Get Bek

Get Bk, inspired by an actual case, though deviating in significant ways, is the story of Max Bek, a 60s and 70s alternate lifestyle and intellectual celebrity in Philadelphia. He is smart, charismatic, and eerily attuned to the zeitgeist. He is popular on the University of Pennsylvania campus and sought after by the business local community for his connection to a demographic they wish to cultivate. With so much going for him, who could guess he'd murder his girlfriend, Linda, and stuff her body into a steamer trunk left in his closet until it mummified? She was younger than Max, and also bright, a Bryn Mawr graduate, but her down-home Texas naivete left her vulnerable to the charming but poisonously insecure Max Bek. He is finally caught, but released on a low bail. He goes on the lam to Europe and becomes a cause celebre, resuming speaking engagements on esoteric subjects like parapsychology and "psychotronics", mind-control weaponry developed by dark forces in the American defense community. He escapes capture for years, but is finally tracked down by private detective Owen Bridger and Philadelphia Homicide Detective Michael Haywood. After a prolonged extradition contest, Max in brought back to the States t face justice for Linda.

Max Bek is a 1970s wunderkind and Philadelphia's answer to the nation's better-known gurus and transgressors who graduated from the free love and drugs of the sixties, to the cusp of Reagan era business and New Age values. He is highly intelligent, charismatic, and sees himself as a link between environmentally conscious youth and a business community seeking connection to the demographic that is his following. He has all the qualities that pretty and accomplished Linda Record left Texas to find when she chose Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia instead of her parents' choice for her, the University of Texas. She moves in with Max shortly after meeting him, but even her benign nature, finds difficulty with Max's narcissistic eccentricities. One of them is answering the door naked, but more disconcertingly, his promotion of an open relationship in which each is free to have sex with others—discreetly, of course—yet he proves capable of jealous outbursts. As his darker side unfolds and Linda gathers strength with the help of friends, she decides to leave him. But before she does, she mysteriously disappears. Private detective Owen Bridger is called in by her parents to uncover why Linda failed to pick up the ticket left at the airport for her to fly to Dallas. He is joined by Philadelphia homicide detective Michael Haywood. They soon surmise Linda has been killed, and Max an early suspect. Haywood finally obtains a search warrant and Linda's desiccated body is found in a trunk in Max's porch closet. Following his arrest, he is released on a shockingly low bail while awaiting trial. Meanwhile, what began as a circumstantial case ripens into solid, conviction-assured, physical evidence. But immediately prior to trial, Max jumps bail and goes on the lam to Ireland. A cat-mouse game ensues between Max and his two pursuers. Locating him proves difficult. Max has friends in high places and develops a following owing to his research and rap about parapsychology and psychotronic weaponry. When word emerges he's wanted for murder in the States and he is located, his becomes a cause celebre among French free-thinkers, after which a public relations and extradition battle ensue. Ultimately, Max's defenses and political hopes dissipate. He is extradited from France to face his fate.

A native mid-westerner where he lived in Detroit and Chicago, Lanny has been a Philadelphian for thirty-five years. After a long, varied, and successful business career, his love of language and the power of stories led him to writing fiction. He is a committed city guy, constantly cruising the urban landscape for the eccentric characters who populate his stories, and incidents that defy any strangeness a fiction writer could conceive. He and his long-time companion, Jackie, a painter, wile away hours over food, martinis, and wine, talking about family, dogs and art. Lanny is also the lucky father to a daughter, Amanda, who is married to a wonderful husband. Their three beautiful, talented little girls are a grandfather's delight.