Bill Finley has published a new book. Photo provided
By Steve Pike
The only stories better than those from William E. Finley’s fiction are those from his real life.
From flying 35 missions as a B-17 pilot in World War II (five air medals, three battle stars and two unit commendations) to being one of the nation’s foremost urban planners to a founder of West Palm Beach’s SunFest, the 89-year-old Ocean Ridge resident’s life would make Hemingway jealous.
War and peace and more than 50 years as an urban planner have given Finley a unique and insightful view of life and the ways of the world.
Those views come to the fore in Finley’s new book, Killing in BocaLand (A New Kind of Murder). The 345-page self-published book, strong on dialogue, follows the nefarious adventures of sexy Boca Raton title company executive Daisy Hoffman (a former Miss Florida with the scrapbook to prove it), her frustrated engineer-turned-insurance executive boyfriend, a Mexican billionaire, a Saudi prince and a real estate mogul who wants to build a 100-story apartment/hotel tower on the land that was once Briny Breezes.
Toss in a high-end Boca Raton hotel and a doomsday machine similar to Nikola Tesla’s fabled earthquake machine (it nearly destroyed the Serbian genius’s New York lab in 1898) and you have a terrific read that takes you places you know along A1A and makes you ponder what is possible.
Finley, who along with wife, Anita, publishes the Boomer Times magazine, describes Killing in BocaLand as a “bloodless murder” and an “adventure in science and fiction.”
“Pure fiction,” Finley said. “Nobody in the book is real. But a lot of the science in the book is real.”
Indeed. Just remember the policemen who found Tesla madly pounding away at his earthquake machine in an effort to get it to stop shaking his building on Houston Street in New York City.
In Killing in BocaLand, Finley puts his characters through a lot of shake-ups — physical and emotional — that will leave readers surprised and curious for more.
Killing in BocaLand is Finley’s first book of pure fiction. His previous books are Air Force Cowboy, a historical novel based on his service in the Army Air Corps, and Curing Urbanitis, which outlines the problems and cures for America’s metropolitan areas.
In Killing in BocaLand, Finley at the same time aims for a more diverse but local audience than his previous two books — one familiar with the A1A culture and lifestyle.
“I wanted to find the audience first, make sure it’s a well-off audience, proud they live there,” said Finley, who has lived in Ocean Ridge for the past 27 years. “So I aimed the book at Boca Raton.” Ú
Killing in BocaLand ($20) is available at the Gulfstream Pharmacy in Briny Breezes, Hand’s Office Supply in Delray Beach and by calling 736-8000.
Comments