The Honeymoon Homicides: A Provincetown Mystery
(Sydney Riley Series)
by Jeannette de Beauvoir
It is my pleasure to welcome Jeannette de Beauvoir
to Escape With Dollycas today!
“Mysterious” Travel & Story Archaeology
It’s all about tourism, really.
The protagonist in one of my mystery series, Martine LeDuc, is the PR director for the city of Montréal, and so obviously tourism is one of her concerns. The protagonist of my current series, Sydney Riley, is a wedding and events planner at a high-end inn in the resort village of Provincetown, on Cape Cod, so she’s also engaged with tourists.
And honestly, I’d never have created either of them in the first place if it hadn’t been for my own odd approach to tourism.
I’ve done a fair bit of academic work in history that tends to be—well, academic—in the sense that I don’t use it as a career, though that doesn’t mean it’s not still a passion. When I was five years old I announced my intention of becoming an archaeologist—and in a way that’s how I’ve ended up.
When I travel, I want to know the stories of the places I visit; and to understand the current stories, you have to first hear the past ones. Places you explore aren’t necessarily just about what’s there now, but what was there once upon a time. I’m a story archaeologist. So, like other travelers, I spend time before I leave researching my destination. Who lived there? What happened there? What are their stories?
Because—and trust me on this—the stories invariably lead to the mysteries.
Dig deeply into any history and you’ll find mysteries. This is true for people, for families, for communities, for countries. In every history, whether it’s personal or communal, there’s something odd, or eccentric, or even difficult to understand and share. That’s how I discovered the background for Asylum, the first in the Martine LeDuc series, by coming across a list of children buried in a forgotten graveyard.
My current series (The Honeymoon Homicides, the tenth book, is just out this spring) inspired the curator at the Provincetown Museum to invite me in to see a new acquisition—children’s Civil War-era shoes, found during the remodel of a house, closed up inside a wall. That led me to write The Deadliest Blessing, where Sydney’s neighbor finds shoes in her wall—and a body to go along with them. Another mystery explored the wreck of a pirate ship that did actually happen, and in yet another one, Sydney finds out about Provincetown’s role in the Underground Railroad. The secrets a community keeps!
In The Honeymoon Homicides, I am exploring another facet of history and the center of a significant local controversy, the dune shacks in the National Seashore. Built out of shipwrecks, they housed artists and writers such as Eugene O’Neill, Jackson Pollack, and Tennessee Williams, and are now threatened with destruction. What a terrific background for a murder or two!
When I travel, I go to museums. I read books. I walk through neighborhoods. I track down references. I take obscure tours. And as I walk around, as I look around me, I feel an old map superimposed on the modern one, and I ask it questions. That map invariably leads to a story.
As I said, it’s all about tourism. I welcome the visitors to Provincetown, where I live and work, and wonder sometimes what they’re making of our stories, how they’re thinking about this place at Land’s End which has gone through so many transformations—from Wampanoag village to whaling capital to fishing port to art colony to LGBTQ-friendly resort—and what stories they will take home in their memories and in their hearts. Everyone travels differently. Everyone has their own priorities, desires, and interests.
What are yours?
Thank you Jeannette for visiting today!
Keep reading for more information about Jeannette and her new book, The Honeymoon Homicides.
About The Honeymoon Homicides
The Honeymoon Homicides: A Provincetown Mystery (Sydney Riley Series)
Cozy Mystery
10th in Series
Setting – Provincetown, Massachusetts, is a resort town on the tip of Cape Cod.
Publisher : Homeport Press (June 15, 2024)
Paperback : 290 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8986865430
Digital ASIN : B0CYHL3FBH
Despite an unforeseen disaster ruining her carefully planned wedding reception, hotelier Sydney Riley is undaunted as she and her brand-new husband Ali leave for their honeymoon in the dunes of Cape Cod’s National Seashore. But even in this deserted location, Sydney uncovers clues that might have a bearing on the wedding fiasco. Despite hoping for a new life, she’s drawn into yet another murder investigation—this time to protect Ali, who’s been called away on a secret and dangerous assignment.
Can Sydney find the murderer(s) before Ali is harmed, or will a joyous week in the dunes be her only memory of their married life?
About Jeannette de Beauvoir
Jeannette de Beauvoir is an award-winning author of historical and mystery fiction and poetry, whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Her Provincetown mystery series is now on its 10th book, and she’s a member of the Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Historical Novels Society. She’s also a local theatre critic and hosts an arts-related program on WOMR, a Pacifica Radio affiliate. She lives and works in a seaside cottage on Cape Cod.
Author Links
Purchase Links
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Thanks so much for hosting me on this lovely virtual book tour! It’s been a blast, and I hope I’ve interested a lot of people to try out my mystery series!
Sounds like a book I will enjoy.
Sounds intriguing and I look forward to reading this book
Sounds like a good book. Is it a standalone read?