Townsend Earth Day

Had a great day signing and selling books at the Townsend Earth Day event. (Happy the rain stopped!)

Set up my booth among the many local vendors of all different offerings.

Good crowd and many activities, from gymnastics, to dance, to cheerleaders and a magic show!

The dancers entertaining the folks

Here's Sean Fitzgerald, a local businessman (need any tropical fish supplies?). He's got great taste in books, as shown here! 

Good time, and even got a visit from author Adrian Vaslyn and family. 

Latest News

Lots of happenings this month and next.

I'll be on a Sisters in Crime Mystery Making panel at the Brockton Public Library on Monday night, April 22, at 7. With fellow mystery authors Nicole Asselin, Liz Mugavero, and Joanna Schauffhausen.

I'll be selling and signing books at the Townsend Earth Day event on Saturday, April 20th, from 10-3.

My guest for the Tewksbury Writer's Night Out will be author Kurt Springs, on Tuesday, April 30th.

 

Local Murders Solved

We had our monthly meeting of the Mystery Writers of America, and our special guest was journalist/author Susan Clare Zalkind. 

She is shown here second from left in the front. 

Next on her left is Mo Walsh, with Dave Zeltserman on the end. Back row L to R is Tom Lyons, JM Taylor, and Lorenzo Petruzziello, who has a new book out and is touring to promote it. 

Susan's book, The Waltham Murders, is her years-long journey to solve a brutal triple murder that also had dark connections to the Boston Marathon bombing. It is a chilling account of events of the murder and the fact that law enforcement did little to solve the crimes. Using her investigative journalistic background, she was able to piece facts together to uncover the murderers. 

Sometimes learning more about real-life crime can be unsettling, but she was determined to get at the truth. She also created, wrote and produced the three-part docu-series The Murders Before The Marathon. The series was inspired by her book proposal, began streaming in the US on Hulu in September 2022, and is available on streaming platforms around the world. 

Two Big Events

Well, it was a busy weekend, with two good writing events.

First was the author brunch as part of the Exeter, NH Literary Festival.

We met at the Sea Dog Brewery in Exter and had a fun time with a huge crowd.

Some nice author friends:
L to R- Zakariah Johnson, Bonnar Spring, Matt Cost, Avram Lavinsky, Kate Flora

 

Each author had to go to the mic and tell two truths and one lie, while the audience competed to tell which was which. 

Here's Kate, who, as it turns out, has never yet researched being locked in the trunk of a car. 

So while the folks figured things out, we chatted about our work.

Avram with Toby Ball

And then the winning team was announced, with prizes being a slew of books from the authors.

Lara Bricker, center, was organizer of the event- big thanks! 

No time to rest- next day was the Sisters in Crime Mystery panel at the Chelmsford Library. Attendees got to suggest character names, murder motives, occupations, murder weapons, and setting, which the panel then put together to plot a mystery novel on the spot.

Great way to show some of our process in how we write.

Panel (L to R):

Sharon Daynard, Kim Herdman Shapiro (standing), J.A. (Judith) McIntosh, and Kate Flora again (yes, she is everywhere!)

The attendees got into it, and one woman said how she never got how we can put all that together! 

Sometimes it's fun to watch the sausage being made...

And here are the authors with books.

Thanks to the library for arranging this fun event.