The Tropics of Blythe raises some mysteries. No such place exists today, and that’s hardly a surprise; your chance of coming across a motel with a big A-frame lobby AND and an adjacent Sambo’s are as likely as finding a two-headed jackelope.
Then there's this elfin fellow. That's Ken Kimes, motel developer. Therein hangs a tale. Says crimelibrary.com:
There are two stories on how Kenneth Kimes met Sante, a romantic match surely struck up by the devil. The first is that Sante saw an article on California millionaires in a magazine in 1971. She liked his looks, not to mention his estimated net worth and began circling him like a hawk. The second is that he went after her. He needed a public relations person for an American Bicentennial scheme he was cooking up one in which he hoped to make several million dollars.
Murder followed. Read it all here.
