My upcoming novel, The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall, tells a fictional version of the life of Tampa gambling and mob kingpin, Charlie Wall, and his young driver and bodyguard, Trip Armstrong.
Charlie was the black sheep of a prominent Tampa family. By the 1930s, his criminal empire covered most of Florida, reaching into the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee and the office of a U.S. Senator in D.C. Sicilian mobsters, jealous of his wealth and power, tried four times to kill him. They succeeded in 1955, when Charlie was found dead in his Ybor City home, his throat slashed. That murder was never solved.
In my fictional account, Charlie survives that attack. While the real Charlie was born in 1880. I moved his birthday to 1900 and set the book in 1985. Here’s the book pitch:
It’s 1985 and Ronald Armstrong, known in the magic mushroom trade as “Trip,” takes a “sober” job as a driver for a retired Tampa mobster. His boss, Charlie Wall, has survived four attempts on his life, the last one in 1955. When Charlie falls into depression, Trip rebuilds his boss’ self-esteem by convincing him people still want him dead. What neither of them know is that an aging hit man has decided to finish the job he botched 30 years earlier.
The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall includes Charlie’s first-person account of his life of crime and the loss of the woman he loves. Three strong and determined women, Katrina Carey, Ava Corral and Angie Castellano, are also key characters. Everlasting Life is both a love story and a mafia adventure, brimming with humor and heart.
THE EVERLASTING LIFE OF CHARLIE WALL
MOBSTERS, MURDERS, MUSHROOMS
COMING APRIL 15
From St Petersburg Press!
| UPCOMING BOOK TALKS!! |
| See Paul at one of these events: • Saturday, April 25 – Word of South Festival, Tallahassee. https://wordofsouthfestival.com • Wednesday, April 29, 7 p.m. Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg. Scott Deitche, author of Cigar City Mafia, will interview Paul. https://tombolobooks.com • Friday, May 8, 8:00 a.m. Café Con Tampa, at The Portico https://www.facebook.com/cafecontampa/ • Tuesday, May 12, Book and Bottle, St Pete, author happy hour www.bookandbottlestpete.com • Sunday, May 17, 3:30 p.m., Oxford Exchange, Tampa. With readings by Eugenie Bondurant https://bookstore.oxfordexchange.com • Thursday, May 28 – St. Pete Museum of History…Doors 6. Talk 6:30 www.historystpete.org |
What they’re saying about the new book:
“Paul Wilborn’s The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall melds richly drawn characters with an engaging premise – what if infamous Tampa mobster Charlie Wall survived his 1955 hit and lived into the gritty Tampa of the 1980s? Drawing on the City’s unique underworld history and blending it with his own experiences, Paul crafts a story that is as much about relationships and the passage of time as it is about gangsters. A wonderful read.”
• Scott M. Deitche, author Cigar City Mafia: A Complete History of the Tampa Underworld
“Charlie Wall has always been one of my favorite Tampa figures. With his privileged roots, he could have ruled Tampa from a castle—but chose the underworld instead. I’d always wondered what it would feel like to sit across from him, share a drink, and hear his story. Paul Wilborn brings that fantasy to life by crafting a relatable, human Charlie Wall. This isn’t the Charlie Wall from history books. This is Charlie Wall, resurrected and roaming his hometown decades after his real-life assassination.”
• Paul Guzzo, author of The Dark Side of Sunshine and writer/director of the documentary The Ghosts of Ybor City: Charlie Wall
“Paul Wilborn is Tampa’s greatest chronicler and in this imaginative novel he uses a colorful gangster as a way to tell the history of the city. It’s a wild ride from start to finish!”
• Craig Pittman, author of the bestseller Oh, Florida! and the award-winning Cat Tale, and co-host of the podcast ‘Welcome to Florida’
I included this “Moment of Groucho” in a previous email, but it is so appropriate for the current political environment, I’m bringing it back:
