Stephen Timbers · Author
Ever since I was a boy, I have been reading mysteries. In particular I preferred mysteries involving an amateur detective I could identify with. This type of mystery is when the amateur has only his brain and energy to unravel the complex puzzle of “Who done it?”.
So, when I thought about the protagonist for my first novel, which became A Death at the Potawatomi Club, I had to have someone I know and could identify with. Thus, Charlie took form. He is not an alter ego. No, he is far more intelligent, handsome, athletic, and cultural than I am; but I have known individuals like him my whole life. That is why I was highly confident that this amateur sleuth would succeed.
I intend to write several murder mysteries featuring Charlie, his wife, Kate, and his mother, Claire. I hope that readers will engage themselves in the problem-solving adventure of this cast of characters.
The situation and locations Charlie Bailey inhabits come naturally from my own life. I grew up in a toney suburb of New York, Short Hills, New Jersey. Then I went on to study English Literature at Yale and Business at Harvard. After a stint in the army during Vietnam, I began a career in investment management. Over time I advanced to one of the positions managing the companies I worked for.
Through the years I have traveled all over the world, married my wonderful wife, Elaine, had three children, and settled in the Chicago area and Florida. These events, activities, and locations figure heavily in Charlie Bailey’s travails. Writer’s Course 101 demands “write about what you know”.
“The novel is the one bright book of life” – D. H. Lawrence
DORRANCE PUBLISHING CO.
BOOKS
The Degas Trove
Claire Bailey donates three important impressionist works of art to the Yale University Art Gallery in honor of her late husband - only to learn that two of them have been stolen overnight. Compounding this shattering news she finds out that her grand niece, an art history graduate student, has been murdered in the Yale Library stacks. Subsequently, Claire’s son, Charlie, a Chicago money manager, irritated by the slow police and FBI investigation, takes on the task of solving the art theft and related murder. His efforts lead him into the worlds of art historians, international art dealers, and the lives of a pair of iconic artists. In the end, to catch the killer, he must search for a presumptive trove of priceless paintings.
DORRANCE PUBLISHING CO.
A Death At The Potawatomi Club
On a quiet morning at the prestigious Potawatomi Club, Charlie Bailey arrives for his weekly game of golf. After entering the empty locker room, the last thing Bailey expects to find is his family friend Scottie Bradshaw, feckless son of a prominent family, face down in the locker room pool. Scottie’s death is ruled an accident—he was a heavy drinker, after all—but Bailey isn’t satisfied with the police’s ruling, and decides to do some investigating of his own. Little does he know that his snooping is putting him—and those he loves most—directly in the crosshairs.