The shock of leaving small-town Indiana for shiny and sinful Miami was like stepping out from a dark building into the sun.
When Lainey Wolfe came to Florida from the Hoosier State, she was looking for adventure. Little did she know she’d be rubbing shoulders with mobsters, con men, heiresses and blackmailers, teetering on a moral tightrope between good and bad.
For author Frieda Dowler, it was an opportunity to revisit a place she knew personally while using her creativity to build upon it in a fun way.
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“I lived in Miami in the ‘70s, so a lot of the places and some of my people are even fashioned after people I knew when I lived there,” she said. “It’s fun to have an imagination and have something you can do with your imagination.
With her new book, Dowler pulls readers into the world of flashy ‘60s South Florida. “Miami Con,” the Franklin resident’s fourth book, follows Lainey as she’s thrust into the lawlessness of the titular city. Along the way, she teams up with con artists to foil a blackmail scheme.
The book delves into the splendor and squalor that came with life in counterculture Miami, while subtly examining the moral tug-of-war between following the law and doing what’s right.
“There is a lot of growth of characters, and with (Lainey’s) struggle with her own morality, doing what’s right and what’s not right,” she said. “Is it right to con people, even if the people getting conned are bad? I hope it brings about a lot of questions in the reader.”
Coming from a family of storytellers, it made sense that Dowler would gravitate towards writing. But it wasn’t something that Dowler sought out to fill her time; she has no problem staying busy.
The 40-year Johnson County resident has co-owned hair salons throughout the county since 1984. She has been a member of the Heartland Christian Writer’s Group, 100+ Women Who Care and Indiana Landmarks. She and her husband also love rehabbing old houses, and they have fixed up and renovated 13 homes over the years.
Looking back, Dowler says that writing was a passion that had always been in her, but she hadn’t yet realized it.
“I just never did it. It was one of those little things, like a simmer before the boil,” she said. “It was bubbling in there.”
Her experience in the hair salon only added heat to that storytelling talent.
“When you talk to that many people on a daily basis, everyone has a story,” she said.
For her, writing is simply something that she likes to do, and likes to share.
“It takes a lot of effort to write a book. You want to get it out to people — every author wants someone to read their story, to share it with people,” she said. “You hope that someone enjoys it or takes something away from it.”
“Miami Con” is Dowler’s fourth book. Her debut, “The New World Kingdom of Heaven,” is a fictional novel set in what she describes as a near-future, post-Christian America. NASA builds a fabricated planet, and the world’s Christians are sent to populate it — an alternative look at apocalyptic “end of days” stories.
The story idea came from a conversation between Dowler and her brother, tossing around ideas about what that world would look. With her mind set on finishing the book, Dowler committed 15 minutes at least every day to writing the story.
“I had no training, no structure, I didn’t know what in the world I was doing. But I had all of this background of making up stories and scenarios, so I’d let my characters tell me what they wanted to do,” she said.
From the story grew an offshoot: “New Money for an Old America.” The follow-up looked more closely at a world without Christians, through the eyes of five older women working in a corn processing plant in northern Indiana. When they win the richest lottery in history, they wrestle with what to do with their windfall.
At the same time, Dowler had a short story published in a Christian writer’s anthology, titled “The Game Changer.” A few years later, she shifted gears, penning “Heaven Bound in a Hollywood World,” a spiritual guide for young women.
“I really wanted to prompt people, especially young women, to get in touch with themselves. I’ve worked with a lot of young ladies over the years, and they’re so influenced by society that they fail to develop their own character, who they are,” she said.
“Miami Con” is a departure from all of those approaches. Dowler set the story in the past — exploring the rich characters and turbulent times of Miami following the initial influx of Cuban refugees.
Her main character, Lainey, finds herself tippy-toeing on the edge of trouble, befriending con men and making compromises. But when she meets a jewelry heiress while working at a beauty salon, who had been blackmailed by local mobsters, Lainey is compelled to get the women’s money back.
Dowler tried to weave the idea of right vs. wrong into a more exciting tale of classic noir.
“It’s the underlying theme. It’s not dominant, it’s not preachy. If people get that part of it, that’s great. If they don’t, it’s just a nice story,” she said.
At the same time, Dowler did extensive studying into the politics and people that populated 1960s South Florida — the blending of Cuban refugees, East Coast power players and mob heavies all fighting for supremacy.
“I love the research part of it. That’s probably my favorite thing,” she said.
“Miami Con” will come out in print in September, though the e-book became available on Thursday.
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Frieda Dowler
Home: Franklin
Newest release: "Miami Con," the story of a young woman from Indiana caught up in the world of con men, mobsters and the blackmail of a jewelry heiress.
Previous books: "The New Kingdom of Heaven," "New Money for an Old America," and "Heaven Bound in a Hollywood World."
Information and to purchase: friedadowlerbooks.net, or www.amazon.com/-/e/B00JG6V4DQ
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