Bench Of The Week (With Montenegro Church And Statue)

Visual Norway is the force behind Bench of the Week.

Phone Booth

This post is for Clark more than anybody else. I had stopped at a convenience store in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania last week and snapped this pic. Seriously, how often do you see a phone booth these days?

I was about to post this, decided to check Google, and spotted someone else thinking pretty much the same.

3/10 When One Thing Leads To Another: Patti left a comment that made me curious about the Fort Indiantown Gap, so I did another search finding this buried nugget:

An infamous 19th-century murder in Fort Indiantown Gap resulted in a trial of six defendants who all had blue eyes. They became known as the Blue Eyed Six, given the moniker by a newspaper reporter who was attending the trial. Their murder trial, held in the county courthouse in Lebanon, received worldwide publicity and inspired Arthur Conan Doyle while he was writing "The Red-Headed League".

Charles Gramlich's CHIMES

Dena sucked in a mouthful of air, almost gave in to a yell. The chimes gonged and clanged. Her finger tightened on the automatic's trigger and she clenched her teeth. A gagging sound came from downstairs. Quiet followed.

"Mommy?"

I bought a Kindle this week (more about that soon) and one of the first ebooks I bought was this edge of your seat thriller by Charles Gramlich. What I like about CHIMES, and actually all of Mr. Gramlich's stories, are the believable characters that anchor the plot. Dena is a woman raising her child alone after her husband was raped, couldn't handle it, and split. When she hears chimes coming from downstairs where there shouldn't be, she realizes she has an intruder in her home. Her instinct in protecting her child and dealing with the trespasser are all handled masterfully. The story is a brisk read with some unexpected plot twists, and the ebook is priced very reasonably through Amazon's Kindle Store. Whole-heartedly endorsed.

BTAP #64: The Redemption of Tom Chatham by Garnett Elliott

Finally, we have pirates at BEAT to a PULP! I put out the call for crews with cutlasses a few months ago and many of you delivered.

Once a staple of pulps, pirates seem to have fallen out of print. Well, the reboot of seafaring plunderers begins now. In our upcoming print anthology, Ian Parnham digs up some treasure with "Spot Marks The X" and here today the talented Garnett Elliott holds us captive with "The Redemption of Tom Chatham."

Next: Joshua Andra's "My Best Pal"

Soon: "Dog Day Care" by Richard Prosch

Note: BTAP submissions are closed until April 10th.

Oliver Typewriter

Little d knows my fondness for old typewriters and she picked up a gem from a co-worker. I'm now the proud owner of an army green, heavy-duty Oliver typewriter that sports showy batwings. I had never heard of this particular brand and naturally I did a quick search on Wikipedia:

The Oliver Typewriter Company was an American typewriter manufacturer headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The Oliver Typewriter was the first effective "visible print" typewriter, meaning text was visible to the typist as it was entered. Oliver typewriters were marketed heavily for home use, utilizing local distributors and sales on credit. Oliver produced more than one million machines between 1895 and 1928 and licensed its designs to several international firms.

Oliver typewriter demonstration.

The Girl In The Other Room

There were some things that I found I really enjoyed singing about; like, on the title track, there's this film-noir character of a woman who's sort of losing it in a room --Diana Krall



Live performance | Diana Krall official site

My Town Monday (Travel Edition): The Birthplace Of Nero Wolfe

I suggest beginning with autobiographical sketches from each of us, and here is mine. I was born in Montenegro and spent my early boyhood there. At the age of sixteen I decided to move around, and in fourteen years I became acquainted with most of Europe, a little of Africa, and much of Asia, in a variety of roles and activities. Coming to this country in nineteen-thirty, not penniless, I bought this house and entered into practice as a private detective. I am a naturalized American citizen.

– Nero Wolfe addressing the suspects in "Fourth of July Picnic" (1957)


In the birthplace of the man Archie Goodwin describes as weighing "a seventh of a ton" I came across a clock tower with no clock. I was informed that every Ottoman-ruled town had a clock tower to indicate the Muslim prayer times, and Podgorica's 18th century tower is one of the few remaining structures.

Don't know who he is or represents but I started calling him Slim. The gentleman hung around the radio and television station


A majestic looking Orthodox church in the capital city.


Yes, I still find cemeteries fascinating. And this one has plenty of character to spare.

"In life everything must have an aim, except orchids." I couldn't find any orchids which every Wolfe aficionado knows is the detective's favorite but I did find this colorful tree sprouting a unique flower all its own.


Why did it have to be a black cat in my path? THE MOUNTAIN CAT MURDERS leapt to mind.

Scarlet Johansson looking over my shoulder as I walk the streets of the great detective's birthplace. The song "Return of the Grievous Angel" was running through my head

For more MTM adventures click here.