Magic City
Miami Beach, 1959.
As Ike Evans rings in the New Year at his luxurious Miramar Playa Hotel, Havana falls to Castro’s rebels. It’s a turbulent time in Miami, but it’s THE place to be. The Kennedys, the mob and the CIA all hold court here. And Ike, he’s the star of his hotel. To finance his dream, he sold his soul to mob boss Ben “The Butcher” Diamond. Ike’s wife Vera, a former showgirl, and his three kids think he’s an honorable man, but he can’t break his pact with the devil. His life is a façade.
Ike is the king of 1959 Miami Beach. Ike worked his way up from hotel cabana boy to building and owning the Miramar Playa Hotel, the most glamorous spot in America’s favorite playground. Creating his showplace has consumed Ike for years. Ike is a star, charismatic and convincing but beneath his easy charm and gracious manner lie secrets, buried deep. Ambition, drive and vision go a long way toward making his dream real but Ike knows reality also requires cold hard cash.
He has done, will do, whatever he must to keep his family safe and his dream intact.. Ike is a good man who will make some bad choices for what he believes are the right reasons. The worst, most life-threatening choice was going into business with mob boss Ben “The Butcher” Diamond. Now, six years later, The Butcher is back in Miami Beach and looking for his pound of flesh. Ike’s first wife Molly shared Ike’s dream of the Miramar Playa and her family wealth and connections, made much of it possible.
Her death from cancer left Ike a widower with three children. Lost and reeling, Ike met gorgeous Tropicana showgirl Vera in Havana. Now Ike and Vera Evans are the movie star-perfect couple at the helm of the glorious Miramar Playa. Ike Evans, the good and glamorous king of 1959 Miami Beach, stands atop his palace built on sand.
But nothing at the Miramar Playa is what it seems. By day, it’s diving clowns and cha-cha lessons. By night, escorts have secret liaisons with husbands in the family cabanas, while Miami’s seedier residents and the law drift together to hear legendary singers, musicians and comics.
As Ike’s world threatens to implode, he fights for his family, and the Miramar Playa, in Magic City.
