Foreword to THE GATSBY GAME
by Kindle-UK best-selling author Saffina Desforges
In January of 1973, a man was found dead in the motel bedroom of British actress Sarah Miles, during the filming of the Burt Reynolds movie The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing.
The scandal that ensued destroyed Ms. Miles’ marriage and irreparably damaged her career. Phil Nugent at Nerve.com described the incident as one of the 10 Most Notorious Scandals of all Time.
The dead man, twenty-three year old David Whiting, was Ms. Miles’ business manager and, in his mind at least, her lover. Sarah Miles was at the time married to the playwright Sir Robert Bolt.
David Whiting, it seems, had two obsessions in his life: Sarah Miles and the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald - especially The Great Gatsby.
Although a coroner’s inquest ruled Mr. Whiting had died of an accidental overdose, much mystery still surrounds this tragic event.
Some things didn’t add up:
Mr. Whiting was found with pills scattered on top of his sleeve, as if they’d been scattered post mortem. An autopsy showed the drugs, and trace amount of alcohol, in his system were not enough to have killed him.
There was, however, evidence that he had been beaten, and authorities in the small southwestern town suspected foul play. Some evidence suggested Burt Reynolds was the perpetrator, and one of the investigators was convinced the killer was Sarah Miles’ nanny, who was described as David Whiting’s girlfriend.
We’ll probably never know for sure.
Anne R. Allen, who knew Mr. Whiting when she was a student at Bryn Mawr College, has written this novel based on the events surrounding the scandal. The characters are completely fictional, and the setting has been moved from Arizona to California, but her book offers a new solution to this decades old mystery.
Saffina Desforges
THE GATSBY GAME
by
Anne R. Allen
© Anne R. Allen, 2011. All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. The resemblance of any characters to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Published by Mark Williams international Digital Publishing
Formatted by Elizabeth Ann West
http://eawestwriting.com/ebook-formatting