Bitter Drink | The Tequila Case | A Handful of Bullets
Movie Stars, alcohol, drugs, and mysterious homicides.
Bitter Drink. Mexico, 1964. Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and other major Hollywood stars arrive in the idyllic beach town of Puerto Vallarta to shoot what is expected to be the film of the year: The Night of the Iguana. To shield them from the media frenzy surrounding the production, swarming with paparazzi eager to capture every fight and reconciliation of the tumultuous Taylor-Burton marriage, the studio hires Sunny Pascal, a Mexican-American police officer.
Sunny is the perfect antihero: cynical, womanizing, and fond of a drink. The apparent calm of the film set is shattered when a dead body turns up, murdered with one of the guns that had been issued to the cast. Suddenly, every star becomes a suspect. Sunny must not only solve the crime but also find a way to protect the culprit in order to prevent a scandal that could destroy careers and dominate the headlines.
In a world fueled by ego, alcohol, drugs, and corruption, Sunny must contend with blackmailers, thieves, temperamental actors, demanding directors, and a production crew on the verge of chaos. Fights, confrontations, problems with the Mexican mafia, and the theft of valuable jewels all become part of an investigation in which everyone seems to be hiding something. As he digs deeper, Sunny discovers that the filming of The Night of the Iguana is actually a cover for a scheme to acquire the lands of Puerto Vallarta and transform them into an exclusive luxury destination.
The Tequila Case. The story continues in 1965. Sunny Pascal is assigned a new mission: travel to Acapulco to protect Johnny Weissmuller. The former Hollywood star, now living at the luxurious Hotel Flamingos, seeks Sunny’s help after becoming the target of a series of mysterious blackmail attempts.
As soon as he arrives in Acapulco, Sunny finds himself pursued by the local police, the Italian Mafia, and a Cuban hitman working for the United States government. While trying to protect Weissmuller and uncover why so many people are after him, Sunny narrowly survives an assassination attempt. When the attacker is killed, Sunny discovers a briefcase containing half a million dollars among his belongings, leading him to investigate Weissmuller’s connection to the conspiracy.
His search ultimately uncovers a complex clandestine operation involving organized crime, the U.S. government, and the highest levels of Mexican political power.
In this fast-paced adventure, Sunny crosses paths with figures such as Ann-Margret, who has taken refuge in Acapulco following her romance with Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra, who helps him investigate the Mafia.
A Handful of Bullets. In this third installment, Sunny Pascal is hired by Mexico’s Churubusco Studios. Set designer José Ramón Izaguirre and the renowned filmmaker Luis Buñuel ask for his help in clearing Izaguirre’s name after he is accused of murdering his wife, Imelda Fregoso, during the Spanish Civil War.
To solve the case, Sunny must travel to Madrid. There, he becomes entangled in a web of intrigue populated by corrupt police officers, killers, movie stars, Western stuntmen, and even Sergio Leone himself. As a parade of legendary Spaghetti Western icons crosses his path, Sunny struggles to unravel the mystery surrounding Imelda Fregoso’s death.
REVELANT DATA:
The Sunny Pascal series is a collection of satirical thrillers that blend real-life characters and historical events with fictional stories of crime, corruption, and revenge. Its first installment, Bitter Drink, won the Una Vuelta de Tuerca National Novel Prize.
Carlos René Padilla Haghenbeck, widely recognized as one of the leading voices of Mexican noir fiction, helped redefine the country’s literary landscape. The author of numerous bestsellers, his work has been translated into more than twenty languages.
Throughout his career, Haghenbeck received major literary distinctions, including the International Latino Book Awards and France’s Gourmand Award, becoming the first Latin American writer to receive the latter honor. He also won the Nocte Award for Best Foreign Book, the José Rubén Romero Fine Arts Novel Prize, the Norma Children’s and Young Adult Literature Prize, and the Bram Stoker Award for his novel The Devil Made Me Do It, which was later adapted into Netflix’s successful series Diablero.
What critics have said of the author and his work:
“The structure [of Bitter Drink] is original and attractive.” El País
“With clear references to the world of comics and mixing real facts and characters with other imaginary ones, Bitter Drink is a concoction that will leave readers with an excellent taste in their mouth.” El Mundo
“Mexican writer F.G. Haghenbeck combines an original combination in his novel Bitter Drink: classics such as the Bloody Mary and the Cuba Libre, plus a suspenseful plot set in the delirious filming of John Huston’s The Night of the Iguana.” Babelia
“A very entertaining novel, with an excellent mastery of rhythm and dialogue that once again evokes a genuine classic flavor […] The Tequila Case (El caso tequila) a highly recommended crime novel.” Esquire
“Sunny Pascal is one of those realistic characters that shows you that vigilante stories aren’t always perfect. Instead, he maintains this goofy, humorous personality that makes you empathize with the character.” Goodreads
AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, TV Miniseries, Film, TV Movie.
LANGUAGES AVAILABLE: Spanish, English, French, and Serbian.
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