The Seance Society: Ghost Stories and Book Event: Thursday, Oct 16 at 7pm

Mystery writer and storyteller Michael Nethercott will be appearing at the Andover Historical Society on Thursday, October 16, as part of his ongoing book tour. He will begin the event by telling several ghost stories, both traditional and (presumably) true—from his sprawling Irish family. Nethercott’s newly released novel The Séance Society (St. Martin’s Press) is the first installment of a series set in the 1950s. The detective team featured in it, O’Nelligan and Plunkett, have previously appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and in “O’Nelligan’s Glory,” winner of the Black Orchid Novella Award. This is their first full-length novel.

The Séance Society—called “a classically styled Holmes-ian whodunit” by Publishers Weekly—is a traditional mystery a la Agatha Christie and Rex Stout. It’s 1956, and when murder intrudes on a group of ghost seekers,inexperienced private eye Lee Plunkett enlists the help of Mr. O’Nelligan, a scholarly, quirky, Irish immigrant who can freely quote Celtic poets, Shakespeare or Elvis Presley. The duo is drawn into a murder investigation involving the “Spectricator,” a machine designed to communicate with the dead. Soon, Plunkett and O’Nelligan are knee-deep in a suspect pool that includes a surly medium, a former speakeasy queen, a mysterious Spanish widow, and a slew of eccentric servants.

The latest novel of the series, The Haunting Ballad,brings the sleuths into the music scene of Greenwich Village to investigate the death of a controversial “songcatcher”—a folk song collector—who has taken a fatal plunge from a rooftop. Nethercott’s writings have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Thin Ice, and Crimestalkers Casebook.

Following the storytelling, Nethercott will read a short excerpt from The Séance Society, discuss the book, and field audience questions. Thanks to the Andover Bookstore, copies of both novels will be available and can be signed by the author. $10 admission supports the Andover Historical Society.