Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at the
Centre Furnace Mansion
State College native Charles Fergus writes mysteries set in Pennsylvania in the Jacksonian Era of the 1830s. He will present a talk and book signing about his third Gideon Stoltz Mystery, Lay This Body Down.
Lay This Body Down takes place in 1837 during one of the most horrific periods in American history, when human beings were considered chattel and both Northern and Southern states grew rich because of slavery. A Pennsylvania sheriff like Gideon Stoltz could choose to uphold the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 or defy that racist law at great peril. In this hard-hitting, action-packed novel, Gideon tries to protect a boy who has fled from a Virginia plantation into the fraught and hostile North – and pays dearly for his principles."
Charles is the author of more than twenty books. His three Gideon Stoltz Historical Mysteries are A Stranger Here Below (2019), Nighthawk’s Wing (2021), and Lay This Body Down (2023). He has written for publications as various as Audubon, the New York Times, Highlights for Children, Country Journal, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and Pennsylvania Game News.
This program is part of the Henszey-Pyle Distinguished Author Series underwritten by the Anne Hamilton Henszey Pyle and Kenneth B. Pyle Educational Fund for Regional Heritage Preservation (Henszey-Pyle Fund.)
This talk will be held in the lower level Hearth Room.
Seating is limited at the Centre Furnace Mansion, We are expecting a full house. With that, please find a parking map below. You may park in the main lot off Porter Road, or in front of Frye's (since it is not a business day,) or in the parking lot behind Esber Home & Rugs.
This program is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.
To RSVP, simply fill out the form below to RSVP and submit, or call 814-234-4779.