Novelist Writes of Murder, Mystery in Westport

Westport TV producer Tom Seligson didn’t have to go far to solve the mystery of what happened to that $1 billion stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and who carried off the heist, one of the most notorious in history.

The clues were all in his backyard.

Turns out a Westport developer of McMansions shared the booty. Unfortunately his greed led to his pretty wife’s murder at Earthplace where she had gone for a jog through the woods at dawn.

The clue that tipped Seligson off was provided by a Westport real estate agent, now deceased, who’s remembered for her saucy, theatrical style and upswept hair.

Seligson’s resolve to solve the tantalizing mystery took him on a global search all the way to Syria.

Actually, if truth be told, Seligson traveled to Syria via GoogleEarth and he went on to solve the true-life mystery in his imagination by writing a fictional account that he set in the town he knows best and where he grew up: Westport.

Seligson recently spoke about his book that solves the mystery, King of Hearts, at the Westport Public Library. The title comes from code names the U.S. attached to likely suspects in the bank heist.

His talk was filled with clues about how to write engrossing historical fiction and how to market it in the digital age.

But first, to dispose of a lingering question: Was the author inspired to write the fictional expose of high-level foibles involving Saddam Hussein because he went to prep school with, and was a friend of, George W. Bush? Their friendship included springtime breaks in Fort Lauderdale and other youthful frolics.

“I didn’t vote for him but I knew him quite well,” Seligson said.

But no, the association was not a motivator for the book.

The bee in Seligson’s bonnet was a news clipping about the brazen Bank of Iraq heist, when more than a billion dollars in $100 denominations was loaded onto trailer trucks, followed by official American assurances that the stolen currency had all been recovered.

In his imagination, Seligson begged to differ. Trundling along to his day job in the city on Metro-North, he pecked away at a thriller that’s a page-turner, although not recommended for late-night readers who jog in the woods at dawn.

Seligson borrowed upon many Westport associations to add texture to his characters.

For example, a savvy senior sophisticate who still charms the opposite sex at encounters at the Soundview (read: Westport) Senior Center is based on his own mother.

A medical examiner shares similarities with two doctors Seligson knew growing up.

As for the real estate agent, she's based on a larger-than-life character who had had a theatrical career before becoming a real estate agent in Westport and a vocal member of the Representative Town Meeting

As he searched his memory for scenes from his childhood – “Fields along the Post Road – Remember them?” – he vividly recalled Richards’ persona but her name had escaped him all the way through publication of the book.

Serendipitously, Seligson’s fan club includes Westporters who grew up with him, and many turned out for the talk. As he described his real estate agent, he ventured that someone in the audience might remember the name of the woman he based her on.

“Ann Richards!” instantly volunteered Arline Gertzoff , a former classmate of Seligson. “She was here for a million years and she drove a Cadillac with vanity plates.”

“That’s it!” responded Seligson. “I have struggled to remember her name. You’ve literally solved the mystery and I’ve accomplished something tonight!”

“You certainly got us interested in reading your book!” added another audience member.

Seligson revealed some of the techniques he applies to hold readers captive from beginning to end.

It begins with architecture, a vision for a super-structure that has to be held together with screws and welds, he said.

 “The flow of language moves it along,” Seligson said. “At the end of every chapter are cliffhangers” that lock readers into turning the page.

Seligson, who has produced news, documentaries and sitcoms, is self-publishing King of Hearts. He explained that authors’ royalties can reach 70 per cent of book sales when books are published on demand through electronic orders, three or more times standard royalties when books are published in bulk and delivered to bookstores.

For Seligson, the pleasure in writing a thriller is the opportunity to be both director of the drama and to play all the characters.

But setting a novel that starts off with a murder in one’s hometown carries some risk.

“I don’t know if I’d be invited back for a fundraiser at Earthplace,” he said.