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Reviewed by Raanan Geberer for Readers' Favorite
Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel, a historical novel by Linda Bennett Pennell, gives a new twist to the famed organized crime figure. The action is not in Chicago, but in the Sunshine State. Pennell intertwines two stories, one in the present and the other in the past. In the first, Liz, a history professor who has just relocated to a Florida university, wants to give a course in crime history. She stumbles upon an article revealing that Capone stayed at a hotel in the small town of Lake City in the summer of 1930. Doing more research, she finds no further mention of the gang lord, but finds a pattern of Klan lynchings during the same period in Lake City. She wonders if there is any relationship. The second story takes place in 1930 itself and focuses on two families. One protagonist, a young boy who is friends with an African-American boy his own age, is shocked when he finds that his own father has joined the Klan. Another protagonist is a courageous lawman who demands that the town’s prominent citizens stand up to the Klansmen.
It’s clear that Linda Bennett Pennell has done her homework — not everyone knows that Capone had moved to Florida (which he called “the Sunny Italy of the New World") a few years before being sent to prison. The depictions of “Scarface” in the book are consistent with what we know about him, and organized crime aficionados will have fun trying to identify the other members of his gang. The Lake City residents of 1930 are pictured as poor, hard-working people who have been hit hard by the Depression. As for Liz, a side plot about her romantic life makes for a welcome distraction from all the mayhem. All in all, Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel is an excellent historical novel.
