Murder at the Summer Theater - coming in December

Coming in December -- the latest in my Double V Mysteries series - MURDER AT THE SUMMER THEATER.

Casey Koester did the marvelous cover, as she has for the rest of the series, and I'm grateful to her for always coming up with stylish, clever, and evocative images.

More to come on launch date details.  Hope on here to my website to join my email list for updates.  For now, here's a little preview:

Rehearsals grow tense at a summer theater on the Connecticut shore.  The lead actress goes missing – or was she murdered?

Juliet Van Allen and Elmer Vartanian, the “Double V” duo, are called in on the case, but even with Juliet pretending to be an actress and newcomer to the cast, the players are guarding their secrets closely.  There are spurned lovers, jealous wives, scene-stealers and heartbreakers, with enough spirit of vengeance to fill up the loge.  Will the show go on?  Even when a body is found?

Murder at the Summer Theater is the fifth book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

If you like the charm of a classic film, this “cozy noir” will return you to an era of soft ocean breezes and a glamorous game of suspicion played between acts.  The painted backdrop is the heyday of summer theatre, when greats from the New York stage and Hollywood performed in barns and tents on New England’s famed “straw hat circuit.” Passionate accusations light up the balcony, grim consequences lurk in the dressing room.  Join the nervous producers on the veranda for a champagne cocktail.

It’s a seaside caper where murder is in the spotlight in the summer of 1951, and Juliet and Elmer are on the verge of a new professional – and personal – partnership. 

Selling my books at a Holiday Bazaar - Chicopee, Massachusetts

I'll be selling my books this coming Thursday evening, November 15th in a special event sponsored by the Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce.  The first-ever Holiday Bazaar & Raffle will be held at the Portuguese American Club at 149 Exchange Street, Chicopee, Massachusetts from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A variety of vendors will be there, along with food tasting, a cash bar, and music.  My brother John, who illustrates some children's picture books we've published together, and I will be pleased to meet you.  Stop by our table and say hello!

Selling my books - at the Fall Craft Fair - Chicopee, Massachusetts

I’ll be selling my books at the Knights of Columbus Hall, Granby Road in Chicopee, Massachusetts, on Sunday, October 21, 2018.

I’m very happy to be taking part in the St. Joan of Arc School P.T.O. Fall Craft Fair.

There will be a variety of vendors selling their craft items for the upcoming holiday season, and my twin brother John and I will have a table for our books.  Please come down and say hello, have a look around, and maybe even get a jump on your holiday shopping.  There will also be a raffle, and lunch options and baked goods will be available.  Come out and help the P.T.O. support the students!

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, October 21^st.  The K of C Hall is at 460 Granby Road, Chicopee, Mass.

See you there!

Walking tour and talk on The Puritan statue - Springfield, Massachusetts

photo by J.T. Lynch

I'll be leading a walking tour in Springfield, Massachusetts this coming Saturday, September 8th from the Puritan Statue on State Street to Stearns Square, and then to Court Square to discuss Puritans and Artisans.

Sponsored by the Armoury-Quadrangle Civic Association, the walk will be about a mile in distance, and a few centuries in time. We will discuss the sculptor - - Augustus Saint-Gaudens; the foundry craftsman and sculptor who created Springfield's Civil War statue - - Chicopee's Melzar H. Mosman (about whom I'm currently writing a book); about the landscape architect for the first site of the Puritan statue on Stearns Square - Stanford White; about Chester W. Chapin, the descendant who gifted the stature of his ancestor to the city; and about Deacon Samuel Chapin himself, "The Puritan."

Join us at the Springfield Library and Museums visitor's center at 10:30 a.m. 

A Celebration of Mt. Tom - at the MAP Gallery, Easthampton, Massachusetts

Join me in Easthampton at the MAP (Mill Arts Project) Gallery this Saturday, July 14th for a celebration of Mt. Tom in art, natural history, theatre...and ice cream.

I'll be there to meet and greet with my book on theatre on the mountain - Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Join us for --

“The Mountain and Mother Nature”

A father and son exhibit of oil pastels by Ken Gagne and sculptures by Matt Gagne creating an entertaining and thought provoking experience traveling over Mt. Tom witnessing Mother Nature’s power to create, destroy and preserve the beauty of this local resource. 

Opening Reception

Saturday, July 14^th 2018

5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

@

The MAP Gallery

in

 The Eastworks Building in Easthampton

Also featuring:

·              Arcadia Sanctuary

·              Jacqueline T. Lynch – local author of  “Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain”

·              Mt. Tom Ice Cream

MAP Gallery in the Eastworks building, 116 Pleasant Street, Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Easthampton City Arts / Easthampton Cultural Council

Minuteman Statue - Mosman book - Concord and Chicopee, Mass.

Happy Independence Day! The Minuteman statue at the Concord Bridge in Minute Man National Park was made here in Chicopee under the direction of Silas Mosman, Jr. and his son, Melzar Mosman at the Ames Manufacturing Company, designed by sculptor Daniel Chester French. It commemorates the stand the local farmers took against the British Army in the first days of the Revolutionary War. Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson called it "The Shot Heard Round the World." I'm currently writing a book on the work of Melzar Mosman, and welcome input in the research process from any collector, or knowledgeable source in history, sculpture, or bronze casting. Thank you! Photo by Jacqueline T. Lynch.

Talk on my book on Mt. Tom Summer Theatre - South Hadley, Massachusetts

I will be giving on a talk on my book, Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts, at the South Hadley Public Library, Wednesday, June 27th at 6:30 p.m.  A slide presentation of several photos from the book will accompany the talk.

The book covers the history of summer theatre on Mt. Tom from1895 to 1965.  For some seventy years the playhouse created magic on the mountain above the city; from vaudeville, operetta, WPA-sponsored shows in the Great Depression, and its heyday from 1941 to 1962 with a resident repertory company called The Valley Players.  In the early 1960s, two new incarnations: The Casino-in-the-Park, and finally, the Mt. Tom Playhouse with touring packaged shows featuring well-known stars from television and movies.  Many stars of stage and screen, and many newcomers who would one day become stars, performed over several decades on Mt. Tom.  Through interviews, newspaper reviews, and nearly 250 photographs, relive their performances, and go backstage for personal experiences that were both comic and tragic, and enjoy again the excitement of opening night.