Tasting the Apple

by Sherilyn Decter

  I also had a great team of beta readers for Tasting the Apple: Kate Decter, Rachel Andrews, Jessica Decter, Kim Mitchell, Grant McPhail, Pat Britton, Karen Oliver, Lynn Bailey, Jeanne Millis, Vickie Brown, Pat Carrabre, Mary Jo Carrabre, Johann Laesecke, and Nathalie Jottard. They were very kind and gentle in their comments to a first time writer.

  Finally, where would I be without my husband Derry? He listened to the subtle difference of phrasing many, many times, provided his medical expertise for several key scenes, and kept me going when I was ready to give up.

  Thank you one and all.

  * * * *

  Historians are vital for those who want to understand our present and get a sense of what the future may hold. They sift through the detritus of people’s lives, pulling out facts and patterns and then reweaving them into a whole to provide us mere mortals with a path forward.

  As appealing as that is, I am not an historian. I am a story teller. I take those same facts and attempt to reshape them into something that I hope you will find entertaining. My fictional characters get to live with factual characters.

  These books are works of fiction and should never be considered anything but. While I’ve tried to stay true to the grand arch of history, occasionally I’ve moved an event that happened in one month into another so that it has a better flow through the story.

  The Bootleggers’ Chronicles series is based in Philadelphia during the 1920s. It is set during the time of Prohibition, an era that reshaped America. Many of the characters found between the pages of the Bootleggers’ Chronicles were actual people, walking the streets and living their lives in Philadelphia during this time. I have been inspired by their individual stories, but have reshaped them to fit the plot of my books. Sometimes things happened in real life in a similar fashion to what I have laid out, and sometimes it is a complete fabrication.

  In the character listing at the back of each book is a Wikipedia link to many of the real individuals, and I encourage you to do your own research into their fascinating lives. They were compelling characters, both fictional and historical, and it was an honour to get to know them all better.

  Cast of Recurring Characters in the Bootleggers’ Chronicles:

  The Gangsters

  Mickey Duffy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Duffy) a fictionalized portrayal of a real bootlegger who was affectionately known as King of the Bootleggers in Philadelphia during the 1920s.

  Married to Edith Duffy (http://www.dvrbs.com/people/CamdenPeople-MickeyDuffy.htm)

  Duffy crew includes:

  Henry Mercer- chief lieutenant

  “Fingers” McGee- muscle

  Gus Toland- muscle

  Porter- muscle

  Eugene Smith- accountant, and lodger, Innocence Lost

  Mike Malazdrewicz- accountant, and replacement for Eugene in remaining books.

  John Bricker- Mickey’s driver and bodyguard (http://www.dvrbs.com/people/CamdenPeople-MickeyDuffy.htm)

  Arthur Werblun- Mickey’s attorney

  “Boo-Boo” Max Hoff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hoff_(mobster))

  Hated rival of Mickey Duffy, bootlegger and boxing promoter

  Crew includes:

  Charlie Schwartz- chief lieutenant

  Max Hassel (http://www.berkshistory.org/multimedia/articles/beer-baron-max-hassel/) Sometime rival, sometime partner of Mickey Duffy

  Bailey Gang

  Frankie Bailey (http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/bootlegging/)

  James Bailey

  Petey Ford (Philadelphia: Organized Crime in the 1920s and 1930s)

  Gilbert “Bert” Bailey

  George “Skinny” Barrow

  Louis “Fats” Barrish

  Delores Bailey

  Chicago Gangs

  Al Capone (The Chicago Outfit) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone)

  Bugs Moran (The North Side Gang) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_Moran)

  The Law

  Colonel Smedley Butler- Director of Public Safety (aka Chief of Police) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler)

  Joe Kelly- member of the Philadelphia Police, and lodger

  Ralph Copeland- Captain of Special Enforcement Unit Number One

  District Attorney Samuel Rotan

  Inspector Frank Geyer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Geyer as well as Detective in the White City, JD Crighton, 2017, RW Publishing House)

  The Politicians

  Mayor Freeland Kendrick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Freeland_Kendrick)

  William Vare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Scott_Vare)

  The Community

  Maggie Barnes (aka Peggy or Margaret)

  Tommy Barnes

  Archie Mansfield- match teacher, and lodger

  Dick Beamish- reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and lodger

  Reg Littleton- car salesman, and lodger

  Cordelia Gifford- Maggie’s Mother

  Fanny- Joe’s fiancé

  Jimmy- Tommy’s friend