I was struggling for a character name and I saw a bond movie. Havelock Pigeon was named after Judy Havelock in “For Your Eyes Only.” When the villain said, “You’ve shot your last bolt Miss Havelock” I scrambled for my note pad.
Almost all of the characters are named from other literature. Effie Perine was Sam Spade’s secretary. Gertie on the front desk is from Perry Mason. I built the story in many layers to entertain people who read deeply. But the story moves fast and there’s plenty of action so even a superficial read should be entertaining.
Thanks for asking.
Bern
Incidentally, although I changed names many of the characters, as grossly exaggerated as they seem, are as true as a photograph. I worked for a quality director who had AADD so badly it was a wonder he could find the building in the morning. And the event described where he took a screwdriver to a multi-million dollar unit that had just passed acceptance and been sold off really happened. He was on the payroll because he’d sign ANYTHING.
The bribery situation is a composite of several similar ones as the company (now out of business) had elastic ethics. There was an entire floor of offices with brass plaques reading something like “General John Jones Special Consultant.” They had wet bars, built in polished wood shelving and they’d never, to my knowledge, been visited by their “occupants.” Those men were on the payroll but never showed up at work as they’d already done their “service.”
I really did buy a bunch of assembled equipment as “repair parts” to keep my department functioning. As I passed the buyer nursing a coffee cup in the cafeteria, without looking up and just loud enough for me to hear he said, “I’m not a f*cking idiot, Bern. I know what you did.” I stopped and without looking down said, “Then why didn’t you kick it back?” He said, “Somebody’s got to make the d*mned place work.”
And, let’s not even talk about the government’s quality rep. Yikes.