Hmm… this changes my vision of the story line going forward. Before this, I knew where their meeting was going to be, who was going to be in attendance and what it was about. Now, I don’t know anything about it. I like that.

Hjalmar didn’t seem like a German name to me so I googled it. Imagine my surprise to find that Hjalmar Schacht was a real person. Fascinating.

Oops! I thought the slowdown in posting meant we were running out of plot. I hope my attempt to help doesn’t have the reverse effect.

Not a problem, Pablo. I’ve worked out what I want to do when I resume writing in the Noir universe. I’m just taking a bit of a break away from it, having never written so much so quickly on a single story line.

Which character is this? Feels dark and foreboding but content in its own moment all the same.

Randall Stone is Maryanne Stone’s first husband, and source of the diamond necklace. I gave him some backstory, but he’s up for grabs. He’s anglicized his name; Rani (a Jewish name) to Randall, and Grabstein (German for stone) to Stone.

BTW, Saturday is the Jewish sabbath. But Randall is not particularly observing it; for example, riding in a car is taboo. He’s an “ethnic” Jew.

a great reboot to the plot Pablo. I guess Nick will have to respond in some way to keep the flow. I really like the tie into the Nazis. I would think this story is now moving forward year by year. 1938?

Not a reboot, just giving Stone a reason to need the Bete Noire. It’s still 1938, until somebody makes it otherwise. Somehow we slipped from May to November but that’s okay, November has more noir-y weather. I think gangsters, Nazis, spies, etc. could mix together in interesting ways.

Those 6 months passed in a flash didn’t they? November is my fault; I could amend, I suppose, for continuity’s sake. Where was May mentioned?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do a string search for it?