Christine Mullen, owner of the Blue Max Inn, read about the recent death of the author of her inn’s namesake with great interest.
“Jack Hunter was one of the past owners of the Blue Max,” she said, referring to the well-known bed and breakfast with double wraparound porches and views of downtown Chesapeake City, Maryland. “The Blue Max” was the first of many World War I-era novels Hunter wrote. Copies of the book still are sold at the inn and are popular keepsakes for guests. Hunter moved to Florida in 1980 and the house became a bed and breakfast in 1990.
“One of our rooms is named the Hunter Room,” she told reporter Wendy Hiester Gilbert of the Cecil Whig newspaper. Mullen said the Hunter Room is still one of the inn’s most requested, aside from the Honeymoon Suite. “There is a king-size bed, fireplace and access to the second-story porch,” she said. “It is a very desirable room.”
The Blue Max Inn is “a great place to unwind and learn more about the author and the 1966 film based on his most famous novel, which starred George Peppard, James Mason and Ursula Andress,” Mullen said. “We have lots of memorabilia from the movie,” she added.
“I had corresponded with Jack through e-mail, but I never had the chance to meet him. A lot of people in the community were very close to Jack,” Mullen said. She said many of her guests ask her about the inn’s name.
“I give them all the information about Jack, his books and the movie,” she said. “He continued to write and paint once he moved to Florida. He was quite the World War I airplane artist.”
Hunter wrote 16 novels after “The Blue Max.” His last was “The Ace,” which was published in the fall of 2008.
