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![]() Angela Gerst Politics, money, love . . . what could go wrong? ![]() |
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After my car finished bucking, I locked up and trudged across the lot under the blazing sun. A Lexus SUV was berthed in Chaz’s space today, but Torie’s Jaguar hadn’t moved since last night. The efficient and highly paid Ms. Moran must have a doozy of a hangover. Up close and in daylight her Jag wasn’t all that spiffy. Rust nibbled the panels, and there was a puddle of oil under the chassis near the right rear wheel. But even pockmarked, the Jaguar was a beautiful machine, long and sleek. Sensuous in an obvious way, and when did men ever mind obvious? I peered inside. Ditz had left her keys in the ignition. I drifted around the car, letting my fingertips graze the enamel. At the trunk, I noticed a strand of yarn dangling over the bumper. I touched it. Not yarn. Way ahead of my conscious self, the hidden parts barked orders: Open the trunk! Check that puddle! I stooped over the oil, though I knew it wasn’t oil, and touched something viscous, almost dry, like the skin over your pudding. I stood and rubbed my stained finger on the trunk, which lifted slightly. Another thread of fringe spilled out, and Jasmine Musk, and a strand of long black hair. |
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Original crack in everything soundtrack, "Mood in Modes" Dana Colley on drums, alto and bari sax
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Mystery Writers of America 2013 Short Story Anthology Book Launch, Apri1 29th 2013, , Mysterious Bookshop, Manhattan |
Above left: Mysterious Bookshop proprietor otto penzler and angela ;above center, The Mystery Box editor/novelist Brad Metzler |
Blood Rose Books interviews Angela September 16, 2012 |
Past Events |
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May 14, 2013 Waltham Public Library, Waltham, MA |
September 15, 2012, New England Mobile Bookfare, Newton, MA |
November 16, 2011, Wellsely Bookstore, Wellsley, MA |
November 11-12, 20111, New England Crime Bake, Dedham MA |
November 3, 2011, Saugus Public Library, Saugus, MA |
October 15, 2011, Boston Book Festival [Sisters In Crime Booth], Boston, MA |
October 13, 2011 Backpages Books, Waltham, MA |
October 9, 2011, White Birches Books, North Conway, NH |
October 6, 2011, Brewsters Ladies' Library, Brewster, MA |
October 5, 2011, Truro Public Library, Truro, MA |
September 30, 2011, Mysterious Bookshop (Signing) |
September 22, 2011, Barnes and Nobles, Framingham, MA |
September 16, 2011, Dante Aligheri Society, Cambridge, MA |
My introduction to local politics came shortly after I moved to a small city near Boston, where a weekly newspaper was looking for someone—anyone—to cover the Board of Aldermen. I was interviewed: Can you walk and talk? Can you sit on a bench under yellow fluorescents and take notes while people mumble and shout? Can you tolerate hot rooms with stuck windows and no fans? Yes, I said. Yes. I learned all that in law school. So they hired me.
It wasn’t all smoothies and skittles. The aldermen were often outraged, astonished, sadly dismayed, depending on the issue--and no issue was too small to argue. Cross-branch sniping? Snide interviews? Posturing for community cable TV? Like the Nationals, the executive and legislative branches jostled each other. Both sides could be goofy. My disbelieving pencil scribbled phrases like, “The alderman from Ward x abstains on a motion to take no action.” And from the mayor, “This Halloween I’m going to dress up like an alderman and agitate myself.”
But I didn’t like the limelight, or the searchlight, and he could manage both. I promised to do the grunt work. I would make the calls, gather the nominating signatures, find the printers, collect volunteers, fund raise, schmooze, stalk the neighborhoods, strategize, pass out bumper stickers, line up endorsements. I’d even go to parties! All he had to do was win. Right? We worked hard, did our best, and he lost anyway, by a handful of votes. But losing taught an invaluable lesson--the difference between “doing our best” and “giving it our all”. Two years later he ran a second time. Now real obsession set in. Nothing was left undone: no house left unvisited, no phone call not made, no unpaved road passed by, no chit left uncollected. Turn over that stone, there might be a voter under it, was our operating principle. We rose at dawn and labored into the night. Favorite promos were “campaign cookies” which I baked and gave away at the 4th of July fair—Frisbee-sized chocolate chip oatmeal pecan cookies wrapped in cellophane and labeled with my candidate's name. Worth at least a hundred votes.
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