Fried Chicken Castañeda by Suzanne Stauffer
About Fried Chicken Castañeda
1st in Series
Setting - Las Vegas, New Mexico, in June 1929
Publisher: Artemesia Publishing, LLC
Publication date: May 6, 2025
Print length: 228 pages
Paperback ISBN-10: 1963832051 / ISBN-13: 978-1963832051
Digital ISBN-13: 978-1963832242 / ASIN: B0DZC47WJQ
At the Castañeda Hotel you'll find romance, gourmet dining, bootleggers, and murder!
Bored with her conventional middle-class life, Prudence Bates escapes Cleveland by heading west to qualify as a Courier for the Southwestern Indian Detours. On the California Limited she meets Jerry Begay, a charming Navajo school teacher. They feel an instant rapport, but he's headed for Gallup, so it's but a brief encounter.
In Las Vegas, New Mexico Prudence is befriended by Castañeda Hotel Harvey Girls Martha and Anne and desk clerk Clara. They take Prudence under their wing and invite her along to dances and the local hot springs.
Four days later, Martha's brother, Tom, is found murdered. Was it because of his bootlegging activities? Or his amorous relationship with Liz Kearney, daughter of the richest man in the area and rumored mob boss? And was that really Jerry Begay whom Prudence saw meeting with Tom in secret the day before he was killed?
Following in the footsteps of her favorite fictional detectives, Tommy and Tuppence, Prudence is determined to solve the murder. But one wrong step and she may end up in the sights of the bootleggers.
| Amazon | Apple Books | BAM! |
About Suzanne Stauffer
Author Guest Post
 |
| Plaza Hotel |
 |
| Castañeda Hotel |
It and the Castañeda Hotel, a Fred Harvey hotel built in 1898, are still open for business.
 |
| Las Vegas Public Library |
 |
| Indian Detour |
A few years before, on a visit to the Grand Canyon, I had learned about the Indian Detours of the late 1920s and early 1930s and the Couriers, the women who guided them. I remarked to my husband that they would be an excellent setting for a cozy mystery series when I retired.
 |
| Painted Desert |
So, with lockdown, I had the time and I had a setting – Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1929. I just needed a main character, an amateur sleuth. I decided on Prudence Bates, a 25-year old librarian in Cleveland, Ohio. They say write what you know, and I was a working librarian for roughly 20 years. Prudence, who reads mysteries voraciously, is bored with her job. She wants excitement, glamour, intrigue. She attends the promotional meeting on the Indian Detours given by Anita Rose in 1929 (yes, Anita Rose is a real person and she promoted the Detours through the East and Midwest in 1929, stopping in Cleveland), learns about the Couriers, and decides that this is what has been missing in her life. Unfortunately for her, while she was the right age (at least 25), and a college graduate, she was not a native of New Mexico, and that was another requirement.
 |
| La Fonda Hotel |
Our Prudence is
not discouraged by this. She decides to head out to La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe
to plead her case in person.
Along the route, she’ll spend a week at the Castañeda soaking up local atmosphere. It’s 1929, so of course, she takes the train from Chicago (where she makes a point of eating at the Fred Harvey restaurant), sleeping in a Pullman berth and eating in the Fred Harvey dining car. Her dining companion for one meal is Sally Johnson, a Harvey Girl at the La Fonda. And ... unexpectedly, she meets Jerry Begay, a thirty-something Navajo school teacher on his way to Gallup ... so it’s a brief encounter between strangers on a train, two ships passing in the night, and, in 1929, a forbidden love.
 |
| Montezuma Hotel |
Once in Las
Vegas, she tours the town, visiting the landmarks and monuments that constitute
the pride of Las Vegas, including the Plaza Hotel. She makes friends with
Harvey Girls Martha and Anne and desk clerk Clara, who invite her to a YMCA
dance and to soak in the hot springs above Las Vegas at the Montezuma Hotel.
Before she knows it, she finds herself embroiled in bootlegging, murder, and mystery. Who killed Harvey Girl Martha’s brother, Tom, and why? Was it because he was selling poisoned bootlegged liquor to the local Indians? Or was it because of his amorous activities with Liz Kearney, daughter of the richest man in town and rumored mob boss? And was that really Jerry whom Prudence saw meeting with Tom the day before?
Read it and
find out.
Tour Participants
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY!
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Want to Book a Tour?
No comments:
Post a Comment