Welcome to DECODAME, a purveyor of antique purses, vintage compacts, enameled mesh bags, vanity cases, powder jars, costume jewelry, perfumes, powder puffs, hats and more.  Whether you crave an antique beaded purse, Mandalian mesh purse, vintage evening bag, alligator handbag, celluloid vanity or deco compact, DECODAME is your source for fun, functional and fashionable purses, compacts and vanity items!

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Experience the "Jazz Age" in my two NEW mystery novels:

FLAPPERS, FLASKS AND FOUL PLAY		BATHING BEAUTIES, BOOZE, AND BULLETS
"Boardwalk Empire" meets "The Great Gatsby" in this soft-boiled historical mystery, set in Galveston, TX: the "Sin City of the Southwest." Jazz Cross, a young society reporter, suspects foul play after a bank VP collapses at her half-brother Sammy's speakeasy. Was it an accident or a mob hit? Suspicious, Prohibition Agent James Burton raids the Oasis, threatening to shut it down, but Jazz refuses to rat on Sammy. As turf wars escalate, Sammy is accused of murder, and Jazz must risk her life and career to find the killer. Lots of references to purses, compacts, perfumes and fashion.  Inspired by actual events.		It’s 1927 in Galveston, Texas—the “Sin City of the Southwest.” Jasmine (“Jazz”) Cross is an ambitious 21-year-old society reporter for the Galveston Gazette who tries to be taken seriously by the good-old-boy staff, but the editors only assign her fluffy puff pieces, like writing profiles of bathing beauties. The last thing Jazz wants to do is compare make-up tips with ditzy dames competing in the Miss Universe contest, known as the “International Pageant of Pulchritude and Bathing Girl Revue.”
AMAZON KINDLE		AMAZON KINDLE
BARNES AND NOBLE NOOK		BARNES AND NOBLE NOOK
SMASHWORDS other formats		Smashwords other formats
NOW ONLY $3.99*		NOW ONLY $3.99*

*MAKE GREAT GIFTS! 

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COCKTAIL

By:  Ellen Mansoor Collier

You float into the ballroom to the strains of "Imagination."  Your dress is black velvet; your back is bare. A mirrored ball sprays millions of glittering diamonds over the Art Deco decor. He smiles from across the room, caressing a martini glass he cocks in your direction.  Slowly, effortlessly, he glides towards you, the crowd parting as if on cue.  Kissing your hand lightly, he asks in a low whisper:  "Cocktail?"

            Cocktails were made for this:  reuniting with long-lost loves over cold drinks on steamy Casablanca nights; soigne, square-jawed men who dance like Fred Astaire and kiss like Clark Gable; sleek panther women with ivory skin and jet-black hair who stepped out of an Erte poster; and sassy, sultry blondes with drop-dead looks and drop-dead lines:  "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? Just put your lips together and blow." 

            Like moonlight, waltzes and Cole Porter tunes, cocktails are creatures of the night.  They're effervescent Noel Coward comedies and Thin Man films, never the down-in-the-trenches reality of bloody war tales or Ingmar Bergman dramas. Gossamer plots demanded a case to crack, a damsel to rescue, a battle to win, a romance to ignite. You know the ending will, invariably, be happy. 

In Hollywood, we'll always have Paris.

 

Please e-mail me if you have any questions about my items or are looking for anything special--I just may have it!  Contact me @: decodame@flash.net

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