Dead in Small Doses Article_Marco Island Coastal Breeze

Author John Dandola's Newest Mystery Written Entirely
Here on Marco Island

by
Holly Benedict

In the past, author John Dandola has set one mystery novel on Marco Island (A Beckoning Wind) and soaked up atmosphere to write another (Dead in Small Doses) but his latest, Dead by Happenstance, was written entirely during his last annual stay here.

"My wife and I have had to put off relocating to Marco solely because
of an elderly relative for whom we are caregivers. As is known to
everyone who has been involved with such things, that doesn't leave
a lot of time to oneself. I used research as a respite because it can be
done in spurts. When we finally got an extended break last year and
made our way back to Marco, it allowed me to pull together all of my
notes and write."

It was an experiment Dandola has long wanted to undertake since he
has always been influenced by his surroundings.

"I've written scenes and snippets while on Marco but never an entire
book. I desperately needed to know if I could feel comfortable enough
to do that," he explains. "I can write at home in the Northeast because
I grew up there. But I can't write while in Manhattan because I have no
sense of serenity. People tell me they thrive in the ‘beat and rhythm of
the city' but it causes me to lose all concentration—no matter where
you are or how high up, it's noisy and unfriendly. I can't write in Los
Angeles unless I shutter myself in because I find it oppressive. Peers
often turn projects into a contest of who's ahead of whom. Even the
pizza delivery guy is struggling to get into show business and that
weighs on me. I can't offer help or suggestions and it all becomes
burdensome unless I become a hermit. On Marco, just like at home,
I found that I can work at my own pace and I'm left alone in peace and quiet. That's priceless. What's more, there's the beach where I've always found it easy to become mesmerized and conjure up or work out storylines."

Dead by Happenstance is the fifth in Dandola's 1940's mysteries with a Hollywood hook featuring a sometime show business bodyguard. The author's vast knowledge of vintage movie-making and the
inner-workings of the Studio System are things to be savored by film buffs. Here is it's synopsis:

Why set a series of novels during the 1940's, an era before the author was born?

"You mean besides the fact that I find '40s dames fascinating?" quips Dandola. "I thoroughly enjoy writing about them. But actually that would have probably never have come about if the time-frame hadn't been dictated for me by an event which happened in my hometown."

Dandola's mystery series began as a stand-alone novel entitled Dead at the Box Office. That storyline used as a backdrop the World Premiere of M.G.M.'s Edison, the Man which actually took place in his hometown of West Orange, New Jersey, during May of 1940 (Edison's home, laboratory, and factories were in West Orange). Dandola is the only one who has ever pieced together all the events which took place for the multiple days of celebration. Although the local newspaper reports tended not only to be hyperbolic but contradictory, he managed to reconstruct everything with the assistance of now-deceased Hollywood participants and now-deceased local participants along with official studio memos. The whole premise for that book was kicked off by several meetings the author had with none other than Orson Welles. As a young screenwriter, Dandola was already known for his expertise about classic movies and he was asked to accompany an interviewer during one of Welles' late-in-life tours to raise money to complete an independent film project. Welles grew tired of the interviewer but he clicked with Dandola and invited him back for more discussions. He became fascinated with the depth of Dandola's roots in one place and that Dandola's grandfather had been a personal messenger boy for Edison and a friend of the youngest Edison son.

"He [Welles] actually began pumping me for information. He was surprised I shot films in my hometown and the surrounding countryside; some of them costume pieces. That was long before the current technology made it easy to do. We compared notes on the trials and tribulations of that. But most of all, I can still hear him saying, 'Your family has been in one place for that long?…And you have a connection to Thomas Edison to boot?…You've got to promise me you'll do something with all that as a background for a story at the very least.' Several years later, during a screenwriters' strike, I gave it a try as a mystery novel. It was successful."

That success not only included a step up to a larger publisher but continual interest in the screen rights by a variety of movie producers. Every time a novel debuts, Hollywood nibbles. There have even been scripts written and locations scouted but so far nothing has made it onto the screen. Yet Dandola is unchanged by any of it and he is content in his surroundings working long-distance on a variety of writing assignments.

Dead by Happenstance is published by Compass Point Mysteries (326 pages, $15.95) and is available online directly from the publisher at http://www.QuincannonGroup.com/DelPlatoMysteries.html.

Dandola's publisher was one of the first in a growing list of independent publishers which have stopped selling through Amazon and Barnes & Noble because the deep discounts demanded by those vendors virtually eradicates all profit. What's more, the author has resisted e-books not due to their format but due to the problem of security. His explanation is simple: "Digitalizing anything makes copying all the more easy therefore increasing potential theft and piracy which, in turn, robs an author of income. I know that readers don't realize or consider how authors earn a living but on payday, do you allow a stranger to collect your paycheck? That's why my books will have to remain as old-fashioned books for the moment."

John Dandola holds professional credentials as a novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and historian. He frequently lectures and teaches. He has also worked very closely with regional museums writing everything from formal histories and biographies to guidebooks and historical fiction.