The Mystery of the 13th Volume

About the Book

Ford City is a small town near Northern State University -- which state isn't important.  The town's proximity to the university has probably encouraged a much more liberal view of the world than the founding mothers and fathers ever envisioned.  The town's past has included all kinds of social unrest, from Suffragettes and ERA adherents, to civil rights protesters and demands for the end of American involvement in Vietnam.  In the 1970s, the struggle for lesbian, bisexual and gay rights came to Ford City and stayed in the form of a flourishing Gay Community Center.   Shortly after the Community Center was established, a group of transsexuals and transvestites, seizing the moment, began a support group which met in private homes and churches in Ford City.  Finally, in the late 1970s, the group found a home in an abandoned theatre.  Officially incorporated as the Ford City Gender Center, it was quickly absorbed into the towns diverse environment.  In a very short period of time, almost everyone in the town knew what the initials FCGC stood for. The Gender Center also provided an opportunity for our two heroes to walk  and sometimes trudge  their way toward gender congruity and a life, which more fully expressed who they were.  Charlotte Duvall, who started life as Charles, and Rocky Cranston, ne Rosa Crangione are both graduates of the Gender Center.  They met one another during transition and became instant best friends.  Rocky went with Charlotte when she had her sex reassignment surgery, and Charlotte reciprocated when Rocky had his chest reconstruction surgery. This then, is the setting for our two sleuths as they begin their adventures.  Salvia Gemstone, the owner of the venerable Gemstone Coffeehouse and their good friend, reports that her lover of 34 years, Sue Clancy is missing.  Their relationship has been a stormy one, and many times after an argument, Sue takes off to cool off.  This time, however, shes been gone almost a month.  Rocky casually suggests to Charlotte that the two of them do some checking around to help find the missing Clancy.  At first Charlotte laughs at the idea, but when Salvia calls her the next morning to tell her that the police in Botzerton, a small town north of Ford City have found Clancy's body in her truck, an apparent suicide, the adventure begins. The three go to Botzerton to identify the body, but the plot takes an unexpected turn when they discover that the dead woman isn't Sue Clancy but her twin sister, Mary, dressed in Sue's clothes.  Charlotte recognizes a slip of paper taken from Sue's wallet as a book request form from the Ford City Library, where Charlotte works part-time.  The unusual thing about the slip is that it is a request for volume thirteen of a set of books that Charlotte knows only has twelve volumes.  Is there some significance to the slip of paper?   Charlotte Duvall and Rocky Cranston are determined to find out why.   Mystery's newest duo, a pair of transgendered sleuths, are in a 'live' ghost town, searching for a book that's not supposed to exist!  Add to that a secret society called "The Brothers of Vigilance" and you have the makings of a darned good mystery!

About the Author

A Seattle native, P.M. Butler is a teacher, musician, published composer and playwright. A lifelong devotee of the mystery genre, he has read every single Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Carolyn Keene, and Joseph Hansen mystery at least once! Only recently has he turned his talents to writing his own whodunits. Butler’s characters came into being one evening over coffee with a transgendered friend. The friend suggested that it was time to add a transgendered detective to the pantheon of sleuths. Butler, who was Executive Director of Ingersoll Gender Center at the time, agreed and Charlotte Duvall and Rocky Cranston were born. All of the characters in his books are fictional, including Rocky and Charlotte. In his spare time, Butler enjoys spending time with his three daughters and their families. He comes to mystery writing at this point in his life “because I finally found the time to do it.”