Books on New England history for your holiday shopping!

Here is a selection of my books that tell stories of New England history.  Please consider them when shopping for your book lover/history fan!

BESIDE THE STILL WATERS - a novel on the "lost towns" of the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts.  Four towns…dismantled as an entire valley is prepared to be flooded. The past is being wiped clean, the present threatens, the future belongs to the fearless.

Three generations weave a tapestry of isolation and stubborn independence, battling the forces of nature, the Commonwealth, and each other in this family saga. A courageous girl becomes the guardian of her family’s heritage, and ultimately, the one to determine what happens next.

Beside the Still Waters is based on actual events that displaced four entire towns in central Massachusetts in the 1920s and 1930s for the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir. Families are torn apart, divided between those who protest the construction, those who give up and leave while they can, and those who help to build the dam that will flood the towns.

Return to the Swift River Valley, its charm and its pain, its mysteries and its lessons—to a community, a family, and a young woman in a race against time.

A TRAGIC TOAST TO CHRISTMAS - The Infamous 1919 Wood Alcohol Deaths in Chicopee, Massachusetts.  Non-fiction.  More than 100 people died of a companionable drink in several towns and cities in New England on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1919, nearly half of them in the city of Chicopee, Massachusetts. How this came to happen, and even how it came to be forgotten are both intriguing aspects to the tragedy.

The story of the grisly incident of unknowingly ingesting poisonous wood alcohol and how it played out in one New England city might stand as a microcosm of the conflict created between the legal production and sale of alcohol, those who would prohibit it, and those who would do anything to profit from it, not only in the years up to 1919, but in the tumultuous decade that followed.

COMEDY AND TRAGEDY ON THE MOUNTAIN - 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts.  Non-fiction.  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.

THE AMES MANUFACTURING COMPANY OF CHICOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War.  Non-fiction.  The three articles that comprise this book tell different stories about the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, which played an important role as an arms manufacturer during the American Civil War.  Together, they make up a kind of composite of the Northern Civil War experience in the small, but dynamic, universe of a factory town.  We meet Nathan P. Ames and James T. Ames, brothers who founded the firm, the younger burdened with the responsibility after the tragic and grisly death of the older.

We meet two workers in the factory, one of whom, Charles Tracy, was a machinist who left his position to join the army, and came home without a leg—and was awarded the Medal of Honor.  He was cared for by Clara Barton--and comforted by President Abraham Lincoln on a visit to his hospital ward. The other man, Melzar Mosman, just a boy of nineteen, worked in the foundry department forging canon.  He also left to join the army, but after the war would become celebrated for forging bronze statuary, including a number of Civil War monuments.

We meet the townspeople of Chicopee, the minister who hid slaves on the local Underground Railroad, and the high school principal, who purchased a military substitute to fight in his place.  Later, he would become Governor of Massachusetts and the successful defense lawyer of the infamous Lizzie Borden.

 

And for mystery buffs, the Double V Mysteries Series set in New England in the late 1940s through the early 1950s (so far).

CADMIUM YELLOW, BLOOD RED - an heiress and an ex-con team up to solve a murder and discover much more.  Hartford, Connecticut, spring 1949.

SPEAK OUT BEFORE YOU DIE - the couple reunite to solve a mystery during a New Year's Eve house party in Hartford, 1949.

DISMOUNT AND MURDER - the now dynamic duo are involved in a scandal at a horse show in Litchfield, Connecticut, and Bar Harbor, Maine, summer 1950.

WHITEWASH IN THE BERKSHIRES - kidnapping and communist witch hunts lead to a discovery of murder in western Massachusetts, winter 1951.

MURDER AT THE SUMMER THEATER - a cast member goes missing at a playhouse on the Connecticut shore, summer 1951.

THE IRON LUNG MYSTERY - they are called to the Boston area to solve two mysterious deaths and find a family saga of treachery and treason,  summer 1951.

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT KILLED - our sleuthing duo is brought to Chicopee, Massachusetts to investigate an old crime of embezzlement and scramble to prevent a murder. Christmas 1951.

All these books are available in eBook or print and can be found online at Barnes & Noble, Amazon,  Apple, and many other online shops.

Bookshop.org is "An online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores and gives back to the book community."  A portion of your online purchase will be donated to a fund supporting independent booksellers, and you can even request that the portion donated from your purchase will go to a specific, favorite local bookstore.  They also have a database on their site that will help you to find local independent bookstores in your area.

I'm very pleased to note that my print books are available from my page here at Bookshop.org 

For eBooks, please see my Shopify store page here.

For another option to purchase my print books, please see my Walmart page.

For more information and links to purchase, please visit my website:  JacquelineTLynch.com.

Thank you!

Jessica Fletcher - Who Killed Candlepin Bowling?

 

It's no mystery, NOBODY killed candlepin bowling.  It is still alive in New England, even if more and more bowling alleys offer only ten-pin lanes ("big balls") like an encroaching weed devastating a native species.  But you'd never know that if you saw the "Murder By Twos" episode of the beloved series Murder She Wrote.

I believe I am second to none in Jessica Fletcher or Dame Angela Lansbury fandom, and hardly miss an opportunity to watch a re-run, so please take this not as a rant, but merely as an observation by a concerned party.  SHE AND SETH WENT TO A BOWLING ALLEY IN CABOT COVE AND IT WAS TEN-PIN!!!!!

I almost choked on my New England clam chowder.  This is sacrilege.  Please see this previous post on candlepin bowling.  And remember, in New England, if it ain't candlepin, it ain't bowling.

While I understand the series was shot in California, one wonders why a New England consultant was not put on staff.  I am willing to overlook occasionally dubious "Maine accents" or even the absence of any kind of New England drawl when the episodes are set in the fictional Cabot Cove, Maine.  I am willing to overlook her nephew Grady constantly calling her "ant" Jess, instead of the appropriate "awwnt" Jess, though it has the same effect as fingernails on a chalkboard.  

I even kept my temper when Jessica once referred to "pop bottles."  Good lord.  "Pop?"  Really?

I am willing to overlook a lot of things, but not ten-pin bowling in this tiny hamlet in Down East Maine.  

"Murder by Twos" is episode 9, season 11 of the program, originally broadcast November 27, 1994.  There's nothing wrong with the story.  A murder happens.  Two of them, actually, but I guess that's a plot spoiler so I won't continue.  

Though Jessica traveled all over the world, stepping over corpses at every turn, I confess, I enjoy the episodes set in Cabot Cove the most.  I just have to overlook a few regional errors.  But I draw the foul line at not having a candlepin bowling alley in town.

For those who are curious, or, like Jessica, need proof, I herewith include this link for places to go candlepin bowling in Maine.  

Above image courtesy of the Encylopaedia Britannica,GNU Free Documentation License.

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

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, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

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

HAPPY HALLOWEEN - SEE MUGS, SHIRTS, AND MUCH MORE HERE!!!

Display of old memories at the Big E - West Springfield, Mass.

The annual Eastern States Exposition, or Big E, in West Springfield, Massachusetts, is upon us again, and the sense of nostalgia it brings for those who have gone to the fair since childhood seems to be one of the biggest draws.

One display I particularly liked reflects nostalgia not only for the years I remember from childhood, but going back much, much farther.  It's a wonder the Exposition hasn't done this long ago, and I hope it will continue to enlarge in future years.

We see past events, special celebrities, and a material from the old Storrowton tent theater, which operated for only a couple of decades from the late 1950s to the 1970s.

There's still time to catch it at this year's fair, which concludes this weekend.  

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

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, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Farewell to Barbara Bernard - Journalist, Theatre fan, and Friend to All - Holyoke, Massachusetts

Barbara Bernard, photo by Kathleen M. Lynch

The recent passing of Barbara Bernard (1927-2024), marks a milestone in western Massachusetts history, for most of us who live in this part of New England may find it difficult to imagine a world without her.

Originally hailing from North Adams in the northwest corner of the state, she attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley in the 1940s, and moved to Holyoke in 1950 with her husband, businessman George J. Bernard (who passed in 1998).  She hosted radio programs, and a long-time television show for the former WHYN-TV.  Three of the last of her several decades of work in the media included writing a column for the Springfield Republican newspaper.  (I think my favorite column of hers is when she wrote about being a college student and traveling by train with some friends -- back in the day when a sleeper car had curtained berths rather than separate rooms -- and she climbed into the wrong one. Remembering it still makes me laugh.)

Among her many activities included serving on several community and business boards, and she was honored with numerous awards in the course of her career, most recently in June she was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Among her passions was a love of theatre, and she supported many local theaters, and had interviewed a number of actors and actresses on her television program -- which prompted me to interview her as a source for my book, Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain - 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Barbara (she refused my attempts to call her "Mrs. Bernard") was gracious, informative, and quite funny.  Her love for one particular group that performed on the mountain -- The Valley Players, and her friendship with several people associated with that troupe, moved her to loan them her clothes for costumes, her furniture for the sets -- and on one memorable occasion, herself.  She took a small part in the musical comedy, The Boy Friend in 1961.  There's a photo of her with the cast in my book, and another photo of her on the set of her TV show interviewing visiting actor Van Johnson.

This enthusiasm illustrates a lovely zest for life and a sense of adventure.  Perhaps these were secrets to her longevity.

Moreover, her generosity extended to me: she wrote the foreword to the book, most of which I will reprint below.

When it came time to launch the book at a program at the Holyoke Public Library, she not only attended but also spoke at the event.  Her kindness knew no bounds.

I was happy to chat with her at a few other social functions over the years, but I was a very minor cast member in the cast of thousands in her life, and I hope someday someone who knew her really well will write her story.  I wish she had written it herself, but I think perhaps she was far more interested in other people.  

Here then is a part of the foreword she wrote to Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain:

Jacqueline T. Lynch & Barbara Bernard, 

photo by Kathleen M. Lynch

When Jacqueline Lynch interviewed me in 2015 about my memories of Holyoke’s Valley Players, I told her “the Valley Players was such a vital part of my life I died a little when it finally closed.”  That may have sounded a little dramatic but I really did lose something so special.

My enjoyment of live performances began as a child in North Adams with parents, aunts and uncles, all theatre and concert enthusiasts.  Not only did I get to see Broadway shows at an age where I probably didn’t understand what was going on in the cabin in Tobacco Road, but live theatre was in full swing in nearby Pittsfield and Stockbridge with the Berkshire Theatre Group, the Colonial Theater and Fitzpatrick Main Stage.  As a college student at Mount Holyoke, I had heard in nearby Holyoke, an industrial city much like my hometown, there was a summer theater called The Valley Players.  I was at home working during summers so during those years I never saw a production there.

Knowing there was The Valley Players in Holyoke probably saved my life in 1950.  There I go being dramatic again, but my husband and I, married in 1948 after my college graduation, lived in a suburb of Pittsfield where we both worked and we were in an area where live performances prevailed.  I still recall seeing Mady Christians in a play and Koussevitzky conducting at Tanglewood.  Our life was absolutely perfect and when we bought a business which required us to move to Holyoke, the one bright spot was remembering there was a great summer theater, The Valley Players. 

We began to go to the plays our first summer and never once missed a performance.  In a short time my Pittsfield career in radio brought me into the same one in the Paper City and eventually into television.  At one time or another all the actors and actresses, as well as Jean and Carlton Guild, the founders of The Valley Players, were guests on my programs.  Interviews were delightful and because all of the actors lived in various rented rooms in private homes in Holyoke they appreciated visiting with us in our air conditioned house, with our little girls and our dog giving them a sense of home away from home.

Our wardrobes were available to the players to borrow if they needed specific outfits for specific parts, and when Ruby Holbrook, then the wife of Hal, was pregnant she borrowed my maternity clothes.  Many summer players brought fame to this area perhaps, with Hal Holbrook who created Mark Twain Tonight!  There was not a member of the audience that opening who did not acknowledge that we had seen something which would take the world of theatre by storm.  Hal reprised the role many times through the years, updating it a little, and once again bringing a full audience to its feet with applause when he returned to Holyoke to present it as a fundraiser for the efforts to bring live theatre back to Holyoke with the Victory Theater project.

Fortunately, our area abounds in excellent all-season live theatre, but for those who love it so, there is never enough.  Of course as a resident of Holyoke I feel a city is that much richer if it has its own live summer theatre and The Valley Players truly made Holyoke a more exciting city.  There are so many memories, such as Mountain Park always saving its fireworks display to coincide with intermission of the plays, and the refreshment stand serving crispy clear-cold “birch beer,” and never a play produced to which one would feel uncomfortable bringing one’s grandmother, teenage child, or minister.

The Valley Players was a unique part of Holyoke history and certainly in my life, which makes being elderly not as unpleasant as it would have been without seventy years of remarkable summer theatre.

Barbara was 97 years old.  Requiescat in pace.

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

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, 

A Tragic Toast to Christmas -- The Infamous Wood Alcohol Deaths of 1919 in Chicopee, Mass.; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  

TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Amherst Railway Society annual Railroad Hobby Show

photo by J.T. Lynch

This coming weekend, Saturday, January 27th and Sunday, January 28th, the annual Railroad Hobby Show hosted by the Amherst Railway Society comes to the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts.  

It is the largest model railroad trade show in the United States, and a very enjoyable event not only for model railroad enthusiasts, but for anyone with a nostalgic bent of mind.  There's four buildings of train layouts, miniature worlds of exquisite detail.  Come have a look.

 

Learn more about the show here.

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

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 Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Reminder - Zoom talk on CHRISTMAS IN CLASSIC FILMS one week away!

 

Next week...A Zoom discussion on CHRISTMAS IN CLASSIC FILMS! My Zoom presentation on my book Christmas in Classic Films is one week away! 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."   Mr. St. George is an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer presenting programs across the U.S.A. specializing in Old Hollywood, and Motion Picture & Television history.  St. George Living History Productions has presented Zoom programs to thousands of viewers worldwide. Mr. St. George initiated Virtual Road Trips to Celebrity Museums and so far, those Zoom Road Trips have taken his audience to: The Will Rogers Museum, The Red Skelton Museum, The John Wayne Museum, The P.T. Barnum Museum, The Mary Pickford Exhibition, The Lizzie Borden Museum, The Rosemary Clooney Museum, The It's a Wonderful Life Museum, The Clark Gable Museum, The Phil Silvers Museum, The Laurel and Hardy Museum, The Buffalo Bill Cody Center, The Ginger Rogers Museum, James Dean Museum, The Patti Page Exhibition, Edward Hopper Museum, The Yogi Berra, The Donna Reed Museum, and much more. 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: November 20, 2023, 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82238652855?pwd=dWV4OGdERWIzQy9KKzROY0wvSWRiZz09 Meeting ID: 822 3865 2855 Passcode: 731986 One tap mobile +19294362866,,82238652855#,,,,*731986# US (New York) +16469313860,,82238652855#,,,,*731986# US Dial by your location • +1 929 436 2866 US (New York) • +1 646 931 3860 US • +1 305 224 1968 US • +1 309 205 3325 US • +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) • +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) • +1 386 347 5053 US • +1 507 473 4847 US • +1 564 217 2000 US • +1 669 444 9171 US • +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) • +1 689 278 1000 US • +1 719 359 4580 US • +1 253 205 0468 US • +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) • +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) • +1 360 209 5623 US Meeting ID: 822 3865 2855 Passcode: 731986 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/khK5PZZgT  ****************** 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
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82238652855?pwd=dWV4OGdERWIzQy9KKzROY0wvSWRiZz09


Meeting ID: 822 3865 2855
Passcode: 731986

One tap mobile
+19294362866,,82238652855#,,,,*731986# US (New York)
+16469313860,,82238652855#,,,,*731986# US

Dial by your location
• +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
• +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
• +1 360 209 5623 US


Meeting ID: 822 3865 2855
Passcode: 731986

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/khK5PZZgT 

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

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.

Upcoming talk on Mt. Tom Playhouse - Holyoke, Massachusetts

I'll be giving on a talk on my book, Comedy and Tragedy on theMountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts, at the South Hadley Senior Center, 45 Dayton Street, South Hadley, Mass., next Tuesday, February 7, 2023, at 5:30 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 from 1895 to 1965.  Many stars of stage and screen, and many newcomers who would one day become stars, performed over several decades on Mt. Tom.

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

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.

Christmas in Classic Films - new book

 

Announcing my newest book - CHRISTMAS IN CLASSIC FILMS.  Purchase your copy today for the holidays from Amazon in either eBook or print here.

Christmas turns everyone who celebrates it into a classic film fan—at least for that special season.

The average person, unlike devoted classic film fans, may not recognize images of Clark Gable or know who James Wong Howe was, or be able to tell you why 1939 was such a spectacular year for films.  But when yuletide rolls around, they rejoice with Miracle on 34^th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, and of course, White Christmas.

We find a vast treasure of Christmas scenes in films that were never meant to be “Christmas movies” but which are now part of the holiday canon, and this collection of essays spotlighting Christmas in classic films brings you all the warmth and memories that have become as dear a custom as decorating your home and holiday baking.  You may even have one of these movies on in the background when you’re writing out your Christmas cards.

Unwrap this package and relive the moments and discover Christmas nostalgia anew, from Cary Grant’s mysterious angel in The Bishop’s Wife to poor Ralphie pining for a Red Ryder BB-gun in A Christmas Story. 

There’s lots more here waiting for you under the tree.

A night at the drive-in movie: scenes from THE IRON LUNG MYSTERY

Today, another look at an episode in my forthcoming book The Iron Lung Mystery, which is Number 6 in my Double V Mysteries series. 

Above we have a shot of the entrance to the Neponset Drive-in movie theater in Dorchester, Massachusetts.  Elmer and Juliet move away from the scene of the crime for an evening to take a young child for her first experience at a drive-in movie.  (And, as with so many events in this series, it's also Elmer's first experience.  Having lived a hardscrabble boyhood during the Great Depression, and then spending several years as a young adult in prison, Elmer's missed out on a lot.  Juliet is only too happy to be his guide.)  

Also along for the ride this evening is the attorney who hired the duo to ferret out the mystery in this case, and he happens to be Elmer's old friend from boyhood days.  We've got one foot in the past and one foot in the unsettling present in this novel -- and the future?  Well, we know what lay ahead in pop culture in the 1950s, but we have to let Elmer and Juliet see for themselves and cope as best they can.  But the little girl enjoying the cartoon in the front seat (back in the day you got two movies and a couple cartoons for your ticket)?  Her future is in Juliet's and Elmer's hands.

The Neponset Drive-in was on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, right along the Neponset River on the site of a former dump.  It opened in September 1950 and was popular for years, just about a full year before our characters' visit there in August 1951, but as with many drive-ins in the colder climates, fell out of use and in disrepair by the 1970s and 1980s.  It is long since gone, now the site of Pope John Paul II Park.

Perhaps you have happy memories of going to the drive-in in younger days.  I'd love to hear them.

More on The Iron Lung Mystery in weeks to come, and I'll let you know when you can pre-order.

The photo above is from the Dorchester history website: Dorchester Atheneum 2