Special Events

Monthly Meeting: October 2018

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bury_the_lead_post

Bury the Lead, with author, detective, historian and medical examiner Archer Mayor

NOTE THE EARLY START TIME:

October 20, 11:00-12:00, Bethlehem Library

Archer Mayor is the author of the highly acclaimed Vermont-based mystery series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as “the best police procedurals being written in America.” His 29th book, Bury the Lead, is due out in September (Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press). 

Protagonist Lt. Joe Gunther works for the Brattleboro, Vermont, police department. Books about his case-solving prowess have been completed about once a year since 1988, and have been published in five languages (if you count British). They routinely gather high praise from such sources as The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the New Yorker, often appearing on annual “ten best” lists.

Mayor’s novels are based on actual experience in the field. Closely aligned to the Gunther series are his experiences while working as a police officer and a firefighter/EMT in Vermont. In addition, he is currently still working part-time as a death investigator for the Vermont State Medical Examiner’s office. The result adds depth, detail and veracity to his characters and their tribulations.

Free and open to the public!
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Monthly Meeting: 15 Sep 2018

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mavens items

Mortuary Science: The Ins and Outs, w/Lori Q. Purcell
September 15, 11:30-12:30, Bethlehem Library

Lori Q. Purcell was named chairperson for the Mortuary Science Department at Hudson Valley Community College in 2016. She has nearly 30 years of experience in the funeral business, began teaching as an adjunct at HVCC in 2005 and became a full-time faculty member in 2008. 

Purcell began her career at the Bowen Funeral Home in Latham and continued to work in the industry with the Parker Brothers Memorial Funeral Home until 2014. A native of Newburgh, Purcell said she always knew she wanted to work in the funeral business. “I grew up between two funeral homes on either end of my street. I knew it was something I always wanted to do,” she said. 

Purcell is one of a growing number of women who have entered what was once seen as a male-dominated profession. According to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), 57 percent of mortuary science students in the United States are women, and that number has been steadily growing over the past several decades. In the late 1970s, according to the NFDA, only 13 percent of students in similar programs were women. 

Bring your questions; our speaker’s leaving a block of time at the end for Q & A.

 

Monthly Meeting: 18 August 2018

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AUGUST SPECIAL EVENT:

PRIVATE TOUR, CHERRY HILL MUSEUM: “The 1827 Cherry Hill Murder”

Saturday, August 18, 2018

TOUR BEGINS PROMPTLY AT 11:00 AM

Cherry Hill Museum, 523 S Pearl St, Albany, NY 12202 (Directions below)

OPTIONAL LUNCH AND MEETING TO FOLLOW, AT LOCAL RESTAURANT TBD

In 1827, a murder occurred at Albany’s Cherry Hill Farm, home of the Van Rensselaer family. The crime aroused tremendous interest, and the trial culminated in the last public hanging in Albany. The apparent crime of passion uncovered simmering issues of the day, including women’s roles and legal rights, social class, punishment and the law, and slavery in New York. Hear the words of those involved in the crime and decide whom you think was guilty or innocent.

Monthly Meeting: 19 May 2018

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Mavens of MayhemMonthly Program News

We’re adjusting monthly meeting times as follows, to allow for more engagement with each other and with each program’s content.

10:30-11:15 – Chapter meeting
11:15-11:30 – Overflow content and coffee break
11:30-12:30 – Featured Program (Always open to the public)

Special programs and field trips will be announced well in advance. Snow and other emergency cancellations will be posted on the website. It always pays to check the website before driving over: www.upperhudsoninc.com.

Murderous March participant feedback told us that there was too little time for each of the day’s events. We realized that we were rushing the monthly programs, too. So thank you, Confab commenters!

Coming up on May 19th: Researcher extraordinaire Michael Catoggio will offer us “Cleopatra’s Nose: Adventures in Research” starting at 11:30 am. Those of you at Murderous March will remember Michael as our panel’s delightful moderator and one of three workshop teachers. Michael felt that he had too much content for an hour, so Mavens President Frankie Bailey offered to solve his problem.  Et voilà, we get to learn with Michael again! I suspect that this presentation will be sprinkled with engaging anecdotes. Don’t miss out.

Monthly program presentations are free and open to the public. 

Writers’ Supports

  1. Mystery writing group is starting up again. It will be led by Carol Pouliot (co-led by Frankie Bailey) on meeting-day Saturdays, immediately following the monthly program. Watch for description and dates/times from Carol.
  2. Mavens of Mayhem and East Greenbush Community Library are offering six free writing sessions this summer. These are non-critical opportunities for writers of any level to write in any genre, in supportive company. Rhonda Rosenheck (published poet and humorist; unpublished short story writer) will host the structured sessions: 15 minutes of settling in; 90 minutes of quiet writing; 30 minutes of appreciative sharing. Free and open to the public. Bring your own snack and drink. Pre-registration is strongly suggested to ensure a place. www.eastgrenbushlibrary.org (Registration may not be available until May.)

 

Fridays from 1:45-4 pm:

June 15, 29
July 13, 27
August 17, 31

East Greenbush Community Library, 10 Community Way, East Greenbush. Come to any or all.

TODAY: Murderous March!

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Murderous March Writers & Readers Confab

Saturday, March 24, 2-4 PM
East Greenbush Community Library
RSVP to assure a seat at this free event:

Fans and creators of the mystery, detective and crime genres: Join Mavens of Mayhem at the East Greenbush Community Library for an afternoon of enlightening talk about the craft.

PROGRAM

1:45-4:15 Refreshments, Mavens of Mayhem member book sale

1:45-2:10 Registration

2:15-3:00 “Bringing out the Mystery Within”
Panel discussion and audience Q & A, featuring
Published authors Robert Knightly, Carol Pouliot, Kate Laity, and Frankie Bailey. Moderated by Michael Catoggio, mystery researcher and reference librarian

3:00-3:15 Stretch and Schmooze

3:15-4:00 Workshops

  • Finding My Next Great Read — Laurie Dreyer and Rhonda Rosenheck
  • Squeezing the Book In — K.A. Laity
  • When I Die, Clear my Browser History (Research for Mystery/Crime Writers) — Michael Catoggio

Presenters

frankie bailey LAITY author photo robertknightly carol_pouliot_author

Frankie Bailey, K.A. Laity, Robert Knightly, and Carol Pouliot are published authors who live in or near New York’s Upper Hudson region. Frankie Bailey is President of the Mavens of Mayhem and all are active members.

Michael Catoggio conducts research for mystery writers and others, a fun and natural outcome of his long career as a research librarian. He also teaches many popular writing and research workshops.

Laurie Dreyer is Adult Programming Librarian at the East Greenbush Community Library. Rhonda Rosenheck is Mavens of Mayhem treasurer, a published author of poetry and humor, and a voracious reader of detective fiction.

This confab is cohosted by the EGCL (eastgreenbushlibrary.org) and Mavens of Mayhem (upperhudsonsinc.com), Sisters in Crime’s Upper Hudson chapter. The Mavens meet monthly and welcome writers and readers.

March Meeting 3/17: Radha Vatsal!

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Don’t forget Murderous March
24th March at East Greenbush Library!

Radha Vatsal: ‘The Winding Path to Publication’

From idea to published novels, with tentative drafts, intense historical research, agent queries, and tense-change rewrites along the way.  What one writer learned about the writing process with all its ups and downs, and how getting published is just the beginning of a new stage. 

Vatsal by Juliette Conroy.jpg
Photo by Juliette Conroy

Radha Vatsal is the author of A Front Page Affair  (Library Journal’s Debut Mystery of the Month), and  Murder Between the Lines (Book Riot’s 100 Must-Read Books Of US Historical Fiction) set in WWI-era New York. She received her Ph.D. from the English Department at Duke University and her writing has appeared in the online editions of the Atlantic, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Smithsonian magazine. She is also co-editor of the Women Film Pioneers Project.  She was born in Mumbai, India and lives in New York City.

Special guest for our March 17th Meeting:
Mavens of Mayhem (SinC) Monthly Meeting
Bethlehem Public Library
Business Meeting 10:30am
Open to the Public 11:00 am for Radha Vatsal

Murderous March Writers & Readers Confab

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Mavens of MayhemMurderous March Writers & Readers Confab

Saturday, March 24, 2-4 PM
East Greenbush Community Library
RSVP to assure a seat at this free event:

Fans and creators of the mystery, detective and crime genres: Join Mavens of Mayhem at the East Greenbush Community Library for an afternoon of enlightening talk about the craft.

PROGRAM

1:45-4:15 Refreshments, Mavens of Mayhem member book sale

1:45-2:10 Registration

2:15-3:00 “Bringing out the Mystery Within”
Panel discussion and audience Q & A, featuring
Published authors Robert Knightly, Carol Pouliot, Kate Laity, and Frankie Bailey. Moderated by Michael Catoggio, mystery researcher and reference librarian

3:00-3:15 Stretch and Schmooze

3:15-4:00 Workshops

  • Finding My Next Great Read — Laurie Dreyer and Rhonda Rosenheck
  • Squeezing the Book In — K.A. Laity
  • When I Die, Clear my Browser History (Research for Mystery/Crime Writers) — Michael Catoggio

Presenters

frankie bailey LAITY author photo robertknightly carol_pouliot_author

Frankie Bailey, K.A. Laity, Robert Knightly, and Carol Pouliot are published authors who live in or near New York’s Upper Hudson region. Frankie Bailey is President of the Mavens of Mayhem and all are active members.

Michael Catoggio conducts research for mystery writers and others, a fun and natural outcome of his long career as a research librarian. He also teaches many popular writing and research workshops.

Laurie Dreyer is Adult Programming Librarian at the East Greenbush Community Library. Rhonda Rosenheck is Mavens of Mayhem treasurer, a published author of poetry and humor, and a voracious reader of detective fiction.

This confab is cohosted by the EGCL (eastgreenbushlibrary.org) and Mavens of Mayhem (upperhudsonsinc.com), Sisters in Crime’s Upper Hudson chapter. The Mavens meet monthly and welcome writers and readers.