The Purple Menace and the Tobacco Prince
is a historical fiction novel inspired by the whirlwind romance between Winston-Salem tobacco heir Z. Smith Reynolds and sultry Broadway torch singer Libby Holman. Set against a backdrop of Jazz Age opulence and Prohibition-era decadence, the cigarette millionaire pursues his obsession across the globe by airplane, yacht, and automobile, competing for the glamourous singer's affections with a free-spirited heiress. The three become entangled in a web of lust and envy, ultimately ending in tragedy, scandal, and a mystery that remains unsolved to this day.
Wright Williams has it all. Heir to the Taxi cigarette fortune, the young playboy's life is a whirligig of speed, Ziegfeld Girls, and bathtub gin. Then, he sees Broadway's sultriest torch singer, Bizzy Holt, and realizes he has nothing at all. Obsessed, Wright finds himself competing for Bizzy's affections with Allard Chemical heiress Lucy Conrad. Impervious to Prohibition and the Great Depression, the millionaire daredevil pursues the libertine chanteuse around the globe by yacht, automobile, and seaplane. From neon-lit Paris nightclubs to smoky Manhattan speakeasies to Macao opium dens, we ride shotgun with Wright on an ever-steeper spiral into paranoia, fetish, and jealousy.