Mapping It Out - THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED - Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts

The next book in my nostalgic mystery series, THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED is set Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, in December 1951.  Though the characters and events are fictitious, the locations mentioned in the story did exist in this manufacturing village.  But no more.  This novel seeks to recreate a time before the Urban Renewal movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s drastically changed our urban centers; in the case of Chicopee Falls, wiped out most of it.  Some of the streets are gone now, and some whose directions are diverted and altered, but the more profound difference between then and now are the buildings on those streets that went under the wrecking ball.

Other aspects of the story are easier to distinguish on a map.  Above we have a 1946 topographical map by the U.S. Geographical Survey that shows a deep green area on the bluffs across the river from Chicopee Falls and other areas that were deeply wooded long before they were changed to suburban neighborhoods in the 1950s and 1960s.  A great place to dig a hole and hide stolen money.  If you really wanted to.

The "landing field" at the bottom of the map is the old Springfield Airport, the home of biplanes and the innovative GeeBees long before it became a shopping center.  For some, a field of dreams.

The railroad following parallel along the river figures prominently in the story.  That's not there anymore, either.

There's lots of trains in the book.





Here's a closer look at the setting in the web of streets of Chicopee Falls from a 1912 atlas that also figures into the story.  

Turning back time is a fascinating prospect, and one I've enjoyed very much in the writing of this mystery.  I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

I'm hoping to have The Little Engine That Killed published in November in eBook and in print, and I'll keep you up-to-date as we get closer. 

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom,  Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Matchbooks as clues in THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED - Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts

 

Matchbooks as clues in the upcoming --
THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED

The next book in my nostalgic mystery series set in New England in the post-World War II era takes place in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, in December 1951.  Though the characters and events are fictitious, the locations mentioned in the story did exist in this manufacturing village.  But no more.  This novel seeks to recreate a time before the Urban Renewal movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s drastically changed our urban centers; in the case of Chicopee Falls, wiped out most of it.

                                                         

It was also a time of lots of smoking, as you see here in the several images of matchbooks from businesses in Chicopee Falls in 1951 that pop up in the novel.  It's funny for us today, perhaps, to think of even a bank offering matchbooks to its customers, but in an era of a widespread smoking habit, it was perhaps a good way to advertise, as handy, and more useful than a business card.



I'm hoping to have The Little Engine That Killed published in November in eBook and in print, and I'll keep you up to date on the particulars.  

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I'd like to share with you the wonderfully silly cartoons by my twin brother, John, on a variety of products such as mugs, T-shirts, and more, over at his Redbubble site.  Here's a link to his shop:  ArteAcher23 with more items being added every month.  Here's a cute black cat, enjoying having an enormous piece of candy corn all to himself.  Get your mug, shirt, apron, or whatever in time for Halloween!


 

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;   States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Zoom Talk - Christmas in Classic Films - Coming in November!

This is to announce that next month I'll be doing a Zoom presentation on my book Christmas in Classic Films.

The talk is being hosted online by Sal St. George and the St. George Living History Productions.  I'll be discussing several examples of how Christmas becomes the climax and resolution in several classic films, which are not really "Christmas movies."  The event is scheduled for Monday, November 20th at 10:00 a.m. ET.  Please join us for a fun discussion on some of your favorites -- and perhaps a few you would not have considered to be Christmas classics.  Here's the login info below:

Time: Nov 20, 2023 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 822 3865 2855
Passcode: 731986

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******************

Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts;   States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels. Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

New book coming! THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED...

I'm very pleased to announce that my newest book -- the seventh in my Double V Mysteries series, is going to be published soon!

On this adventure, Juliet and Elmer take on a case tracking an about-to-be-released prisoner to recover the money he stole and hid years before -- but as usual, nothing is as it seems, there are more questions than answers, and danger increases with every twist and turn.  It's the Christmas season, 1951, and our intrepid duo, unlike Santa Claus, has a little trouble determining for sure who is naughty and who is nice.

The setting for this story is Chicopee, Massachusetts.  But there's a twist to that as well, which you'll see in weeks to come.  The particular part of town where the story takes place is Chicopee Falls.  In 1951, that village was completely different than it is now, because in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most of it was demolished in an urban renewal project.  To write this book, I had to recreate not only a time, but a place that no longer exists.  All of the books in this series are a form of time-travel.  This one, The Little Engine That Killed, is especially so.

I'll let you know more in weeks to come.  For now, I hope you enjoy a peek at the cover above.