Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Deb Pines' Chautauqua series set in an edgy Cabot Cove

HALLIE EPHRON: I met Deb Pines in NYC at an event for mystery writers. She was writing crime novels, but her day job was as a headline writer for the New York Post. She wasnresponsible for THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN FREAKING headline (remember the JetBlue pilot who lost it?) In other words clever, smart, and a dab hand with words.

Now she's back, launching her 5th(!) mystery (Vengeance is Mine) in her series set in Chautauqua and featuring a former copy editor (right up Deb's alley) Mimi Goldman. Reviewers call the series "enjoyable," "twisty," "fun," and "snappy." The setting especially sets them apart.
My first question: Why Chautauqua?


DEB PINES:
Good question. First, two things it’s not. It’s not Chappaqua, New York, Bill and Hillary’s New York City suburb that it’s mistaken for the most. It’s also not a fictional creation like Agatha Christie’s sleepy British village of St. Mary Mead, Louise Penny’s Canadian town of Three Pines or “Murder, She Wrote’s” Cabot Cove, Maine.

Chautauqua is a real place. A gated, leafy lakeside community
of narrow streets—with quaint Victorian cottages, modern homes and public buildings—it is located in very far western New York state, about 400 miles north and west of New York City but only 60 miles east of Ohio.

Chautauqua, which has a tiny year-round population of several hundred, comes alive for a nine-week summer season of lectures, concerts and church services often compared to a summer camp for adults.

But the tradition-bound spot is also a little culty—drawing many of the same families, generation after generation, to the place that began in 1874 as a tent retreat for Methodist Sunday school teachers.

Nowadays Chautauqua offers TED Talk-like lectures, Tanglewood-like concerts and Burning Man-like spiritual recharging in a far less hip, more white-bread, All-American setting.

HALLIE: OK, so why murder mysteries there?

DEB:
For many of the same reasons, other writers set spooky stories and murder mysteries in idyllic small towns.

Sin intruding on an Edenic paradise feels like a greater trespass.
It’s shocking.  And, I think, it gets readers more behind my newspaper reporter sleuth Mimi Goldman’s relentless quest for justice.

My Chautauqua mysteries have a lot of small-town Us-(locals)-vs.-Them (outsiders) drama; close-knit neighbors with secrets; quiet, dark locales that, to a city girl like me, seem extra scary; less-savvy cops; beautiful settings with poetic names; and trusting inhabitants.

In VENGEANCE IS MINE, Chautauquans never dream there’s a killer lurking among them at the annual July Fourth concert when spectators pop paper bags to simulate cannon fire during the “1812 Overture.”

But in the giddy commotion a visitor is shot. An outsider is arrested.  Most Chautauquans are satisfied.  But not series hero, Mimi Goldman, a former New York Post copy editor and wary granddaughter of Polish Holocaust survivors.

Mimi, an outsider herself, shares the skepticism of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and, apparently, Miss Marple’s model, Christie’s grandmother.  Writing about her grandmother, the author once said she “always expected the worst of everyone and everything and was, with almost frightening accuracy usually proved right.”

While Miss Marple drew upon lessons about human nature learned from her small-town St. Mary Mead neighbors, Mimi often draws on lessons she learned from her past editing big-city tabloid crime stories
.

HALLIE:
Sounds like cozy with a lot of wit and a bit of an edge. I love this picture of you at Chatutauqua... perhaps surrounded by some of the characters in the books?

DEB:
It’s fun to be a mystery writer in a small place.  Readers of all ages volunteer plot suggestions and gotcha corrections. The model for a character in my first novel, SHADOW, introduced herself and asked me if Meryl Streep could play her in the movie. Another woman, the model for the Lost & Found character in VENGEANCE, said that after her recent book cameo, her husband mock-complained, “There’ll be no livin’ with her now.”

HALLIE:
This got me thinking about other kinds of seasonal venues, like Tanglewood or Jacob's Pillow or Aspen or Breadloaf or Burning Man... that are temporarily full of strangers who could easily inspire characters in a murder mystery. Has anyone been somewhere like Chautauqua and imagined it as a stage set for murder?


DEB PINES, an award-winning New Post headline writer and former reporter, is the author of three other Mimi Goldman novels and one novelette including In the Shadow of Death, a Chautauqua Bookstore top-seller, and Beside Still Waters, an IndieReader-Approved Title.

A SoulCycle indoor cycling nut, Deb also loves puns, Scrabble, cooking and hiking. A mother of two, she lives in New York City with her husband Dave and had her 15 minutes of fame this summer when “Jeopardy!” featured one of her Post headlines in a question—that stumped the contestants.
VENGEANCE IS MINE: Deb Pines’ fourth Chautauqua murder mystery starts with a bang—when Maureen Donahue, a filmmaker and speaker at the historic Chautauqua Institution, is killed at a raucous Fourth of July concert. There’s a quick arrest. But reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman, even with her own wedding to plan, is on the case. Mimi’s questions about a racist personal trainer, shadowy piano teacher, chatty chimemaster and others lead to more questions—and to Mimi unearthing an ugly secret that points her to the surprise real killer.
PRAISE FOR PAST MIMI GOLDMAN ADVENTURES:
 “REQUIRED READING”—NEW YORK POST
 “AN AGATHA CHRISTIE FOR THE TEXT-MESSAGE AGE”—INDIEREADER
 "IF YOU ENJOY AN OLD-FASHIONED WHODUNIT, IT’S PERFECT”—JAMESTOWN POST-JOURNAL
 “THE JUXTAPOSITION OF MURDER AGAINST THE TRANQUIL SETTING OF THE INSTITUTION WORKS ITS MAGIC ONCE AGAIN”—KIRKUS REVIEWS
 “A CLASSIC WHODUNIT BRIMMING WITH PAGE-TURNING TWISTS AND TURNS”—THE BOOK REPORT

64 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Deb, on your newest book . . . Chautauqua sounds like a perfect setting for your stories.

    Your description of Chautauqua reminded me of Ocean Grove, a small unincorporated area within the town of Neptune, New Jersey. Like your Chautauqua, Ocean Grove was founded as a camp meeting town whose small population swelled each summer with the arrival of the vacationers and the extensive summer camp meeting-type program planned by the Camp Meeting Association. It’s decidedly Victorian in architecture, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and known for its Great Auditorium. When I was growing up, the town was “closed” on Sunday, meaning you had to either put your car in a garage or move it to one of the parking lots outside of the town. There were no vehicles allowed on the streets on Sunday and folks would stroll down the middle of the streets. It’s a perfect setting for murder and mayhem . . . .

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    1. Ocean Grove sounds delightful. Reminds me of the camp meeting town on the Cape where they used to hold the Cape Cod Writers Center summer at Craigville Beach. Tiny Victorian cottages with gingerbread trim.

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  2. Chautauqua sounds like the perfect setting for a murder mystery! I have only ever lived in cities where you're lucky if you know your next-door neighbor's name. And I agree about the greater feeling of trespass when you hear about murder in small towns. Sadly, it's not uncommon to hear about murder in a city.

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    1. Thanks, Marla. I spend most of my time in big cities, too. So I have to adapt to Chautauqua when I visit my husband’s family there — and be friendlier and leave the door unlocked.

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    2. I imagine it's quite a change. I don't think I would ever feel comfortable leaving the door unlocked, but friendlier is something I could get used to. Here if you say "hi" to the neighbors, you're just as likely to be ignored as to get a "hi" back.

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    3. Just making eye contact is something you have to get used to doing again when you leave NYC.

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    4. Yes, it’s a change, Marla and Hallie. In Chautauqua, strangers often greet me with hellos. So I hello them back. In New York, I often keep ear buds in, music on, on my subway ride home from work to deter anyone from talking to me.

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  3. Thanks, Joan!! And thanks Jungle Reds for hosting me. Ocean Grove sounds just like my Chautauqua. They’re both remnants of a popular turn-of-the-century movement that brought culture to remote spots. Sounds like a cool place to visit — for me or maybe even Mimi.

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  4. I'm at Chautauqua right now. I've been coming for about 20 years for a week or two each summer. It is my soul's happy place. The first time I visited, I felt as if I'd come home. I'll admit, Deb, my feelings about Chautauqua have kept me away from your books -- just not comfortable with the idea of murder intruding, even in fiction, into my happy place. But now I think I will give them a try.

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    1. Nice to hear from you, Christine!! Hope I don’t spoil things for you. Maybe you want to start with my first, In The Shadow of Death. It’s set in 1997. So the crime isn’t current. All are available at the great CHQ Bookstore, my favorite. Stay in touch!!

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  5. This is fascinating Deb, welcome! My in-laws rented a house in Chautauqua many years ago and all the family trooped in over the week to visit them. It's a lovely place. I only remember hearing a lecture about a bat, which the man had in a plastic sandwich container. But what a perfect place to set a mystery! And it's perfect that you are really an outsider and can see it that way. How many books do you envision in this series?

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    1. Lucy, so great to hear from you!! Honored to be your guest today. My kids loved that bat lecturer. He’d come to the day camp and let them touch the critters. For me, it’s taken a while to get in the mystery-writing game and build a following of readers — from tiny to small to less small. So I’m really enjoying myself. And I plan to keep writing Chautauqua mysteries until I run out of ideas and/or readers. How about you and Key West?

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    2. A bat in a plastic sandwich container. Now there's an image. Alive or dead?

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    3. I believe alive but asleep since bats are noctournal.

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  6. Every summer we go to Tanglewood—summer Home of the Boston symphony orchestra—and also several big theater companies (movie and theater stars!) and museums (valuable stuff) and gorgeous homes from the days of the robber barons ( money and power )—so yes, I can see a mystery there, absolutely! Brilliant idea, Deb !

    You books sound great—and I am in awe of your headlines. Your brain must be so much fun. Tell us a few more!

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    1. Thanks for asking, Hank!! I always love talking NY Post headlines. Here are a few more by me: FLAKE NEWS (for a blizzard forecast for NYC that never happened), MEET JOHN DOUGH (for a lottery winner who wanted to remain anonymous), CROOKY MONSTER (for a costumed thief who shakes down tourists) and ROSIE THE BIGOTER.

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  7. I can't think of any vacation place I ever went to where I didn't imagine how a murder could take place! Hmm, not sure what that says about me.

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    1. That you have a dark imagination? Sounds like fun!!

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  8. I know Ohio people who vacation at Chautauqua every year. I worked in a Cape Cod restaurant kitchen during my college years and grew to know the local population and their backstories. Good people. I've set several short stories in the town.

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    1. Margaret, my in-laws are from Cleveland. That’s how I ended up in Chautauqua.

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  9. Congratulations on your new book, Deb. We live so close to Chautauqua but rarely go, shame isn't it.
    My mother and grandmother were devotees of the Chautauqua circuits in the first half of the last century, the first adult education movement that grew legs.

    This is going on my list for next summer as a place to recharge and who knows, even learn something. Besides, they have a Blue Bunny ice cream store.

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    1. Thanks, Ann!! I’m surprised by how many people I meet with some tie to the Chautauqua circuits. They were quite a phenomenon — that came and went. Most spin-off “daughter Chautauquas” disappeared by the 1920s — partly due to the Depression. But also (the history books say) the advent of cars, movies and radio made it easier to be entertained and informed closer to home.

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  10. Your series sounds like fun, Deb! I just bought the first one. :)

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    1. Thanks so much, Cathy!! I hope you enjoy it and stay in touch with me at Chautauquamystery@gmail.com.

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  11. I've been to Chautauqua twice; what a perfect setting for a murder! It's such a unique, magical place that seems to be of its own time. Deb, do you find you need to be there to write or can you be equally inspired in NYC?

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    1. Thanks, Ingrid. I go to Chautauqua to gather info, fact-check, promote, teach and relax some. But I do most of my writing in NYC. Sometimes I regret not having seen something during Chautauqua’s nine-week season. But then I have to make do with photos.

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  12. Deb, we have our own version of Chautauqua just west of Cleveland on the Marblehead Peninsula--it's called Lakeside and in my youth I helped stage summer entertainment in their great Hoover Auditorium. The community is still going strong. Your series sounds fun and inspired--will have to get my hands on your first!

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    1. Flora, I’d heard of your Chautauqua (from my in-laws and an Ohio friend) and the one in Colorado. But people keep telling me about others. I think all of the survivors are part of a loose-knit support network. It would be fun for me to visit them — the way baseball fans tour stadiums.

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  13. Why have I not heard of this series! It sounds fabulous, Deb. But do you set books there during the off season (that is, most of the rest of the year)? I also write small town mysteries, but my most recent release takes place during a huge bluegrass festival that comes to town - so plenty of room for fresh blood...so to speak. ;^) Off to order your books.

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    1. Thanks, Edith. I’ll check you out, too. I’ve never set a book in the off-season. But one day I will.

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  14. There is a place near Chautauqua, in New York, called Lily Dale, which is a community of psychics. It too rose from 19th century roots of experimentation and spiritual awakening. I once spent a week there, in a writing workshop. It would be a fabulous venue for a mystery because there is so much kind of odd stuff inherent in the town. Lots of crystals and spiritualism and palm reading! Lily Dale also has a summer curriculum and many devoted students, tourists, and seekers.

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    1. Denise Ann, what an experience that must have been! Talk about inspiring plot ideas!

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    2. Denise Ann, maybe you have psychic powers, too!! I’ve thought of including Lily Dale in my next mystery. It was recently featured in the New York Times. I used to go there years ago just for an afternoon outing.

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    3. Have you read Wendy Corsi Staub's books? She has a series set in Lily Dale, but I had no idea it was a real place.

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    4. Marla, I haven’t. But I’ll definitely check out those books. Thanks for telling me.

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  15. Sounds like a very fun location. I'm not familiar with this series, but I will have to look for it.

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  16. Denise, my husband went to Lilydale for a weekend when we lived in Ohio. I think he was interested in past lives. Anyway he went with someone but did not invite me along. I’ve forgotten why. I’ll have to interrogate him about that. I do not have any Chattaqua type experiences. Maybe not in Texas? Closest thing I can think of are tent revivals my mother got dragged to when she was a kid.

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    1. Pat, I see a listing online for a Chautauqua organization in Round Rock, Texas. Lily Dale is definitely a cool spot. Write me if your husband has cool memories of it at Chautauquamystery@gmail.com.

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  17. Deb, I've always wanted to go to Chautauqua, and your series sounds so much fun that I have to give it a try. And I LOVE the photo of the house. Are they all like that? In which case, I'd come for architecture as well as the education. As I am also in Texas, I'm going to check out the suggestion you gave Pat. The closest place I could think of with a Chautauqua type atmosphere is Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Beautiful mountain setting in the Ozarks, Victorian cottages, a summer population that shrinks in the off-season, and a good bit of hippy weirdness.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words. I’m a huge fan of yours, Deborah!! The house is supposedly the most-photographed house in Chautauqua. There are other beauties. But that’s the queen!!

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    2. Didn't there used to be a Chautaqua village--a place where tours from the mother ship in New York would go every summer to take education to the hinterlands--down around Waco somewhere?

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  18. One of the things I love about Chautauqua is the architecture. So many beautiful Victorian cottages. And the gardens are fabulous.

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    1. I love the flowers and architecture, too. Especially Fowler Hall.

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  19. Oh, this place looks just lovely and a perfect setting for murder :) Congrats on the release of your book, Deb!

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    1. Jenn, thanks!! What a nice group shows up on this blog!!

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  20. Truly, there's no place better for murder than a small upstate New York town. :-)

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    1. That's the truth, Julia! As one from a small upstate NY town knows. there are a couple of cases I am aware of that could possibly be murder but there were no charges. A man and his wife were overlooking some falls, it had been rainy and the rocks were wet. She slipped and went over. No witnesses. No proof of anything.

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    2. Wasn't there some sort of famous "oops, she fell out of the canoe" case up in the Catskills about 100 years ago?

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    3. Julia, you are the expert!! Nice to hear from you.

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  21. Sigh . . . for a few months there was some serious talk about taking our band to perform at Chatauqua next summer or the summer after that. I figured out where we could fly into, and scouted out bus companies and hotels large enough to accommodate us all. I even fantasized about putting the band back on the plane home, then taking a week to sample the joys of upstate New York for myself. Alas, it looks like the stars are not going to align on that front. But we could have more than done justice to the 1812 Overture. Did you know there are sixteen individual cannon shots written into the score? Lots of opportunities for murder!

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    1. Gigi, I didn’t know there were 16 cannon shots in the score. I think somewhere real cannons accompany an orchestra. In Chautauqua, it’s popping paper bags.

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  22. Welcome, Deb! I'm from Buffalo and a friend of mine from college is currently president of the Chatauqua Institute. It's a lovely area, but aren't those cozy places sometimes the best settings for mysteries?

    Mary/Liz

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    1. Mary, nice to hear from you!! Is your friend Michael Hill? He’s off to a great start there.

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    2. Okay, I've tried to answer this three times. Yes, Michael and I went to St. Bonaventure University together. If you see him, tell him I said hi!

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  23. Congrats on your new release! My cousin lives in a small town in AZ. In the winter the population greatly increases due to all the vendors, RVers, & others who come for the 2 month long gem show. It would be a perfect setting for a murder.

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  24. Chautauqua sounds like such a great place both to visit and to read about in a mystery series. Only 60 miles from Ohio? I'm delighted to learn of your series here, Deb, and I'll be putting it on my list of series I want to read.

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    1. Thanks, Kathy!! Hope you try it and stay in touch with me at Chautauquamystery@gmail.com.

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  25. Oh Deb, these books look great.

    A friend of mine has a cottage at Point Chautauqua, across the lake (we can see the Bell Tower). It's an equally charming old settlement (without the entertainment and visitors) where I love to visit and sit on the verandah and relax with a bottle of Prosecco. Heavenly.

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    1. Thanks, Susan. I hope you give them a try and stay in touch!!

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  26. Hi Deb--I love the way you weave the history, architecture and "feel" of Chautauqua into your mysteries. I noticed another reader compared the place to Ocean Grove, NJ. I've been to Ocean Grove, never Chautauqua, but it does bring that similar city to mind. So glad you are continuing with the series. Congratulations on your new book. Can't wait to read it.

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    1. Thanks, as always, for your support!! Love seeing you here. Looking forward to your next book, too!!

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