Now, this is how to do a book event. Last night, June 7th, 2026, arts non-profit 20 Summers hosted authors William J. Mann and Margot Douaihy for an absolutely magical evening at the Hawthorne Barn in Provincetown.
Their self-moderated conversation, billed A Meeting of Literary Criminal Minds, absolutely electrified the summer night and filled the historic Hawthorne Barn with magic. I learned a great deal from their discussion of research methods, writing methods and finding a deep empathy with the victims (and heroes) in your writing. Both brilliant writers who were incredibly giving with their time, insights and advice.
Mann is the author of numerous bestselling books including Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood, for which he won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Fact Crime and which is currently being adapted for film, and biographies of Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Humphrey Bogart, the Roosevelt family, and Katharine Hepburn, the last of which was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. Mann has just released The Black Dahlia: Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood, billed as the definitive account of America's most famous unsolved murder.
Margot Douaihy, PhD, is a poet, crime writer, and assistant professor at Emerson College. She is the author of the lyrical hardboiled Sister Holiday series which follows an unlikely nun-sleuth through the understory of New Orleans. The first two books in the series, Scorched Grace and Blessed Water, both published with Gillian Flynn Books and were both named a Best Crime Novel of the Year by The New York Times. The next mystery in her series, Divine Ruin, published in January 2026 and was an American Booksellers Association Indie Next Pick.
Adding to the magic was the incredible setting in the Hawthorne Barn (profile by Arts Cape Cod), a site on the national register of historic places and the birthplace of the artist colony in Provincetown. Built by Charles Webster Hawthorne at the turn of the century as a studio and the home of his Cape Cod School of Art. Hawthorne is credited with being the first to recognize the magic of the phenomenon known as cape light (which I discuss in another post) and is considered the creator of the Provincetown artists colony, the longest continuously running artists colony in the United States.
New life goal? Do an author event at the Hawthorne Barn.
If you are interested in ordering The Washashore you can find it at—or order it from— these local bookstores: Wellesley Books (Wellesley, MA), The Bookshop of Needham (Needham, MA), Provincetown Bookshop (Provincetown, MA) and Elm Street Books (New Canaan, CT)
Or if you want the convenience and speed of online, but still want to support local bookstores, grab The Washashorethrough Bookshop.org
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