TIKI CULTURE

Murder on Tiki Island by Tiki Chris Pinto: Great Review on LetsTiki.com

The great reviews keep coming in for Murder on Tiki Island by yours truly, Tiki Chris!

Recently Darrin Vindiola of Dads Dish wrote a spectacular review of the book, siting it’s great imagery, fun characters and original plot line.

This week, Damon of Let’s Tiki wrote (and put on video) his great review of this Tiki-lover’s tome:

“Aloha,
I want to tell you about a great book I recently read, Murder on Tiki Island.  I really enjoyed the book. It made me feel like I was on a tropical vacation when, in reality, I never left Wisconsin.  Murder on Tiki Island was written by Tiki Chris Pinto.  The book takes place in October, 1956, and follows the story of New York City detective Bill Riggins…” You can read the rest of the review here at LetsTiki.com.

Damon is a long-time connoisseur of Tiki cocktails, culture and decor. His Let’s Tiki website has a ton of great info, exotic cocktail recipes and much more for the Tiki lover.

Mahalos for that glowing review, Damon! It’s kats like you that the book is written for!

-Tiki Chris P., author of Murder on Tiki Island.

Prest-o-lite: A Vintage Advertising Thermometer from my past

Every once and a while I like to post about junk I have laying around the house. This little goodie is a vintage (original, not repro) advertising wall thermometer.

Prest-o-lite batteries were the cream of the crop back in the 1930’s when this little gem was new. A wall thermometer like this would likely have been given to a gas station or service shop owner as a promo gift, to hang on the wall in the shop or outside by the pumps. It’s built of heavy gauge steel, and the graphics appear to be silk-screened with some heavy-duty pre-war lead-based tough-as-nails paint. It’s about two feet tall, and has a nice three-dimensional art deco look.

Like everything else I write about, it has a story. When I was a kid, living in the suburbs of Atlantic City, there was a very kool old house (built in the early 1920s) across the street from us. It was stucco, had a drive-in basement/garage, hardwood floors and the original 1920s sink and fixtures in the kitchen. Yes, very kool. It also had a couple of acres of nicely-kept land, including a glass and wood green house. As years went by, the owners passed on and the house became a rental. By the time I was in high school it had deteriorated to a heap of crap, and was torn down. Today it is still an empty field. Yay progress.

Anyway, when I was a teenager a family with a son my age moved into the house and we became friends. One day we were exploring what was left of the then dilapidated greenhouse, and found this thermometer nailed to a post inside. I offered the dumbass $3 bucks for it, and he happily took it (and proceeded to spend it on a Slurpy and some video games). That was 1984. It now hangs in our library room, right next to where I’m typing this post.

Note the rather large, circular blemish in the middle of the battery graphic. That is a dent…not a hole, a dent…made by a .38 caliber bullet. Not sure why anyone shot the sign. Maybe I’ll use that for my next murder mystery novel. In any case, the kid kept the slug. I got the sign.

What’s it worth? Who knows. To some collectors it would need to be mint condition to bring top dollar. To others, the authenticity of its used condition makes it worth more. I’ve never seen another one like in the last 25 years. Maybe it’s worth $300 clams. Maybe 50. Maybe more…but it’s not for sale, so it don’t matter much now, do it?

I’ve had this thing for over 25 years. I’m guessing it will make a nice ornament on the lid of my coffin someday.

-Tiki Chris Pinto, bestselling author (soon) of Murder on Tiki Island, reporting from the Library Room (What the hell is a “library room”???)

Spicy Piña Colada: Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail, and Cocktail Nation

How about something frozen on this hot, South Florida day?

As the Mai Tai is without question the quintessential Tiki Cocktail, the Piña Colada is without doubt the most famous and best-loved Tropical drink. Welcome anyplace on the globe where palm trees and thatch are present, the Piña Colada is at equally at home at the Tiki bar or on a Mexican playa.

From Shag’s Tiki Drink Deck, here is the

Spicy Piña Colada

1 1/2 oz. spiced rum (I prefer Sailor Jerry’s)
1 1/2 oz. creme de coconut
2 oz. pineapple juice
2 oz. pineapple chunks
splash of cream
151 rum

Blend everything except the 151 in a blender with ice until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass, top with about a tablespoon of 151 and garnish with a cherry, pineapple wedge, orange slice and a little umbrella. It’s nothing without the umbrella. Sit in your favorite deck chair pointed at the ocean and enjoy!

Shag's Tiki Drinks Deck

Cocktail Nation

So, as I riffed about in my last post, Koop Kooper of Cocktail Nation kindly interviewed me for my newest retro-tastic novel, Murder on Tiki Island. The vintage music podcast is now available at CocktailNation.net (click the link to listen now!) The show is, as always, great, kicking off with a Diana Krall tune and filled with great music and retro koolness. You can catch Koop’s podcast every week, with new-old tunes a’plenty.

For info on Murder on Tiki Island by Tiki Chris Pinto, visit the Star Dust Mysteries Publishing website at StardustMysteries.com.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the lanai at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, Florida

Catch Tiki Chris’ Interview on Koop Kooper’s Cocktail Nation This Weekend!

Koop Kooper

Yours truly, Tiki Chris will be featured on Koop Kooper’s Cocktail Nation Lounge & Exotica Radio Show this weekend…Check it out at www.cocktailnation.net.

The interview concentrates on the release of my kool new Tiki tome, “Murder on Tiki Island: A Paranormal Mystery in the Florida Keys”. It’s a neo-noir style thriller, set in 1956 and filled with swingin’ chicks, hot tropical days, kool cars, palm trees, ghosts and a twisty plot that will keep you turning the pages.

Murder on Tiki Island by Tiki Chris Pinto

Murder, Sex, Exotic Cocktails and Exotic Women. And of course, some very eerie phantoms…Set in New York City and the Florida Keys in 1956, Murder on Tiki Island is a noir-style murder mystery which follows Detective Bill Riggins (Murder Behind the Closet Door) through a series of strange, unexplained events surrounding a murder and paranormal phenomena on Florida’s world-famous Tiki Island Resort. Influenced by the style made famous by pulp fiction’s greatest authors from Raymond Chandler to Mickey Spillane, Murder on Tiki Island weaves an intricate web of lies, murder, and the occult shaken with a shot of hot dames and a chaser of cool tropical breezes.

“Murder on Tiki Island” features Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid on the cover and a custom Tiki by Tiki Hana on the spine (print version).

Penned by “Tiki” Chris Pinto, author of the noir mystery ghost story Murder Behind the Closet Door, this 1950s style thriller will keep you hanging on edge from the first sentence to the last. Swing back to 1956, when jazz and rock ‘n’ roll both ruled the airwaves, giant finned cars ruled the roadways and Tiki Bars were the hottest spots on the nightlife scene. Riggins, a New York City detective, takes a ‘forced vacation’ to Tiki Island in the world-famous Florida Keys and Key West. Once there he gets mixed up with the seductive daughter of the resort’s wealthy owner; gets taken for a wild ride by a beautiful blonde bombshell; and gets himself suspected of a brutal murder. Skeletons, mermaids, Mai Tais, Exotica music, fishing and phantoms all come together to make this Key West murder mystery a fun, old-fashioned pulp noir novel that’s sure to please anyone who digs the mid-century scene, or just loves plain old fashioned noir-style detective novels. Tiki Chris Pinto’s Florida Keys murder mystery will have you spooked and guessing throughout the entire story, with a few twists that will get you saying, “Wow, daddy-o! Dig that crazy scene!”

If you dig what you read here at the Tiki Lounge, you’ll love this book. Check it out:

Murder on Tiki Island official website

Murder on Tiki Island available at Amazon.com (print version, $11.95)

Murder on Tiki Island available for Kindle/iPad/Mac/PC ($3.99)

Murder on Tiki Island for B&N Nook ($3.99)

Stardust Mysteries Website

Listen to Koop’s Show this weekend! www.cocktailnation.net.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the library at Tiki Lounge Talk, the swingin’ B-Lounge for kool kats & hep kittens.

Murder, Sex, Ghosts & The Jersey Shore: Murder Behind the Closet Door

Murder Behind the Closet Door, The Wildwood Paranormal Mystery By Tiki Chris Pinto

Murder Behind the Closet Door: The Wildwood Paranormal Mystery by Christopher “Tiki Chris” Pinto, paperback now ON SALE for only $10.76 at Amazon.com!

Many of you who follow this swingin’ B-Lounge already know that yours truly is an aspiring writer millionaire.

Last year I published my first full-length retro-style neo-noir novel, Murder Behind the Closet Door. Original price for the 600-page masterpiece was $16.95, $3.95 for the kindle version. A hefty price tag for any tome, but everyone who’s read it has said it is worth it

A few months ago I re-tooled the layout to bring the paperback down to a more manageable (and less intimidating) 425 pages, at a tag of $14.95. Sales increased!

Well, Amazon has done me the great favor of running a DISCOUNT on the book now, which makes it even more enticing! Now you can get the paperback in all its glory for only $10.76, a fantastic bargain for this wild ride. Or, of course, you can still pick it up on Kindle or Nook for $3.95.

Why buy this book?

Good question. Let me just take a sip of my coffee and bourbon, and I’ll lay it down for you (siiiiiip).

Hudson House, one of the two haunted houses in Murder Behind the Closet Door

This book swings you back in time to Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, the grooviest, funnest towns on the Jersey Shore (sorry Asbury Park, you’ve got nothing on Wildwood). The action starts with a heart-wrenching murder…as experienced by the victim…then moves into the life of Heather, a 22-year old woman starting her life as marketing manager for the famous Hunt’s Pier on the Wildwood Boardwalk in 1979.

Almost immediately her story turns to one of mystery and fascination, as she admits to being haunted by an entity in her closet. This all seems innocent at first…

The Wildwood Boardwalk, 1970s

Using my own style of flashback, character-weaving and time-rearrangement, the story unfolds to reveal a multi-layered plot of murder, revenge, phantoms, wartime coverups, denial, hot women, the afterlife and the people who protect us from myriad unseen demons. All of this wraps itself around a solid, noir-gumshoe style detective story, featuring one of the freshest, most interesting and exciting hero detectives to come along since Mike Hammer (IMHO), Detective Bill Riggins. (Riggins is also featured as the main character in my latest novel, Murder on Tiki Island, and will continue his adventures in the upcoming Murder Under the Boards: The Atlantic City Murder Mystery.)

For an in-depth look at Murder Behind the Closet Door, visit the MBTCD official website.

OK, that sounds cool, but why should I think Tiki Chris’ writing is worth 11 bucks?

Fair question. Short answer is if you dig what you read here, you will absolutely dig this book, and my other writings.

"Tiki" Chris Pinto, old-school style

Although I compare the book to those of Stephen King, Mickey Spillane, Raymond Chandler and Dean Koontz, my style doesn’t copy any of theirs…my style is my own, hammered out over 30+ years of writing, learning, experiencing and, well, drinking.

I’ve been writing since I was 12, winning a prize from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin for a short story, then taking a stab at writing a full-length musical (entitled “Swingtime”) which was performed at my high school during my senior year (it too was a neo-noir style drama).

In 1989 I picked up the pen for my first paid advertising assignment, and have been writing advertising copy professionally (and making typos) ever since (just like Mad Men, I’m the Creative Director of a national ad agency…except my office is in Hollywood, Florida, not CA).

"Tiki" Chris Pinto and Jeannette Pereda in "One Crazy Mystery", Stardust Productions, 1995

That same year I formed Star Dust Productions Mystery Theater, and began writing and producing comedy plays and murder mysteries, mostly for dinner theater settings. With my wife Colleen, we successfully ended a 10-year span of over 400 performances of six different shows (written by me) with a 1930s radio show performance on the Ocean City Music Pier, NJ.

After moving to South Florida in 2000, I decided to turn my talents toward writing noir fiction, and began a series of short stories and flash fiction (due out in book form & ebook this summer). A flood of memories from my shore days in Jersey came with the move, and in 2002 I sat down to write my first novel. I decided to make it something I’d want to read myself, something fun and full of action, something spooky yet believable, with interesting characters and an unusual plot line. At 2am on a thunder-filled south Florida night, “Behind the Closet Door” was born.

Today, I write for The Fort Lauderdale Examiner, manage the Facebook Retro Tiki Lounge, and of course run amock here at Tiki Lounge Talk.

So, yeah, I’ve got some experience as a writer, right? So trust me, the book is solid.

What makes Detective Riggins so special?

.45 Auto used by Detective Riggins in Murder Behind the Closet Door

Riggins is not your regular ole goodie-two-shoes, uphold-the-law kind of guy that you read about in most books or see in a lot of flicks. To say he’s flawed is a true understatement. He’s big, tough, sarcastic, arrogant and has his own code of conduct and sense of morality that doesn’t always jive with the establishment, but he’s smart enough to stay out of most trouble, and to get away with dealing out justice the way he personally thinks it should be dealt. He does some screwed up stuff but in the end you’ll find yourself on his side, routing for him to succeed. He’s an old-time tough-guy cop with a young, hard-drinkin’ jazz-diggin’ spirit. He learned how to kill on the battlefields of Korea and still carries his military-issue .45 automatic. He likes hot rods and fast women and doesn’t have time to settle down with just one dame. He’s a New York vice cop who has a deep hatred for pushers yet a soft spot for junkies and hookers, as he usually sees them as victims. He doesn’t have many friends on the force; he prefers to hang out with beat musicians and barflies, as he finds them much more interesting. And somehow, for reasons he’ll never learn (but you will), he seems to attract the spirits of the murdered dead.

If you’ve read through this whole long-assed post, I guarantee you will truly dig this book. You can read the first few pages on Amazon, and can find snippets of it at Stardust Mysteries Publishing or the official Murder Behind the Closet Door website.

Oh, and if you do dig it, please post a review on Amazon.com. Every little bit helps, and maybe someday you can say you’re pals with a famous mystery writer

-Tiki Chris Pinto reporting from the library at Tiki Island Resort, Florida
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