the
Novel
by
Ken Simmons
| About the Novel by Ken Simmons |
|
| The creation of
this Novel, in its humble way, is an attempt to honor all the Film Noir
Movies that graced the big screen during the zenith of Hollywood movie
making throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Famous names like: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Becall, Robert Mitchum, Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake, Barbara Stanwyck, John Huston, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, all added to the creation and the mystery of Film Noir Movies - the pinnacle of Hollywood's golden era. "Double Lady - Double Murder" is an attempt to follow that tradition. The book is set in San Francisco in 1949, opens with a gruesome murder and a mysterious encounter with a breathtakingly beautiful dame. The book's plot centers around a hidden fortune taken from China and how it must be retained at all cost - including murder. Famous movie quotes are sprinkled throughout the book's dialogue as a tribute to the various movie greats this book is intended to honor. (Enjoy finding these famous movie quotes as you read this whodunit!) Over 100 films from 1941 to 1959 are classified as Film Noir Movies. The main theme: An evil woman lures a good man into her web of deceit, revenge, greed, and murder. The male lead character must resist her temptations and at the same time unravel her deceitfulness. The Book's Plot: The plot of this Novel centers around the stolen fortune of the last Empress Dowager of China. The following except from Chapter Two in the Novel explains some of the historical background of the hijacked fortune and the impending murders to help keep this fortune. Read the following from Chapter Two below: |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Never again allow a woman to hold the supreme power in the State . . ." |
||
|
Empress Ci Xi’s final words |
||
|
Chapter 2:
Our old newspaper clippings indicate that Commander Sheffield built his estate on one of the hills on the outskirts of San Francisco. He had controlled a shipping empire of Yankee clipper ships during the late 1800s when American commercial shipping ruled all the sea routes to the orient. Japan had been opened by Admiral Perry in 1853. From then on, Yankee clipper ships often visited the ports of Japan and ventured into the port of Shanghai in northern China. During this time, China’s internal dowager government located within the Forbidden City of Peking was ripe with corruption. The ancient treasures of China were being purchased/stolen by foreign devils that traded with the Chinese. Rumor has it that during the late 1800s, Commander Sheffield was a major trader to the Chinese Imperial Court. The newspaper clippings, at the time, approximated his total wealth at $ 400 million dollars. To this day, his family still owns a vast Shipping Empire reaching all the way to the far east. Many of the modern ships wade at anchor in the Port of San Francisco are part of his shipping fortune. According to many rumors, the Commander traded with the imperial Empress Dowager Ci Xi and helped her during her power struggles within the imperial court. History often tells awful tales of the Empress Dowager Ci Xi or Tzu Hsi (1835-1908) - how she once slaughtered 500 peasants just because she had a headache. Other accounts mention that she was a compassionate woman who could really read a person’s thoughts, but, at the same time, she was a vicious cunning woman who planned her every move. She definitely was a lioness in swan’s feathers. Commander Sheffield, in essence, amassed his fortune by bargaining with court eunuchs during the downfall of imperial China at the turn of this century. The Empress Dowager died in 1908 and thus modern China was born. However, the Commander and his descendants apparently maintain influential ties to the remnants of China's hidden treasure and to the corrupt KMT government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The History in China of the Empress Dowager Ci Xi (Tzu Hsi) "The Dragon Lady": The Dowager was born the obscure daughter of an obscure Manchu officer in 1835. Tzu's notorious ride to fame and power began in the imperial concubinage in 1856, when she gave birth to a boy heir. Named "The Wicked Witch of the East" - her ascent to power included killing off enemies with poisoned cakes, keeping hordes of false eunuchs close at hand, and choreographing wild sexual escapades in the Imperial Palace. The Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi is remembered through many exaggeration and falsehoods of legend as the ruthless Manchu concubine who seduced and murdered her way to the Chinese throne in 1861. She was the last Empress of China. Throughout her reign she battled the intrigue within the imperial court of China. Her many power struggles were against both Chinese reformers and foreign interference brought by the trading ships. Brought up in a strict family, she ran off to become an imperial concubine to fulfill her dreams of royalty. This woman struggled her way up to the top of China's political ladder. She was the third woman in China's male dominated history to govern at the highest position. Her rise to power came about when she gave birth to the first and only male heir to the Chinese Throne. In 1861, her lover Emperor Hsien Feng died and Empress Ci Xi’s now five year old son became the new emperor. And thus, Empress Ci Xi was now the Dowager Empress of China - "the consort mother to the young emperor of China". Interestingly, the daughter of Empress Ci Xi's former boyfriend Jung Lu married the emperor's brother, Prince Ch'un. In 1906 they had a son. Empress Ci Xi named him Pu Yi, or "Ceremony of Tribute." Two years later the Dowager Empress had a stroke, followed by dysentery. Realizing she was dying, she made immediate plans for the succession. The throne need not necessarily be pass to the eldest son; the ruler could choose his successor. Of course, Empress Ci Xi made this decision for the imprisoned emperor. She chose three-year old Pu Yi. The Boxer Rebellion was the main cause of Empress Ci Xi’s downfall. The Chinese people were very angry at the Manchu government and the hatred towards China’s ruler Empress Ci Xi increased. Revolutions led by Sun Yat Sen to overthrow the useless government of China led to her ultimate demise. The downfall of the Empress Ci Xi started during the Boxer rebellion and ended when she passed away in the year 1908. Upon her death, the Empress Dowager Ci Xi rested in her forest burial spot, until her tomb was broken into. The people who broke in were actually revolutionaries and western fortune seekers. They dynamited open the tomb, looted it and desecrated her body. The year was 1928. The Soong Sisters The Empress Dowager |
||
|
(All Rights Reserved - Copyright 2000) |
||