Tequila Case (A SunnyPascal adventure), by F.G. Haghenbeck
RocaEditorial, June 2011.
F. G. Haghenbeck is one of the Latin American authors on best form in the last years. (notodo.com)
All of us have a weakness. I’m not an elitist, I have many. (Sunny Pascal)
It’s 1965 and the world, while dancing to the rhythm of Rock n’Roll, is still recovering from the magnicide of J.F. Kennedy. The beatnick detective Sunny Pascal, who loves women and cocktails at equal parts, receives a new assignment. He will have to travel to Acapulco, in Mexico, on a new mission to protect a Hollywood star.
Pascal’s friend and film producer Scott Cherries hires him to fly to the the Acapulco Film Festival and take care of Johnny Weismuller, alias Tarzan. The acclaimed Hollywood star lives most of the year at the luxurious Hotel Flamingos and has been being blackmailed lately. In addition to that, Weismuller owes a great deal of money due to his fondness for drink and gambling.
Sunny is asked to discretely take Weismuller out of trouble, but things turn out to be not as easy as they seemed. Once in Mexico Sunny is quickly hunted by the local police, the Italian Mafia and a Cuban hit man at the service of US Government to do their dirty jobs. Acapulco turns out to be a dangerous cocktail riddled with corruption, glamour, betrayal, journalists, celebrities and bloody revenge.
While keeping ans eye on Weismuller and trying to find out why is everybody after his tracks, Sunny is almost killed by an agonizing man who assaults him at the hotel. The man dies, but leaves behind him a briefcase with half a million US $ ... Who is the owner of the money? How is he linked to Weismuller? Through tenacity, skilled experience and lots of luck, Sunny will unveil a top secret plan that links the Mafia to the US and Mexican Governments.
In this crazy adventure Sunny Pascal will also meet Ann Margret, who took refuge in Acapulco after her romance with Elvis Presley, Ludwika Valdés, a Beverly Hills beauty who seems to be more than what she says, and someone who can help him out with the Mafia: Frank Sinatra.
The novel keeps advancing and unveiling its mysteries chapter by chapter, amongst cocktail recipes, explanations about their origins and suggestions about the music that best fits every drink
F.G. Haghenbeck (Mexico, 1965) is the author of acclaimed novels in Mexico, amongst which Trago amargo (the first Sunny Pascal novel, winner of the National Award Una Vuelta de Tuerca), Aliento a muerte and Hierba Santa. His novels have been translated into languages such as English, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese or Serbian. Sunny Pascal, his beatnick detective, has also appeared in a short story in the Mexico Noir anthology (Akhasic Press, NY).