The Summer of Love and Death

 

 

THE SUMMER OF LOVE AND DEATH

by Marcy McCreary

August 19 - September 13, 2024 Virtual Book Tour

 

Synopsis:

A Ford Family Mystery

 

The summer of ’69: memorable for some, murder for others.

Detective Susan Ford and her new partner, Detective Jack Tomelli, are called to a crime scene at the local summer stock theater where they find the director of Murder on the Orient Express gruesomely murdered—naked, face caked in makeup, pillow at his feet, wrists and ankles bound by rope. When Susan describes the murder to her dad, retired detective Will Ford, he recognizes the MO of a 1969 serial killer . . . a case he worked fifty years ago.

Will remembers a lot of things about that summer—the Woodstock Festival, the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Miracle Mets—yet he is fuzzy on the details of the decades-old case. But when Susan and Jack discover the old case files, his memories start trickling back. And with each old and new clue, Susan, Jack, and Will must narrow down the pool of suspects before the killer strikes again.

Praise for The Summer of Love and Death:

"An old case has repercussions on a new copycat killing in this excellent police procedural. With juicy twists, an engaging cast, and an intriguing case that’s impossible to predict, The Summer of Love and Death is everything I want in a mystery. An addictive and entertaining ride!"
~ Christina McDonald, USA Today bestselling author

"McCreary unspools a lot of threads in The Summer of Love and Death, then masterfully weaves them all together atop the Ford family's compelling dynamic for an ending you won't see coming. It's a fun ride that kept me guessing the whole time!"
~ Tony Wirt, bestselling author of Just Stay Away

"A compelling mystery that unfolds in two skillfully woven parallel narratives. McCreary pairs a haunting meditation on intergenerational trauma with an evocative rendering of that famous Summer of Love to deliver a suspenseful and deeply satisfying read."
~ Lori Robbins, author of Murder in Fourth Position

"In the summer of 1969, there was peace and love—but also a serial killer committing bizarre murders. When a copycat killing occurs at the local summer stock theatre, detective Susan Ford must call on her father’s memory of his 1969 investigation to help her solve the present-day murder. The Summer of Love and Death offers page-turning suspense of how the legacy of murder can continue, leaving more than death in its wake."
~ Nina Wachsman, author of The Courtesan’s Secret

"A fiendishly smart modern who-dunnit with clever characters and a mystery that keeps you guessing . . ."
~ Elise Hart Kipness, author of Lights Out

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery (Detective)
Published by: CamCat Books
Publication Date: August 13, 2024
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780744310597 (ISBN10: 0744310598)
Series: A Ford Family Mystery, #3 | A Stand-Alone Series
Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | CamCat Books

Enjoy an Excerpt:

You know that jittery, gut-roiling feeling you get when heading out on a blind date? That brew of nerves, anxiety, anticipation—plus a hint of dread. That pretty much summed up my morning. Today was the day, and standing at the front door, it finally hit me. I was no longer flying solo. A new partner was waiting for me down at the station.

My fingers twitchy, I fumbled with the zipper of my yellow slicker as I stood in front of the framed poster—an illustration of a white dove perched on a blue guitar neck, gripped by ivory fingers against a bright red background—touting three days of peace and music. Usually, I paid it no mind. But today it captured my attention. A signal, perhaps, that everything would turn out just fine, like it did exactly fifty years ago when four hundred thousand idealistic hippies descended upon this town. A projected disaster that ended up being a glorious experience. The legendary summer of love.

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair didn’t take place in Woodstock, New York. The residents of Woodstock were not keen on having the initially projected fifty thousand hippies traipsing through their town. The concert promoters eventually secured Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York—fifty-eight miles from Woodstock and six miles from where I live now. I was four at the time. I have no memory of it. Mom said I was sicker than sick that weekend. Ear infection. Fever escalating to 104 degrees. She tried to take me to a doctor, but the roads were clogged with festival revelers, so she had to postpone my appointment until Tuesday. But by then, the worst of it was over.

Fifty years. Those teenagers were in their sixties and seventies now. The older ones in their eighties. How many of them were still idealistic? How many were still into peace, love, and understanding? How many “dropped out” and berated “the man,” only later to find themselves the beneficiaries of capitalism? Becoming “the man.”

I leaned over slightly as I reached for the doorknob. The door swung open unexpectedly, smacking me in the forehead. “Whoa.” I ran my fingertips along my hairline. No bump. For now.

“Sorry, babe.” Ray’s voice drew Moxie’s attention. Our thirteenyear-old lab mix moseyed into the foyer, tail in full swing. Moseying was really all Moxie could muster these days. “Didn’t realize you were standing there.”

Ray had left the house an hour earlier. I peered over his shoulder at the running Jeep. “Forget something?”

“Yeah. My wallet.” Ray stepped inside, dripping. Moxie stared up at him, waiting. He squatted and rubbed her ears. “Raining cats and dogs out there. No offense, Moxie.” He glanced up at the poster. “Just like fifty years ago.” He sighed.

Ray’s parents were married at the festival by a traveling minister. One-year-old Ray in tow (earning him bragging rights as one of the youngest people to attend Woodstock). Tomorrow would have been their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Their death, at the hand of a drunk driver twelve years ago, spawned a program called Better Mad Than Sad—a class baked into the local drivers-ed curriculum that Ray (and the drunk driver’s girlfriend, Marisa) created ten years ago. Parents would join their kids for a fifty-minute session in which they pledged to pick up their kids or their kid’s friends, no questions asked, no judgment passed.

Last month, Ray reached out to a few of his and his parents’ friends asking if they would be up for a “celebration of life” vigil at the Woodstock Festival site this evening. Nothing formal. Just twenty or so folks standing around, reminiscing and shooting the shit about his parents.

Ray shook the rain off his jacket. “Met your new partner this morning.”

“Yeah?”

“He’s very good-looking.” He smirked, then added, “Movie-star good looking.”

I leaned back and gave Ray the once-over. “I’m more into the rough-around-the-edges type.”

“So I got nothing to worry about?”

“Not as long as you treat me right.” I smiled coyly. I had been without an official partner for a little over a year, since July 2018. My ex-partner bought a small farm in Vermont. He told me not to take it personally, but he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I still wondered if I contributed to his anxiety in some small way. Then I got shot in the thigh that August. So hiring a new partner was put on hold. Upon my return to active duty in October of 2018, I was assigned an under-the-radar cold case with my dad brought on as consulting partner. By the time the Trudy Solomon case was resolved, in December 2018, Chief Eldridge still hadn’t found a suitable replacement. Small-town policing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. So for the better part of 2019, it was just me and my shadow. Dad and Ray assisted on the Madison Garcia case, but the chief made it clear that protocol called for two detectives working a case, and my partnerless days were numbered. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I didn’t want a partner. I did. I just wished I had a say in who it was.

***

Excerpt from The Summer of Love and Death by Marcy McCreary. Copyright 2024 by Marcy McCreary. Reproduced with permission from CamCat Books. All rights reserved.

 

 

About the Author:

Marcy McCreary is the author of the Ford Family Mystery series. She graduated from George Washington University with a B.A. in American literature and political science and pursued a career in marketing and communications. She lives in Hull, MA with her husband, Lew.

Q&A With the Author

 

Who is your favorite author and why?

P.D. James. DCI Adam Dalgliesh is quite possibly one of the most unique and intriguing detectives in the mystery genre. As I think about character development, especially when it comes to my detective protagonist, I'll find myself thinking about how rich and deep P.D. James draws her characters and push myself to write compelling, three-dimensional characters.

What is something unique/quirky about you?

I have an identical twin sister, and would one day like to write a book with a twin protagonist/antagonist. Although this is a common trope in thrillers (good twin/evil twin), I would love to write a domestic thriller featuring twins and inject my personal (and realistic) perspective of what it's like to share your life with a lookalike.

What was your inspiration for writing this book?

As I pondered the potential plot for the third installment of the Ford Family Mystery series, I thought about writing a prequel as opposed to a sequel. Essentially, lean in on the nostalgia of the Catskills Borscht Belt hotels (think Dirty Dancing or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and set the story during its heyday of the 1960s. My initial concept was a murder mystery told from Detective Will Ford’s point-of-view when he was a young detective and centered around one of the storied hotels. That idea was short-lived—for a whole host of reasons—but it did spur my thinking about incorporating the nostalgia of that area and the historical events of that decade into a contemporary narrative. 

Then came my second a-ha moment. One night, my husband and I were channel surfing, and we happened upon the 1974 screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. It reminded me of something a friend had recently told me: the novel had been adapted for the stage in 2017. And that got me thinking . . . wouldn’t it be fun if Detective Susan Ford is called to a murder at a summer stock theater that just happens to be performing Murder on the Orient Express. And what if this crime was somehow tied to a murder from 1969, specifically a case her father, Detective Will Ford, investigated back then. And that’s the moment when the story’s inciting incident popped into my head.

Then came my third a-ha moment. In early 2022, I read an article in The New Yorker, “The Long Afterlife of a Terrible Crime,” about intergenerational trauma and the ripple effect of traumatic events on generations of family. The essay explored both the criminal’s and victim’s offspring’s overwhelming need to seek relief and answers stemming from the heinous crime. In the article, the niece of a murder victim explains to the reporter, “The murder wrecked my father’s life, and then mine, and it was hurting my children’s lives, too. We live in the reality where their actions echo in the lives of so many of us, every single day. I want to know why. I need to understand. If I’m being completely honest, I need someone to blame.” The entire article is a master class in “there is no escaping the sins of our parents.” This was a theme I wanted to explore in my latest novel.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

Writing Detective Will Ford’s “Summer Of ’69” mini-chapters. Will is my favorite character in the series, modeled a little after my own dad, and to finally get to write scenes from his point-of-view was, in a word, joyful. Will’s scenes are set in 1969, with the historical events of that year—Woodstock, the Miracle Mets, Apollo 11 moon walk, Vietnam War protests—unfolding around him. It was fun to incorporate these events within the context of his scenes, get his take on them, and see how they influenced his worldview. And although his chapters are dark (he’s investigating a serial murder!), Will’s optimism and idealism mirror the sentiment of that era’s generation.

Do you have any other books you are working on that you can tell us about?

I am currently writing a police procedural set in Boston called Dirty Water. A detective with a terminal cancer diagnosis enlists the help of three retired detective friends to solve her sister's decades-old murder. It’s a dual timeline narrative—2024 and 1992—set against the backdrop of Boston's music and mob scene of that earlier era.

Anything more you would like to say to your readers and fans?

I’m a pantser through and through. No outline. No post-it notes or notecards. No in-depth character biographies. I know only three things when I start a novel: my main character’s strengths and flaws (what makes her tick), the inciting incident (the crime), and who the killer is (although that could change as I make my way into the story). Those three elements are enough to get me started. Then I let my main character take me on her journey. I think with police procedurals there is a logic in the forward motion of the plot. The investigator learns something new, uncovers a clue which leads to the next clue and so on and so on. The key is building tension and conflict into scenes and keeping the reader engaged in guessing whodunnit. I prefer being spontaneous with my writing, without any preconceptions of where a scene might end up. It’s almost as if I’m leaving the plotting up to my characters; I’m just the vessel for getting the words on paper.

Catch Up With Marcy McCreary:

www.MarcyMcCreary.com
Goodreads
BookBub - @marcymccreary
Instagram - @marcymccrearyauthor
Threads - @marcymccrearyauthor
Twitter/X - @mcmarcy
Facebook - @marcymccrearywrites

 

 

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