The Silver Lake High football team did what they could on defense to stop their opponent from getting much going in their last bout.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, the same could be said for the Hanover Indians defense in the same contest. The Lakers hosted Hanover in a non playoff bout on Thursday, Nov. 9 and only one touchdown was scored in the entire contest. It did not come from the Lakers, so they took a 6-0 loss and fell to 2-8 on the season.

On defense, senior captains Marshall Roy and Cam Danahy, both of whom are linebackers, played tough. They each had a tackle for a loss on the Hanover quarterback. Junior defensive lineman Will Hesketh also provided the team with steady pressure up front all night, recording a sack in the bout.

With the wet field conditions, both teams depended on their run games to move the ball downfield, but Hanover was tough in the trenches, so they managed to shut the Lakers out. It was just the second time the Lakers have been held scoreless this season; the other instance of this occurring came in their October 19 bout against the Duxbury Dragons, who won the Patriot League Keenan Division championship.

With the loss, the Lakers are still winless at home (0-5) and have yet to defeat a Patriot League opponent. However, that could all change in their final bout of the season on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 22) against the Pembroke Titans (10:00 a.m. start time).

After all, Pembroke is 1-8 this season and riding a four game losing streak. Their offense is not particularly sharp, averaging less than seven points per game while their defense has let up more than 30 in those same bouts. That said, the Lakers definitely have an opportunity to end the season on a strong note.

PLYMOUTH – On Monday, a Halifax man, Paul A. Ledwell, Jr., 30, changed his plea in Plymouth Superior Court from “Not Guilty” to “Guilty” on two charges, one count of driving under the influence of a Class A substance (Carfentanil) while causing serious bodily injury and one count of possession of a Class B substance (marijuana).

The charges stem from a head-on collision that occurred between a Kingston woman, Elizabeth Runnals, and Ledwell on Route 80 in front of the Sacred Heart Elementary School on June 16, 2017.

Ledwell will serve 18 months of a two-and-a-half year sentence in the Plymouth County House of Correction followed by four years of probation for the crime. On the possession of a Class B substance charge, marijuana, he will serve one year of probation concurrently.

The clean-cut young man did not look as if he knew he was about to be taken into custody; he could have easily been mistaken for a lawyer in his sharp suit in the lobby before the hearing. Runnals was present as well, in a leg-brace and a wheelchair.

Judge Gregg Pasquale presided over the hearing, which was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Alexander Zane. Kevin Reddington, a Brockton-based defense attorney, represented Ledwell.

Family members and friends of both the defendant and the victim were present during the emotional proceedings.

Pasquale spent some time ascertaining whether Ledwell understood the implications of what he was doing.  A construction worker and the father of several children, was choked-up and inaudible at the beginning of the allocution, as he was asked a series of questions and given warnings to make sure he knew he was giving up his right to a trial by judge or jury and that he was giving up rights to appeals.

Ledwell flushed red, sometimes rushing the judge by saying, “Yes,” or “Yes, your honor,” quite quickly throughout the questioning by the judge.

When asked what he was doing there in court, he paused for a long time and said simply, “I am taking a plea.”

Next, ADA Zane, recounted in graphic detail the facts of the crime. Between his account and police records in court files, a picture of the treacherous pursuit of a drugged man by a civilian spanning half-a-dozen miles across two towns followed by a horrific head-on crash, along with the stories of heroic first responders emerged.

One report stated that at 4:56 p.m. on July 16, 2017, Colin Chromy, a Kingston man, called 911, indicating he was behind a black Ford Explorer and that it was all over the road on Bishop’s Highway (Rt. 80). Chromy, a Kingston carpenter, said in a later interview that he had followed the vehicle from Old Farm Lane in Plympton and saw it almost hit several other vehicles in a chase that spanned two towns with speeds reaching up to 90 mph.

While on the phone with 911, Chromy saw the Ford Explorer, later identified as  being driven by Ledwell, cross the double yellow line and collide head-on with a red Chrysler PT Cruiser, operated by Runnals.

“Both vehicles has [sic] heavy front end damage and it was clear that the Ford Explorer was in the wrong lane of travel,” said the report. “The operator of the vehicle that was struck by the Explorer was identified as an Elizabeth Runnals. Officer Fuller jumped into the back seat and kept her head and neck straight so as not to prevent [sic] further damage to the area. Elizabeth was clearly pinned in the vehicle and was in an extreme amount of pain. She was moaning and yelling out in pain. Kingston Fire arrived on scene and had to use the jaws of life to mechanically remove Elizabeth from the vehicle.”

Runnals experienced injuries to her ribs, knee, ankle, toes, hip and she said doctors believe she will have permanent neurological damage. She uses a wheelchair for mobility most of the time.

Ledwell was also injured in the accident, though to a lesser extent, receiving injuries to his face and arms, say police reports. He was given Narcan after nodding out while firefighters were treating him and responded to it– angrily as often is the case when people are given Narcan and quickly come down from a high.

Zane emphasized that Narcan only has an effect on people who have taken opioids, and two bags of white powder were found in his vehicle, along with marijuana. Although the state lab had difficulty identifying the white powder found at first, it was eventually identified as Carfentanil, a veterinary tranquilizer commonly known to put elephants to sleep, noted Zane.

That he was driving “is honestly terrifying,” Zane said.

Zane stated that the accident had an emotional and financial impact on the family, who are self-employed, and that Ledwell showed a lack of remorse. He mentioned that Ledwell had several OUI’s and drug crimes, many of which he said had dispositions of “Not Guilty.”

At one point, Ledwell’s attorney, Reddington, became annoyed with Zane, and leapt up, asking to be heard during, “this filibuster.”

“This is piling on,” he said. He opposed Chromy providing a victim impact statement. “The 911-guy doesn’t have standing.”

The victim, Runnals, was allowed to give a victim impact statement, as was her husband Thomas, and two of her children, Sonya and Holly. Although the civilian who followed Ledwell was not allowed to give a statement, “under the statute,” according to Pasquale, the judge asked Chromy to rise in court and told him that he was a hero.

To Runnals, the judge said, “I understand this has been a difficult case for all involved…I hear you have been through a horrendous ordeal.”

Runnals then spoke emotionally of what she had been through during and after the accident.

“I’ve always been a healthy person,” she said, through tears. “I was just driving down the road, and my life flashed before my eyes.” She described multiple, painful surgeries and the emotional pain Ledwell had caused her. She said she hopes to walk again.

As for drugs, she said, “Just stay home if you want to do them.”

Her daughter Sonya told the court about her view of free will. “My mother wasn’t allowed free will that day.”

“She was less than a mile from home. She had nowhere to go,” she added.

Her daughter Holly described feeling guilty she lives farther away and said she keeps in touch with her mother by phone daily. She said her mother won’t tell her what she’s going though so as not to put a damper on her day.

“At the end of this process, it isn’t over for us,” she said.

Her husband, Thomas, spoke slowly and deliberately, almost stuttering at first. He said that he and his wife had been married 40 years and had worked every day together for 30 of them. “It bothers her tremendously she can’t help me,” he said, saying at one point he had lost 30 pounds doing all the extra work she used to do. “She’s an angel.”

Reddington addressed the court, noting that the victims’ impact statements were, “classy…not one angry word.”

He said that Ledwell is a decent man who has an addiction, and while not an excuse for his behavior, he has been doing incredibly well recently, despite a relapse six days after the accident, and was horrified to read reports of the accident.

He asked if his client could address the court, and Ledwell offered an apology to Runnals, although he never turned in her direction. “I’m very, very, very, very sorry…I’m not a monster,” he said.

He was then sentenced by Pasquale, who spent some time to explain his rationale, to three times the minimum sentence of six months in jail for the more serious charge and concurrent probation for the second. Although he said the conduct was abhorrent, he believed that Ledwell appeared to be truly remorseful.

Ledwell was then handcuffed and taken away by court officers to be transported to the House of Correction.

In the hallway outside the courtroom, Runnals and her husband said that they believed that justice had been served. Chromy added that he thought that Ledwell was sorry.

With former Democratic State Rep. Thomas Calter leaving Beacon Hill to serve as Kingston’s town administrator, a freshman representative will take his place. Democrat Kathy LaNatra, of Kingston will square off against Republican Joe Truschelli, of Plymouth for the 12^th Plymouth District seat.Both Truschelli and LaNatra have experience in municipal government.

LaNatra is the Vice-chairman of the Kingston Board of Selectmen and a trustee of the Affordable Housing Trust. She previously served as Recreation Commissioner for eight years and was also a member of the Community Preservation Committee. Outside of municipal government, Lanatra owned her own small retail business for 10 years and is a licensed realtor.

Truschelli is a town meeting representative in Plymouth and a veteran of the war in Iraq. He served in the Air Force for almost two decades, both as an enlisted NCO and as a commissioned officer. After his time in Iraq, Truschelli now serves at the Joint Force Headquarters for the Massachusetts National Guard as a public affairs officer.

Truschelli’s campaign touted his fiscal responsibility and transparency as a town meeting representative in Plymouth.“In his time as a town meeting representative he has worked with his colleagues to ensure the funding of our schools and first responders are protected and that we position the community to be ready for any fiscal challenge we may be faced with,” he said on his campaign website.

LaNatra’s campaign highlighted her experience as a small business owner and said her successes there will allow her to have a bipartisan approach when it comes to economic policy.

“Drawing on her success in business, Kathy will embrace a pragmatic approach to the most pressing issues in our community, according to her website. “As the structure of our economy changes and our property taxes increase, Kathy is committed to sustainable economic growth to reduce the tax burden on homeowners and create sustainable jobs.”

As far as policy, both candidates have expressed a desire to focus on local issues, rather than national issues. Both LaNatra and Truschelli have said they’d prioritize supporting local law enforcement, taking care of local veterans and facing the opioid crisis in the 12th Plymouth District communities. Plymouth Area Community Television held political forum on public access on Oct. 4, where both candidates spoke to these issues.

LaNatra said, “My husband Mike has served as a Kingston Police Officer for 12 years and was with the New York Police Department during the 9/11 terrorist attack and its aftermath. I understand firsthand the sacrifices of those who devote their lives to protecting our communities.”

She added that the state has a responsibility to properly fund public safety training and fund healthcare for work-related injuries. In the forum, Truschelli agreed that more funding is needed for first responders.  During the campaign he has also spoken of his work with the Baker-Polito administration on veterans’ issues. “Joe spearheaded programs focused on ending homelessness among veterans, veteran employment, and suicide prevention … He has been a tireless advocate working on behalf of our state’s veteran population.”

Where the two have publicly differed most, is on Question 1 of the statewide referendum on nurse to patient ratios. During the candidate forum, LaNatra expressed her support for Question 1, to limit the number of patients assigned to a registered nurse at a hospital.

LaNatra shared a story of a nurse who was attacked at an understaffed hospital and had no one to help him and the former nurse who had a patient die from complications with a pulled wisdom tooth. She said situations like these are why she is voting yes.

Truschelli is voting no, citing a concern for seniors potentially receiving less attention than they need. He said he has spoken with nurses and hospital administrators and would rather a middle ground solution be made.

PLYMOUTH – “Fake crutch!” called out a male voice from the back of the Superior Court courtroom as Justin Kilburn, 29, of Kingston, entered alone, assisted by a crutch under one arm at the Plymouth Trial Court Friday, Oct. 19. Kilburn has been indicted on vehicular manslaughter and several other charges, including OUI, in a deadly head-on collision on County Road (Route 106) in Plympton last May that police reports say killed Diane Giordani, 52, of Plympton.

About 10 family and friends of Giordani, including her husband and sister, were visibly and audibly upset during and after the status hearing, which has been delayed three times this past summer by court-appointed attorney Jack Atwood, a Plymouth-based defense lawyer, for reasons including a vacation and being stuck in traffic.

There was a heavy security presence–eight court officers–in the room during the extremely brief hearing. Lawyers took less than three minutes to exchange paperwork and conference with the judge. It seemed over before it had even started.

The case, labeled as “most complex” by the clerk’s office, is expected to take many months to work its way through the system, according to assistant district attorney Russell Eonas, who spoke in the hallway outside the Superior Court with family members and friends of Giordani.

The family and friends surrounded Eonas and peppered him with questions. Eonas took about 30 minutes to answer their individual concerns and explained the process going forward and various theories of prosecution. By the end of the conversation, emotions had subsided, and the group was calmly talking about the Red Sox game the previous night.

When asked if the explanations by the ADA had assuaged their concerns, Giordani’s sister said, “Russ is great,” as other family and friends nodded in agreement.

Michael Giordani, Diane’s husband, is especially upset that speed limits, currently a very controversial subject in Plympton, are being raised by MassDOT, including, he says, directly in front of the accident site, because signage around town is being replaced for free by the state.

He added, “I drive by [the crash site] every day on my way to work, and I cry every day…keep writing about it.”

PLYMPTON – On Monday, Oct. 15, Lisa Sullivan, a senior planner with the Old Colony Planning Council held a drop-in event at Town House to solicit opinions from the public and from town officials and committee members regarding the future of the village center and the Town House campus.

She was quick to note that it was a “visioning” event and that she was there to seek input, not to change anything. The OCPC provides grants and technical assistance for projects such as the future development and improvement of the village center, something that Selectmen have been discussing for some time.

“This is one…of the reasons that I ran for Selectman,” said Selectman Mark Russo. He wants to leave a “master plan” in place for officials in the future.

Some residents seemed a little confused as to who Sullivan was and what she exactly was there to do.

“Please don’t get upset,” said Sullivan. “We’re not here to make decisions…We make recommendations. We make a report.”

She’ll be summing up all of the input she gets, including from an online survey in a report that the Selectmen should receive in November, she says, for the Town to use as it sees fit.

They will analyze demographics, current zoning, streetscapes, parks, housing possibilities, even lighting and crosswalk preferences.

“Nothing will happen of this unless your community decides to act on it,” Sullivan added.

Participants at the event filled out surveys as they sipped bottled water and snacked on free cookies while talking to Sullivan, after she gave a brief presentation.

They also voted by placing colored stickers on charts depicting different suggested improvements for the village center. For example, several different types of affordable housing were pictured, and residents placed stickers next to the type they preferred, if any. Another chart contained several types of parks, while another showed crosswalks and another light polls.

One thing that became apparent quite quickly is that people define the boundaries of the village center in many different ways.

The board, according to Russo, hopes to have a master plan in place within a year. The survey is still available online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JNCL2HK

PLYMPTON – The Public Safety Building Committee met Oct. 3 for their monthly meeting.

Although the new driveway for the station was on the agenda, a perennially hot topic, it was only discussed briefly. After a site visit, the committee ended up discussing signage for the new station, a topic they had yet to address and was not, technically, on the agenda.

The Express was invited on an exclusive tour of the station but was asked not to photograph the inside of the building.

The approximately 6,500 square foot facility is well underway.

The framing, which can be seen from the street, will be finished by Friday, and windows have arrived and will be installed once the rain has let up, next week.

The electrical, plumbing and HVAC installation will all begin soon, Oct. 22.

The building has openings for large windows, and a community room will be in the front of the building. Offices surround a central reception area, which will be enclosed.

The prisoner holding cells, made out of concrete cinderblock, have taken shape, as has the booking area in the back of the station.

In the twilight, approaching Halloween, the dark and imposing half-built cells made for an eerie sight.

The very back of the building contains a secure sally-port to transfer prisoners from vehicles to cells and back.

Dan Pallotta, the project manager, says the building is about 30 percent complete.

He claims that the new station has the lowest cost per square foot of any new station in the state in the past three years.

The main topic of discussion at the PSBC meeting was an old, “retro” police sign that the police are fond of on the current, old station.

Robert Karling, the wiring inspector, brought up the fact the police are often concerned when the sign is not lit, which led to a further discussion of signage at the station, and on the Town House campus in general.

The group, at first discussed moving the old sign to the new building, but after taking a walk outside to look at it, Chairman Colleen Thompson took a strong stand against a move.

Pallotta even suggested using CPA money to restore the sign or build a replica of it. “It’ll need CPR before CPA money,” quipped Karling.

“I like blue lights,” Thompson said, which Pallotta eventually agreed with, and putting a sign at the bottom of the hill that would match the library sign.

Member Mark Russo mentioned that a master plan for the entire Town House campus is being developed now and public input is being sought. He expressed that he wanted to see signs that were compatible with each other, as well.

The PSBC will next meet Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m.

PLYMPTON – Plympton Selectmen met Monday night and had some upset neighbors before them. The citizens were frustrated that speed limit signs were raised in some areas on Main Street, Center Street, and Parsonage Road.

Scott Ripley, new Highway Superintendent, came before the board to explain the situation.

“We’re getting a pretty pricey job done for free,” he said, explaining that MassDOT was upgrading street signs throughout the town at no cost. But, on the flip side, the speed limits, which are set by the state on both town and state roads, are being adjusted as well.

The project entails the replacement of signs, guardrails, and new line striping in Plympton, Rochester and Middleboro. Plympton is getting about $250,000 in free work from the state, according to Selectmen Chairman John Traynor.

The explanation did nothing to assuage residents’ concerns. Although they did not personally attack Ripley, he was certainly in the hot seat as question after question came from residents and selectmen.

The scene was a bit of a free-for-all, as Traynor did not ask residents to identify themselves, and people, in their enthusiasm, talked over one another.

Ripley, to much laughter, stated that the process to change a speed limit is for the town, at its own expense, to do a speed study, and then submit it to the state for final approval.

He said that the previous superintendent had signed off on the changes, but that the document was very confusing to read and about 90-pages long.

Vicki Alberti, of Main St., asked if the neighbors can individually complain. “Right now, we’re [Center Street] faster than Route 58.”

Ripley replied, “Yes, but the legality is the state sets the speed limits.”

He and the board later encouraged residents to call or write letters to MassDot Division 5, the division overseeing the work.

Selectman Mark Russo suggested that some of the areas were “thickly settled,” and would thus be subject to lower speed limits.

“My understanding of thickly settled is 200-feet between houses,” he said.

Traynor also brought up the fundamental speed limit warrant article that failed in Halifax. He wants to talk to Charlie Seelig, Halifax Town Administrator, in further detail about what such a proposal entails.

The Halifax article would have set a basic speed limit throughout the town, unless otherwise marked, which is not uncommon in area communities, but failed at their last Special Town Meeting.

Another audience member asked if trucks could be restricted on Main Street. Traynor said that he’d look into it.

One resident read all of the speed limits along her stretch of road. “They don’t make any sense…It doesn’t pass the silly test!” she exclaimed.

In other news:

• The board signed the warrant for the state election.

• The board directed the Town Administrator to send a memo to the Planning Board, alerting them to develop a marijuana zoning by-law for the town before the next Town Meeting.

• There are openings on the Finance Committee and the Planning Board.

• Town House will be closed Monday, Oct. 8 in observance of Columbus Day.

• The board next meets on Monday, Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m. For the two hours prior to that meeting, from 4:30-6:30 p.m., selectmen and other town officials will welcome the public to an open house at Town House to give input on the “Master Plan” for the Town House Campus.

Tuesday’s Halifax Board of Selectmen meeting had a dog hearing over a German Shepperd killing a small Monti dog.

Because of cooperation between the dog owners, the German Shepperd is being given a second chance rather than being put down.

When describing what happened the owner of the German Shepperd said he was playing catch with a football with the dog in the front yard. The electric fence was not up because the dog was on leash. When the owner threw the ball the ball though, the leash failed. Katie who also lives at White Island Road was walking her two dogs at the time.

He heard screams after throwing the ball. This was when the German Shepperd grabbed the five-month-old Monti in its mouth and shook it. The dog succumbed to its injuries.

The owner of the victim’s dog vouched that the German Shepperd isn’t a vicious dog but believed it didn’t know what it was doing. After a recommendation from Animal Control Officer Noreen Callahan, the Board of Selectmen ordered the 17-month-old German Shepperd get training, stay up-to-date on its licensing at all times, and a permanent fence be installed in the owner’s yard.

“I don’t think it knew what it was doing, Katie who owned the dog that was killed said when describing the German Shepperd, “I don’t think it’s vicious.”

Selectman Thomas Millias said the situation was sad on both sides and after the testimony agreed the dog may not have attacked out of aggression. “The dog may have been riled up from play” Millias said. “It doesn’t fix things but at least we know.”

Katie told the Board of Selectmen that the German Shepperd’s owner took responsibility for the dog’s actions offering to pay restitution and paid the medical bills for her other dog.

Police Chief Selection Process Underway

The Board of Selectmen narrowed down their search for a new police chief to five applicants and two alternates in case any of the five decline to be interviewed. There were 28 total applicants.

At this point, the identities of the candidates were not revealed. The Board of Selectmen said they legally cannot release their names this early in the hiring process, All selected candidates were referred to by a number.

Several merits of the candidates were discussed. At least four of them had Masters degrees and several had military experience. One candidate was a colonel in the military police.

After the assessment center reviews the five candidates, Selectmen Chair Kim Roy said the names can be released. Interviews after that will be open to the public.

Wage and Personnel Appointment

The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved appointing Claudia Noble-Cotton to the Wage and Personnel Board.

Noble-Cotton has lived in Halifax for 15 years and has two teens at Silver lake High School. She said now that her children are older, she has more time to get involved.

Noble-Cotton’s experience aligns with the positions, Roy said. She works for JP Morgan in Boston and has experience with hiring and writing job description.

Other News

The Board of Selectmen approved a one-day liquor license for Our Lady of the Lake Cjurch’s Octoberfest. Only beer will be served at the event and all bartenders are T.I.P. certified.

The next Halifax Board of Selectmen Meeting is Tuesday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m.

WHITMAN — The most common image that comes to mind with the phrase “missing persons detective thriller” involve Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade or Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer — hard-bitten tough guys who chain-smoke cigarettes and wear felt fedoras and their .38 in a shoulder holster.

A new novel with Whitman roots in its title, “Little Comfort,” introduces a different kind of detective hero.

She is Hester Thursby, a Harvard librarian who stands all of four-feet nine inches tall — that’s four-feet nine and three quarters inches tall — who takes care of her 3-year-old niece, her non-husband Morgan Maguire and a Bassett hound named Waffles. She works on missing persons cases in her spare time.

Hill is scheduled to talk about his book at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 27 at the Whitman Public Library. He plans to read three excerpts from the book, centering on the three main characters and how they are introduced in the story.

“Hester is tough, she’s smart, she’s resourceful (unlike Rambo, she’s also articulate), but she definitely isn’t feisty,” author Edwin Hill says of his protagonist in his promotional materials. He said he is drawn to characters, especially in movies, that are faced with challenging situations with only their own resolve to make it through.

“I like difference,” he said of Hester’s size. “I wanted something to make sure she never blended in.”

It was an Agatha Christie novel he read on a car trip as a kid that hooked him on mystery novels.

“From that moment on, I wanted to be a mystery writer and it only took me 35 years to figure out how to do it,” he said. A failed attempt at publishing a book in the early 2000s left him discouraged until he found the kernel of an idea in the Christian Gerhartsreiter — AKA Clark Rockefeller — a professional imposter who kidnapped his daughter and was later convicted of murder. There are also facets of the Charles Stuart case in “Little Comfort.” By 2012 he was back to writing with an agent by 2014 and selling it two years ago.

His debut novel, released Aug. 28, traces Thursby’s latest case, a handsome, ruthless grifter whose life goal to be accepted as part of the wealthy class who owned the summer lake houses he grew up cleaning. Sam Blaine uses a secret he shares with Gabe DiPuriso, based on an incident out of Gabe’s foster child past.

A library is another source of his inspiration.

Hill’s grandmother, Phyllis Hill was the librarian in Whitman from the 1940s to the late ’60s.

“Librarians are really central to a community,” he said. “They really were then, too. She created all kinds of programs at the library that people would take part in and she really helped influence people’s futures.”

Mrs. Hill died in 1994 at the age of 99. Her grandson recalled how people came from all over to her funeral and talked about the influence she had on their lives and how she had always welcomed them.

His parents still live in Whitman, where his dad grew up.

While the book also takes the title from Whitman — once known as the Little Comfort section of Abington — but the story is set in Somerville where he grew up. Hill has a Google alert set up on his home computer for the phrase Little Comfort and has collected some unusual headlines.

“I just loved the name,” he said. “I always knew that my first book was going to be called ‘Little Comfort,’ because it’s such a perfect title for a mystery novel. Then I had to work it into the actual story.”

Backstory

The saying goes that one should write what you know and, just as Robert Cormier set his novels, such as “The Chocolate War,” in Fitchburg and Leominster where he lived and edited the local newspaper, Hill leans on his grandmother’s career in the town of his family’s roots for inspiration.

“When I was drafting, I wrote a lot of scenes of [Thursby] at work, but I really wanted the character to be very isolated, it’s central to the plot that she feels very isolated,” Hill said. “I actually ended up putting her on leave.”

In this novel, the first book in a series, she doesn’t go into work to achieve that feeling of isolation. But the Widener Library and her job there will feature in the second and third books in the series. The fifth book in the series is going to be set on the South Shore.

He said readers should be aware this is a story that involves violence and sex.

“This is not a cozy mystery,” he said. “It deals with some uncomfortable situations.”

A hint can be found in Hill’s inclusion of Hester Thursby’s idea of relaxation — retreating to her own top-floor apartment in the multi-family house she owns with Morgan to watch VHS tapes of her favorite movies. Her top 10 titles include “Alien,” “Jaws 2,” “Halloween” and “The Shining” as well as “The Little Mermaid.”

“She loves movies where women overcome extraordinary circumstances,” he said.

He also includes Crabbies — those crabmeat and cheese on an English muffin bites often served at family get-togethers — as part of a suggested menu for book club events. Macaroni and cheese also features as a food of choice for many characters in the book. Whitman groups may also appreciate his suggestion of chocolate chip waffle cookies, which are a tip of the hat to Hester’s beloved canine.

“Anything where you can get crowd sourcing is great,” he said of the recipes.

Does Hill see any of himself in his characters?

“When you write a book of fiction like this, I would say every character is you because they come out of you, and then no character is you at the same time,” he said.

A vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martins, a tech book division of Macmillan, Hill worked on his book early in the morning before work, and in the evenings, at home. But his professional connections would not have helped with a mystery novel, and he was careful not to blur the lines between his profession and avocation in any case.

“It was a long process,” he said of getting published. “You have to be resolved, you have to have grit and you have to be prepared to work through hearing, no.’”

After the major hurdle of finishing a book, comes the work of finding an agent, a publisher and, finally, an audience for your book.

That’s where Hill finds himself now. He has hit the road to visit bookshops and libraries in Brookline, Belmont and Whitman as well as New York City and Austin, Texas. On the day he spoke with the Express, he had just done an interview about the book with a Florida-based podcast.