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Stealing History
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Just a few days into her new job as director of a busy historical society and museum nestled in the mountains of quaint Ryland, Maine, flatlander Julie Williamson discovers all is not as it should be. Her dream job is more of a nightmare.
She expected to find an eccentric board of trustees, a cool reception from the assistant director who had wanted her job, and a necessary adjustment to small-town life, but she didn’t expect that some of the museum’s most valuable artifacts, including a letter from Abraham Lincoln to Hannibal Hamlin, would quickly turn up missing. And, when a murder hits especially close to home for Julie, she becomes embroiled in an ever-widening and complex mystery.
Stealing History is sure to enthrall readers who love to curl up with a good mystery, especially one that weaves details of small town life, delightful characters and history into a suspenseful tale that keeps them guessing up until the last page.
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About the Author William D. Andrews spent summers in Maine with his family for 18 years until he could find a job to justify a permanent move. That happened in 1989 when he became president of Westbrook College in Portland. The merger of Westbrook and the University of New England freed him to pursue a lifelong interest in writing, supplemented by freelance editing and consulting for nonprofit organizations. He has published three textbooks on management communication. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. |
Excerpt:
On his last day on the job, Worth had apparently gathered every piece of paper left on his desk and tucked them into the envelope. Julie sorted them into categories, creating neat piles on the table, glancing at each item, but resisting the temptation to start working on them until she had established the kind of order that she required.
One of the newspaper clippings, though, was too enticing to ignore. It was a newspaper article from The Boston Post headlined THIEVES STEALING HISTORY AROUND NEW ENGLAND. A yellow Post-it gave the date – seven months ago – and Worth’s comment: “A big problem. Copies for trustees?”
Thieves have targeted at least a dozen small-town historical societies across New England in recent months, in some cases walking off with artifacts and artwork worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Among the items is a $250,000 Civil War sword stolen from the history museum in Fitchburg, Mass; an 18th-century tavern sign valued at $100,000, taken from the Portsmouth, N.H., historical society; a collection of Civil War medals stolen from the Winooski, Vt., historical society; and four primitive paintings taken from Newburyport Center for History. Investigations into the thefts are ongoing. …
… “Some of these places have collections of considerable value, yet they must rely on volunteers for most, if not all of their operations,” said Tina Meyers, a professor of Massachusetts history at Harvard University.
Sometimes the museums don’t realize the value of their own collections. In Brattleboro, Vt., the historical society there was recently surprised to learn that a letter it holds from Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen to a relative is worth upwards of $25,000.
“We knew it was valuable, of course,” said volunteer director Dolores Coombs, “but it wasn’t until my son suggested we have it appraised that we learned just how much it was worth. You can be sure we’re taking special precautions with it now.”
Lucky them, Julie thought – they knew where their valuable letter was. She stopped reading and looked at Worth’s note again: “A big problem.” Did Worth even know about the Lincoln letter? Of course he did, Julie decided. Did he also know the Lincoln letter wasn’t where it was supposed to be? Was that the big problem?