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Today, Hartford Books Examiner talks mystery and mayhem with Roberta Isleib.
A resident of Madison, Isleib has just written a short story (see below) featuring local places and personalities for the town’s Mystery Movie Night, to be held on Thursday, April 29th. The event will commence at 5:30 p.m. at the Madison Arts Cinema, where ticketholders will pick up a list of participating downtown merchants. These stores will offer light food and drink in addition to providing clues that participants will need to solve the crime. The event will culminate with a screening of The Thomas Crown Affair at 8 p.m. at the Art Cinema, where the mystery will be revealed. (More information can be found here.)
General Admission tickets are $35 per person. Patron tickets are $50 per person and include a private event at Susan Powell Fine Arts from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Tickets can be reserved by calling Maureen Lopez at 203-245-9682 or email at mlopes@snet.net. Tickets will also be available at the cinema on the night of the event. All proceeds will benefit Madison Cares, a not-for-profit organization that supports local builds in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven.
Roberta Isleib is the author of two mystery series. The first, the Golf Lover’s Mysteries (launched in 2002), features neurotic golfer Cassie Burdette. More recently, she penned three titles in the Advice Column Mysteries, set in and around Madison and Guilford. These books introduced readers to Dr. Rebecca Butterman, a psychologist/advice columnist with a knack for stumbling upon bloodied and beaten bodies. A golf enthusiast with thirteen years experience working as a clinical psychologist, Isleib writes what she knows.
Now, Roberta clues us in on this year’s mystery…
1) Your short story, The Madison Mystery, makes mention of some true-to-life local politics. Did those issues lend themselves to the story naturally or was it a conscious decision to include them? What kind of dialogue do you hope to inspire?
When I'm beginning the story, I think about issues that seem to be prominent for the town, as played out in the local newspapers and the town politics. Clearly, a lot of energy has been devoted to how we as a town deem it best to spend our tax revenues--purchasing the airport property? building a new senior center and ambulance facility? expanding the Scranton Library? revamping the Academy School building? We are torn between keeping our tax burden down and doing what's best for the town, both now and in the future. There are many conflicting opinions on these questions--and conflict is very good for a mystery! (I sit on the library board and certainly do have a stake in the library expansion--so it was fun and cathartic to include that issue in the story!)
2) In last year's story, the crime was murder. This year, a historical document has gone missing from the library. Do you have a preference between the two? Does your creative process differ depending on the crime?
I'm sure you know we had a murder occur in Madison this year. Certainly neither Madison Cares nor I wished to make light of that horrible tragedy, so we agreed that the story should focus on something other than murder. For a mystery writer, that is definitely a bigger challenge. This question had to be answered: How can I raise the stakes so a normal, reasonable Madison citizen behaves in a way that is not normal?
3) How challenging is it to create clues and red herrings that are fair to the reader while also obscure enough to make the solution both satisfactory and surprising? Is this easier or harder to do with a short story?
Wow this is definitely a challenge! This year I was asked to provide eighteen clues! The good news: that meant that 18 downtown merchants wanted to contribute to the event. The bad news: I had to think of all those clues. To be completely honest, I must admit I got a little silly. Hopefully, the suspects and detectives will all take the story in good fun and not hold me to an impossible standard!
4) All this sleuthing is for a good cause. Can you tell us how you became involved with Madison Cares and what the organization means to you?
Madison Cares is the local arm of Habitat for Humanity, which my husband and I have supported for many years. I'm delighted to be able to make this unusual contribution to the fundraiser.
5) Rumor has it that you will not be attending Madison Mystery night this year. Is this merely a clever way to avoid suspicion or have you found some equally compelling commitment to occupy your time?
I'm so disappointed about missing the big night! However, I was already scheduled to give the award for the best mystery novel of 2009 on behalf of Mystery Writers of America. Last year, I served as the chair for this Edgar committee, and we sorted through 500 books to find the best of the best. So I couldn't miss the chance to make the presentation. I hope many of your readers will attend the event. I'm so thankful to the local folks who've allowed me to use their names and sully their reputations for this great cause!
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THE MADISON MYSTERY by Roberta Isleib
On the morning Police Chief Jack Drumm called about the document missing from the Scranton Library, First Selectman Fillmore McPherson had woken with a heavy feeling in his chest.
“Probably the second helping of chocolate cake you had last night,” said his wife Joan.
But Fillmore recognized the weight as a sense of foreboding. He dressed quickly and settled into the passenger seat of the police car once the chief arrived. Since the fall, Chief Drumm had been making solid inroads in improving the police department. The town, however, had not shown its best side to him. Fillmore had heard people say that policemen naturally expect the worst from the citizens they pledge to serve and protect. So far, Chief Drumm might be forgiven for thinking his new town had lived up to that pessimism. But as the town’s First Selectman, Fillmore felt responsible for countering this gloom with a sense of confidence and optimism. And that included interpreting the town’s history and inhabitants to the new chief.
“I couldn’t quite make out what was missing,” the chief told him as they drove from the town campus to Route One, passing the Tidewater Inn, the Audubon Shop, and the Scranton Seahorse Inn. “The librarian was somewhat hysterical. You know these people well. I thought maybe you’d get some sense out of her more quickly than I could. Sandy Short?”
“Sandy Long,” Fillmore corrected him. “She’s headed our library for many years—totally dedicated to the institution and the town.”
The chief parked the car behind the post office and the men crossed the street to the library. “This is the closest place to park?” asked the chief, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“The referendum to improve the library came up just as the recession hit,” Fillmore explained as they trooped downstairs to the librarian’s office. “Folks dug in their heels.”
“Good morning,” said the chief, squeezing Sandy Long’s hand forcefully. “You reported a theft?” He glanced around the office, which was piled with file folders and books waiting to be processed. “Appears as though the perpetrator tossed the place while he was searching.”
“They’re terribly pinched for space,” Fillmore whispered. “It always looks like this.”
Librarian Long explained that she had instructed her staff to undertake spring cleaning during slow times at the circulation desk. Last night, at the bottom of a cupboard that no one had tackled in years—maybe decades—a late-working staff member, Chris Penders, found what appeared to be a very old document, yellowed and crumbling. Rather than risk destroying an historical artifact by moving it, he locked the drawer and closed up the library for the night. Once home, he had emailed Sandy and the other librarians to alert them about his discovery.
“When I arrived this morning,” Sandy said, “a figure dressed in dark clothing darted out the side door of the building. The cupboard door was broken and the document was gone.”
“Did you tell anyone else about the discovery?” asked the chief.
Librarian Long looked worried. “The staff knew, of course—because of the email. And the board of directors—I always keep them informed. But certainly no one connected with the library would be involved with a theft!”
The chief then asked to interview Chris Penders. “See if you can sketch out what you remember of the document,” he told Penders. “Words, pictures, anything that comes to mind.”
When Chris had finished scribbling, the chief took the first selectman with him to canvas the merchants on Main Street. Follow the clues (some of them are red herrings!) to discover what was stolen from the library, by whom, and why….
(THE MADISON MYSTERY is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Opinions expressed are the author’s alone and should not be attributed to Madison Cares.)
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With deep appreciation to Roberta Isleib for sharing her time and talent…
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A related article from Hartford Books Examiner:
The Madison Murder: On the case with Roberta Isleib...
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