All are invited to join author Jerome Antil in the Cazenovia Public Library Community Room as he shares his latest book Mary Crane and the Pompey Hollow Book Club Séance with Sherlock.
This book continues the group’s spirited adventures. The club members—all boys except for the steadying influence of President Mary Crane—make their early-teen way through 1950s upstate New York with the help of guardian angel and former neighbor Charlie Pitts, best known as “Ole Charlie.”
In the autumn of 1953, the Book Club and friends find themselves caught up in a caper involving a former war pilot and a crafty British pickpocket, while Ole Charlie meets fellow angel and revered author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. There are barn chores and barn dances, the state fair, a traveling theater group, and a grade school teacher with some pretty impressive skills as a con artist. The tone of the novel is wholesomely earnest, peppered with a dash of old-school mischief and fun. .
To add to the narrative, Antil includes historical photos along with “Paracoustics” sound effects. These sound snippets in the form of QR codes allow smartphone users to scan and hear relevant moments of action. (Amazon.com)
Antil was born in Cortland. He moved with his family to Delphi Falls after first grade and lived there until after eleventh grade. As a result of a year his father had spent in a TB sanitarium and subsequent failed businesses, the family moved from Delphi Falls to North Syracuse and then to Milwaukee. Following high school, Antil went on to attend Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Antil’s event on May 27th is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing.