Tag Archives: Cape Cod artists

Truro is the Setting for Mystery Novel Sequel to Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook

Cape Cod Fishnet Industries in North Truro

Cape Cod Fishnet Industries in North Truro

This old glossy postcard from the 1960s show Tiny Worthington’s store Fishnet Industries and the caption on the postcard states it was open year round back in the days when telephones were managed by live operators and the phone number was “Provincetown 834”.  Advertised as “The only shop of its kind” the establishment provided year-round employment.  Thirty-five years ago, Truro in the summertime was not very different from Truro in 2015. But what happens when someone is found dead in a beautiful home with an idyllic view of the Pamet River.  Who is going to solve the mystery? Fans of Remaining in Provincetown will be please to know that a sequel has been written.  Currently being edited and reviewed, we’ll keep posting old postcards for your viewing pleasure.  Haven’t read the first book yet?  There’s still time during the cold winter months on Cape Cod.  Currently available online and at your favorite bookstores including the Provincetown Bookshop. Like us on Facebook and keep the conversation going.

Provincetown Along The Shore

Along the Shore Provincetown, Cape Cod

Along the Shore
Provincetown, Cape Cod

Along the shore is where I want to be on a beautiful day when the sun in shining   Pink sky along the water’s edge and pale yellow sand that rubs against my toes    Another glorious day in Provincetown where the light is bright and pure and the sounds of the sea are never far from my ears.

The above postcard is a color lithographic print circa 1910.  Love Provincetown? Check out the new murder mystery Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook available in trade paperback and as an ebook. Like us on Facebook and keep the conversation going.

Railroad Wharf Provincetown Cape Cod Sailing Vessels

Provincetown Railroad Wharf

Provincetown
Railroad Wharf

This postcard, a hand colored photograph, was mailed from Provincetown Massachusetts to Bethehem  New Hampshire in 1908. Titled  “Fishing & Pleasure Boats, Railroad Wharf, Provincetown, Mass” it was published by The Robinson Brothers in Boston and was printed in Germany and distributed by the Metropolitan News Company.
It is a lovely picture which shows the gracefulness of the sailboats used for recreation and the handsome schooners used for fishing. Before there was  a Macmillan Wharf, the main downtown wharf in Provincetown was known as Railroad Wharf because the railroad tracks ran all the way down to the end in order to easily load fish off the fishing boats for shipping (with some ice of course) straight to major cities that included New York. It was back in the days when men wore bowler derby hats and a child might carry a parasol. Horses and carts were still being used, along with the first automobiles. That was long ago and times have changed. The town on the tip of Cape Cod continues to evolve. What was it like a few decades ago? To get an impression, read the new mystery novel Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook. Available online where books are sold and locally in Provincetown at the Provincetown bookshop (autographed). Like us on facebook and keep the conversation growing.

Provincetown Artists on the beach at low tide

antique postcard published by H.A. Dickerman & Son, Taunton Massachussetts

antique postcard published by H.A. Dickerman & Son, Taunton Massachussetts

You can see a sandbar and someone walking on the flats, but the artists on the Provincetown beach in this late 19th century antique postcard are focused on painting a portrait of a seated woman wearing a yellow straw hat. There were several art schools in Provincetown at the time this postcard was published. Artists, who often supplemented their income by teaching were attracted to the northern light reflected off the water, sand dunes, and beaches in the picturesque town located on the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Today the town is still filled with art galleries plus the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.  Plenty of writers have also made Provincetown their home. One of them just wrote a book, a mystery novel set in the 1990’s titled Remaining in Provincetown, which has been getting some very good reader reviews. Have you read it yet? You can buy it at Amazon.com online or if you are making a visit to Provincetown, there are signed copies at the Provincetown Book Shop.  The novel by S.N. Cook is available also as an ebook on kindle. Like us on Facebook. We’d love to hear from you.

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

Remaining in Provincetown By S.N.Cook. Truro Works. 306 pages $12.95 Trade Paperback

Remaining in Provincetown
By S.N.Cook.
Truro Works. 306 pages
$12.95 Trade Paperback

Boston Boat to Provincetown 1911

Boston Boat arriving in Provincetown, Cape Cod

Boston Boat arriving in Provincetown, Cape Cod

This antique postcard was mailed from Provincetown, Massachusetts to Binghamton, New York in 1911.  Provincetown harbor is filled with handsome sailing vessels. Awaiting the arrival of the steamer ferry from Boston are a host of tourists and residents, dressed for a summer’s day with broad brimmed hats and parasols.  Visitors still travel back and forth from Boston to Provincetown on the Fast Ferry.  Some of the characters in the new murder mystery novel Remaining in Provincetown once lived in Boston but decided to relocate to Provincetown. Why? Does it have anything to do with the mystery of who killed Sonny Carreiro? You’ll have to read the book to find out. Now available in bookstores and online. Purchase your copy in paperback or as an ebook. Like us on Facebook and keep the conversation going.

Provincetown Cape Cod vacation includes art gallery visits

Interior view of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in 1940

Interior view of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in 1940

The caption on the top of this vintage postcard sent in 1940 says “Provincetown Art Gallery” but those old timers familiar with the town will instantly recognize this photograph as the interior of the Provincetown Art Association founded in 1914 the way it used to look before various renovations and additions. The organization is now known as the Provincetown Art Association and Museum or PAAM for short.  If you are in Provincetown this weekend, you still have time to catch the “Art in the Garden” exhibit which includes work by Will Barnet, Mona Dukess, Pasquale Natale, Sideo Fromboluti, and Judith Shahn.  You can also attend the opening reception of the Jim Peters exhibition  this Friday ($10 admission to non-members of PAAM) Peters teaches painting and drawing at the Museum School at PAAM and is a member and former chair of the visual arts program committee at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.                                                     One of the characters in the new mystery novel Remaining in Provincetown, Annie Tinker, came to Provincetown to study at the FIne Arts Work Center. Is she a possible suspect? Or is it her husband Beau Costa who put the fatal bullet in Sonny Carreiro? You’ll have to read the book to find out. SIgned copies, while they last, are at the Provincetown Bookstore, or buy your trade paperback book online or as an ebook. Like us on Facebook and keep the conversation going.

Remaining in Provincetown By S.N.Cook. Truro Works. 306 pages $12.95 Trade Paperback

Remaining in Provincetown
By S.N.Cook.
Truro Works. 306 pages
$12.95 Trade Paperback

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

Provincetown artists and vacation time

ArtistsWhile many folks spend their vacations on Cape Cod, sunbathing on the beach, hiking across the sand dunes, surfing the ocean’s waves, and enjoying the fine restaurants,shops, and inns that are so abundant in Provincetown; aspiring artists come to take classes. This early 20th century postcard shows a large class of artists painting from life on a Provincetown beach at low tide, when there was enough sand to accommodate all those students! Artists and art galleries are a big part of Provincetown on a year-round basis. Collecting art was one of Sonny Carreiro’s many pleasures, as a successful entrepreneur o the Lower Cape. Maybe it was a weakness.  Could something related to a particular Provincetown artist help solve the mystery in the new novel Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook? Copies of this popular new mystery are now available in bookstores and online. Visiting Provincetown this summer? A limited number of signed copies are at the Provincetown Bookshop on Commercial Street. Also available at Amazon in trade paperback and kindle. Like us on Facebook. Keep the conversation going.

Remaining in Provincetown By S.N.Cook. Truro Works. 306 pages $12.95 Trade Paperback

Remaining in Provincetown
By S.N.Cook.
Truro Works. 306 pages
$12.95 Trade Paperback

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

Like our facebook fan page and you may be selected to receive a FREE advance cppy!

Provincetown art students painting en plein air

Artists at Work, Provincetown Cape Cod

Artists at Work, Provincetown Cape Cod

Painting in the open air, (en plein air in French), has been a favorite practice of artists in Provincetown, Massachusetts since Charles Hawthorne (1872- 1930) founded the  Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. Given Provincetown’s waterfront setting, one might assume that Hawthorne’s students always set up their box easels on the beach.  The sun’s reflection on the water, and the light and shadows on the sand, were perfect starting points to practice the concepts of Impressionism, which put an important emphasis on capturing on canvas, the artist’s impression of how light changes throughout the day. . Not true, as shown in this antique postcard published by H.A. Dickerman & Son, Taunton, Massachusetts in approximately 1900.  The students, primarily female, are painting a portrait of the model positioned in the right, dressed in a while summer frock and hat with a long braid. Student artists often used local citizens as their models.

The availability of paints in tubes made painting en plein air, so much easier when compared to the practice of grinding and mixing pigment powders with linseed oil.  Notice in the photograph that the boxes to hold paints and contain a palette, also made transporting equipment for painting outside so much easier.  Artists came from all over the world. and still do, to live and work in what was originally a fishing village.

Creating art is important to Annie Tinker, a sculptor who first came to Provincetown as a student at the Fine Arts Work Center. One of the characters in the recently released novel, Remaining in Provincetown by S. N. Cook.  She’s married to Beau Costa, the former business partner of Sonny Carreiro who has been murdered. Could Beau be a suspect?  Haven’t read the book yet? Signed copies are available at the Provincetown Bookshop downtown on Commercial Street or you can buy a trade paperback or ebook online at a variety of sites including Amazon.  Visit our Facebook page , like us and join the conversation.

Best Provincetown Books for Summer Reading

Reading some books about Provincetown will get you in the mood for your visit.

Reading some books about Provincetown will get you in the mood for your visit.

Whether you are visiting Provincetown for the very first time or returning to Cape Cod for your annual summer visit, there is nothing like reading a few good books to get you in the mood. Here are some favorites!

Time and the Town by Mary Heaton Vorse

Mary Heaton Vorse (1874-1966) arrived in Provincetown in 1907. The book was published in 1942 and it is the last of the sixteen books that she wrote. An activist in the American labor movement and a roving foreign correspondent, she was a woman ahead of her time. Her book is a story of the town and its people, rich with history and interesting antidotes. Her story is both a memoir and a social commentary, with lovely descriptions of the way the town once was years ago. y If you have an interest in Cape Cod, Provincetown history, and women writers, don’t miss out on reading this classic.  A reprinted version published by the Rutgers University Press and listed under editor Adele Heller is available online  in paperback. Earlier collectible versions are available from antiquarian book dealers.

The Outermost House: A Year on the Great Beach of Cape Cod

By Henry Beston

Published in 1928 this beloved book that puts the focus on nature, is now available in paperback , and  chronicles a year spent on the Cape Cod Beach , now known as the Coast Guard Beach in Easton. Beston describes the desolate beauty of life living on the sand dunes. You are transported.  Available in paperback, hardback, and a kindle version as well as an audio version, it could be the perfect book to listen to as you drive towards the tip of Cape Cod.

Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook

A perfect beach read, this recently released mystery novel set in the early 1990s, takes you inside the minds of a diverse set of characters whose lives intersect when one of the town’s leading citizens, a real estate entrepreneur and native son, is murdered. “Described Provincetown to a T” says one of the Amazon customer reviews. “Finally an author has been able to successfully capture the flavor of that quirky town on the end of Cape Cod and do it well,” says another reader review.  Available in trade paperback in bookstores, online, and as a kindle version.

Ptown Poem

Provincetown, Cape Cod postcard puts the emphasis on quaint

Vintage chrome postcard.

Vintage chrome postcard.

Greeting from Quaint Cape Cod, says the vintage 1960s postcard. So exactly what does quaint mean? Well it depends on which dictionary you consult. In the “Free online dictionary” the primary definition of the word quaint is:“Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way. “Miriam Webster’s primary definition is: obsolete and their secondary definition is:  “marked by skillful design or marked by beauty and elegance.” Other meanings of the word quaint emphasize the uniqueness of the person, item, or place. Call something quaint and not only is it a little different, but possibly it takes you out of your comfort zone.

How do you describe a place like Cape Cod, rich in history, beautiful, unique, and yes different—particularly Provincetown, the town on Cape Cod’s very tip ? And if you write a book about the town, how do you capture all the different nuances and various types of people who call Provincetown their home. Remaining in Provincetown, the new mystery novel released in April, doesn’t always follow the rules when it comes to traditional mystery stories. There are lots of characters and lots going on, as there is with a town as “quaint” as Provincetown. Want to find out more? Pick up a copy of Remaining in Provincetown by S.N. Cook at your local bookstore (now in stock at Provincetown Bookshop) or online at various sites at Amazon.com in trade paperback and as  an ebook. Like us on Facebook. Keep the conversation going.