VANISHED ON THE VAUDEVILLE CIRCUIT

In the 1920s, song-and-dance man August La May, formerly known as Avram Landenberg of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, thought he was living a grand life on the Orpheum Circuit in vaudeville, traveling the country with his gal Violetta and daughters April and Florabelle. Even after Violetta deserts the act and breaks his heart, he continues the act with his children, still bringing down the house while billed as “The Three La Mays.”

But four years after Violetta left, all might not be well. August is sure he sees Violetta on the theater ticket line in Chicago. Later that day, seven-year-old Florabelle goes missing on the way to the stage from her dressing room. Is this a coincidence? Has Violetta really returned for only one of her daughters, or has someone else in vaudeville taken the talented child? Who, among the many rather irregular folks in show business, might have done this? August and his other daughter, savvy little April, keep touring the theaters of America, determined to find out. Where then, in the space of the entire country, could Florabelle possibly be?

View the book on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/175965310-vanished-on-the-vaudeville-circuit

• Listing ID: 13813
• Author's Name: Carolyn Summer Quinn
• Your Email Address: sequinrosette@gmail.com
• About the Author: CAROLYN SUMMER QUINN had a father who was an English teacher and came by a facility for writing naturally. An only child, she nevertheless grew up as part of a lively and rollicking extended family with about eighty relatives all living nearby. Most of them even got along. Originally from Roselle and Scotch Plains, New Jersey, she escaped from the suburbs in the late 1980s and deligtedly settled in Brooklyn, New York, a city she loves. She has a B.A. in English/Theater/Media from Kean University, loves Broadway musicals, theater history and the songs of the 1920s. Carolyn has written eight books so far, with more on the way, and has won twelve book awards to date. She enjoys writing every single one of them!
• URL of the book's purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Vanished-Vaudeville-Circuit-Carolyn-Summer/dp/B0C7M2DMK3
• Awards, reviews, press releases, and other relevant information: Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit:
  
  -Winner, 2023 Historical Mystery of the Year, Chrysalis BREW Fiction Excellence Awards
  -Winner, Literary Titan Silver Book Award
  
  Backstabbed on Broadway:
  
  -Winner, Literary Titan Silver Book Award
  -Winner, International Firebird Book Award - Mystery
  
  Cloudy with a Chance of Answers:
  
  -Finalist, 2023 American Fiction Awards,Mystery/Supense Category:
  Cozy Mysteries (Cozies)
  -Winner, Literary Titan Silver Book Award
  -2nd Place Winner, International Firebird Book Award - Mystery
  -3rd Place Winner, International Firebird Book Award, Cozy Mystery
  
  The Final Comeuppance:
  
  -Winner, Literary Titan Silver Book Award
  
  Keep Your Songs In Your Heart:
  
  -Award Finalist, 2019 American Fiction Awards, Pre-Teen Fiction Category
  
  Now and Forevermore Arabella:
  
  -Award Finalist, 2022 American Fiction Awards, Preteen Category
  -Winner, Literary Titan Golden Book Award
• Genre: Cozy Mysteries, Middle Grade Children's Books and Theatrical Biography
• Titles of All Books: Cozy Mysteries:
  
  A Charm Without a Chain
  Vanished on the Vaudeville Circuit
  Backstabbed on Broadway
  Cloudy with a Chance of Answers
  The Final Comeuppance
  
  Middle Grade Children's Books:
  
  Now and Forevermore Arabella
  Keep Your Songs in Your Heart
  
  Theatrical Biography:
  
  Mama Rose's Turn: The True Story of America's Most Notorious Stage Mother
• Did you love reading books when you were little? Why or why not?: I sure did! I LOVED reading books! Right from the start, mysteries were my favorites. I read as many books in the series of The Bobbsey Twins, The Happy Hollisters, and Nancy Drew as I could get my hands on and adored them all!
• At what age did you start reading books? What were your best memories of that time?: I started seriously reading books at the age of eight and really got into them when I was nine. The first little book, in verse, that I remember reading was a short one called Johnny Crow's Garden. My dad the English teacher brought it home from work for me. My mother taught kindergarten and came home from the book fair at her school one day with my very first chapter book. It was Charlotte's Web. But I really got into reading at the age of nine when I brought a book called The Happy Hollisters at Pony Hill Farm home from the school library. The Hollisters were a family of five children who solved mysteries. They had bought a rocking horse at an auction, and when they brought it home, the thing started rocking by itself! I remember being in my bedroom in good old Roselle, New Jersey, totally unable to put that book down because I wanted so much to find out what made that horse rock. Now I'm 62 years young, and when I found out that book was available as an eBook, I immediately downloaded it to my Kindle. It's with me yet!
• What was the first book you loved reading? Why?: See my answer above. The Happy Hollisters at Pony Hill Farm!
• When did you first think about writing your first book? Why?: The first one I wrote was a biography of Rose Hovick, the mother of Gypsy Rose Lee and June Havoc, whose colorful parenting style inspired the Broadway muscial GYPSY. It took two and a half years of reearch on Saturday afternoons at the Library for the Performing Arts in New York City as well as interviews with people who had known Rose. This woman's story had been fictionalized on the stage by playwright Arthur Lawrence, and most people think his tale was "true." I found a very different set of situations pertaining to her in the archives of the family's personal papers. I was mainly concerned about trying to portray her in a correct light because the musical goes in one direction and her real story went in another. Rose was complicated, but she wasn't the monster created for the show.
• What was the greatest obstacle you've encountered when you were writing your book? What made you overcome it?: I write the first draft of my books, then I go back and refine it, and then I refine it again, rewording the story to make it more readable or clear or to make it flow more easily. I enjoy all of that. What I don't enjoy is proofreading the final copy! It's a slog, no two ways about it, and I'm not going to pretend it isn't. The last book I wrote took two solid days of proofreading. It's like an endurance test!
• What pieces of advice can you give aspiring authors? What worked for you?: I write because I LOVE it! If you love writing too then go for it! I always find it so enjoyable and especially love trying to add a lot of humor to my books.
  
  I'd also say don't let anything get in your way of writing if that's what you want to do. Several times I've had friends say they'd like to write a book but didn't have "training" in writing and thought that was enough to leave them down for the count. Guess what? One of the most prolific bestselling writers of all time was Agatha Christie and she never even went to school! She was homeschooled at a time when most children weren't and look at what she accomplished: sixty-five fabulous books!
• Who are the authors or what are the books that had the greatest influence in your own writing? Why?: AUNTIE MAME by Patrick Dennis, real name Edward Everett Tanner, has been my all-time favorite book since I was twelve years old. It was basically a spoof/satire, but his take on the fads and the cultural climate of his time were hilarious and, at the same time, right on target.
  
  THE SHELL SEEKERS by Rosamunde Pilcher was another book that influenced me. It wasn't a satire, it was more like a drama, but there was something so nice about the main character that it seemed like a great example of what a woman could be. All of Rosamunde Pilcher's books are terrific if you ask me!
  
  Beyond that, I consider anything whatsoever to be inspirational if it's by the greatest mystery writer of them all, Agatha Christie!
• What are your current or future writing plans? What can readers further expect from you?: I thoroughly enjoy writing cozy mysteries and I have a whole bunch of new ones planned. I may start turning one previous mystery into a series. Stay tuned!

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