In 1951 Hollywood, Margot Black, a German-born actress with a complicated past and secrets to hide, is being blackmailed and must choose between betraying her friends and her principles or losing everything – her career, her marriage, her integrity.
Margot’s attempts to turn the tables on her enemies – a corrupt FBI agent, her double-dealing psychiatrist, and her own lover – put her life at risk and eventually lead to cold-blooded murder.
Tom O’Malley, a muckraking journalist with demons of his own, investigates this web of corruption and must decide which side he is on and who he will protect — or betray — to bring the truth to light and see justice done.
This is some marketing copy I wrote in 2012 or 2013, in a crime fiction class with Lynne Hightower. Thousands of words later, much has changed, and yet the general outline still holds. At that point, I imagined I was writing a genre novel and that I would bang it out quickly and….
Of course, that’s not what happened. Things got complicated. The plot, the characters, my life, my health. So complicated that I gave up, just walked away for nearly three years. Auf Wiedersehen, Margot Black.
But here’s the good news. Margot Black — fierce femme fatale and consummate survivor — refused to go gently into that dark drawer.
They say it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. I’m not sure which one of us is behind this shift, but I’m making it official: The File on Margot Black is back, with a vengeance.
And I’m doubling down: Margot Black may be a woman with secrets to keep, but I’m committing to sharing some of mine — at least the ones about my creative process and the history behind this work of fiction. Maybe even a sample chapter or two. So, stay tuned!
Featured Image: Joan Bennet in “The Woman in the Window” Photo credit: https://glamourdaze.com/2015/04/film-noir-fashion-a-retrospective-photoshoot.html