated that historical accuracy has been maintained in the book as much as possible which I found to be very intriguing. I really wasn't familiar with the murder of Paul Bern and didn't know much about Jean Harlow either. I liked how this fictional story had some elements of truth to it as that always makes for an interesting read. From the facts that the author states at the end about the case, I think that he did an excellent job incorporating reality into this fictional story. Another element of mystery thrown into the mix is that of the authors, Brant Randall and Bruce Cook. Everything is not as it may seem, but I will let you discover what I am referring to on your own. I found the revealed information to be an added bonus on top of the story itself. It was a lot of fun taking a trip back to the 1920's and 1930's, seeing inside the Hollywood movie industry of that era, and being witness to the crime and corruption that was running rampant. If you like historical fiction, I think that you will definitely enjoy "Tommy Gun Tango" by Brant Randall and Bruce Cook.

According to the author's note, the corruption in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s was second only to Chicago. At the height of the Depression, it was a town that meant "land of opportunity" for so many unemployed people. Four of those people ended up in Los Angeles in Tommy Gun Tango by Brant Randall and Bruce Cook. The story focuses on four losers, all heading west to start over. Marshal Lawe was the County Marshall in a small town in Massachusetts, Peony Springs, but as the town collapsed during the Depression, even the police were affected. After losing his job, he started for California, knowing of a cook that went to LA. He was the other side of a coin, totally different from the man he picked up on the road, Al Haine. While Marshal was honest and hard-working, Al fled Ireland in the 1920s, after killing a man. After arriving in the U.S., he ran liquor, worked collections for the mob, killed a couple more people, always moving west, looking for the next easy score. Gloria Alwyn had owned her own little diner in Peony Springs, but lost it. When Marshal served the papers on her, she headed for her aunt's, where she found a job at a jazz club and restaurant. Unfortunately, Gloria ran afoul of two groups, a runner for Uncle Anton who ran the Negro criminal element, and a cop who picked her out in a raid as a "pinky", a Negro woman light enough to pass. This hard-working woman, again, stands as a contrast to Gayle Barton-Poole, known in Peony Springs as Jackie Sue, a young runaway and aspiring starlet who hooks up with Al. Tommy Gun Tango sucks the characters into Los Angeles. It's a town where Marshal observes the bootleggers upstairs and the cops downstairs. While LA's mayor was a Prohibitionist, he had also been the head of the KKK in southern California. And, the movie studios, with all of their money and clout, bought and sold police, and paid for their own justice to hide the crimes of the stars. While tabloid newspapers tried to tell the criminal stories involving Fatty Arbuckle, William Desmond Taylor and Mabel Normand, it only took money for the studios to shut down justice. Marshal, working for MGM, learns how the studios pay off cops, reporters and photographers to cover up the crimes and misdeeds of their stars. While he's upset with his observations, Al and Gayle know they can find a way to take advantage of the studios. Los Angeles is brought vividly to life in this story of a sinful city in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a town, and a time, that could drag down even the most honest people, as they struggled to survive. And, it's the movie business, and the death of Jean Harlow's husband, that reveals the truth about all of the characters. In some ways, all of the main characters were victims of their times. There was prejudice against women, Negroes, the Irish, even lawmen, and each character relates some of their suffering because of their lot in life. The author excelled in the creation of the four people in this book, fou

Great atmosphere shares center stage with a cast of memorable characters whose lives are intertwined in this fascinating tale of the dark side of old Hollywood. Tommy Gun Tango, co-written by Bruce Cook and Brant Randall, brings back several characters from Randall's Blood Harvest, an equally entertaining story set against a backdrop of the KKK in Massachusetts. And readers of Cook's first novel will recognize a name that might be a relative of his hero in Philippine Fever, Cook's adventure story set in the steaming back streets of Manila. Utilizing multiple points of view, one per chapter, each character starts out by explaining where they came from and about the skeletons in their closets. First is Marshal Lawe, an out-of-work constable from a podunk town called Peony Springs in rural Massachusetts. His little town pretty well dried up and blew away, so he headed west to the Golden State. Along a deserted highway one night, Lawe sideswipes a hitchhiker who ends up completing the journey with him to the land of milk and honey. This is the Depression, 1932, and everything looks better on the other side of the tracks. The guy Lawe hits is Al Haine, a two-fisted Irishman who uses one fist to fight and the other to gamble. He is good at both. Talk about the luck of the Irish. Al manages to secure a few extra bucks on their journey to the coast. He never mentions the bruised bodies he leaves in his wake. Once in Hollywood, Lawe gets himself a job in the movies as an extra. His credentials lead him to a security job for one of the big studios. Al tries his luck at the dog track. He does well and soon moves with a faster, more dangerous crowd. Laced throughout the opening section of the story are tasty little tidbits ripped from the headlines of the newspapers of the day. Stories like the Fatty Arbuckle scandal and the mysterious death of William Desmond Taylor. Each tale shows how the studio heads deal with moral turpitude and the threat to their box office receipts along with their willing accomplices in law enforcement. Another character who graces the pages is Gladys Alwyn. When the war broke out she left Virginia and turned tricks in New York City before saving up enough money to buy a diner in Peony Springs. She hid her past and became romantically linked with Marshal Lawe, but when the economy turned south, she headed for Los Angeles. She had relatives there. She took with her another, darker, secret that she figured would ruin any further notions about making any permanent plans with Lawe. Al Haine's tempestuous past was filled with rapid departures, usually when a dead body turned up. His anarchist tendencies finally landed him in America from Ireland where trouble kept finding him. Once in Los Angeles, he sought to improve his lot in life and ended up working at one of the studios as a dancer in a gangster musical. His dancing partner, Gayle, a gorgeous blonde, is a kid with ambition, but this little number plays by different rules.