Murders headline Boston tabloids in 1908, and Inspector Brody knows the prime motives are revenge and jealousy. The slaying of singing star Rosetta Rice seems no exception, and his chief suspect is a disgruntled vaudevillian lodging at Portridge Arms, a theatrical boardinghouse run by the Porridge Sisters (so called for their vegetarian cuisine). Florrie and Lavinia, however, believe Rosetta's murder was an unintended consequence of machinations by theatrical robber barons. Murder at the Tremont Theatre is an historically accurate mystery peopled with a cast of eccentrics.

Murder at the Tremont Theatre: The First Porridge Sisters Mystery (Porridge Sisters Adventures)

Literature & Fiction

Cullen, Frank

McNeilly, Donald

Genre Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Murder at the Old Howard is the Second Porridge Sisters Adventure written by Frank Cullen & Donald McNeilly, winners of the Theatre Museum of New York’s 2011 Award for Excellence in the Preservation of Theatre History. Florrie and Lavinia Portridge are well-known among vaudevillians and actors as “The Porridge Sisters” for the vegetarian cuisine they serve at Portridge Arms, a “boardinghouse for theatricals” that offers comfort, cleanliness and a bohemian camaraderie. The projected series of seven Porridge Sisters Mysteries takes place in Boston between 1908 and 1932. The Murder at the Tremont Theatre occurred in 1908. In 1912, straightforward and sensible Lavinia and intuitive but erratic Florrie are drawn into the investigation of a sexual-slavery ring that a local newspaper claims is operating out of the Old Howard burlesque theatre in Boston’s infamous Scollay Square. Agnes, their maid, is frantic about the disappearance of her cousin Gracie who has run away with a burlesque troupe. Pony Harris, the reporter who wrote the story about “white slavery” is looking for his missing girlfriend Myra, an Old Howard chorus girl and the source for his story. Tommy, the orphaned newsboy adopted by the Porridge Sisters, is worried about his friend Pony, and Inspector Malachi Brody fears that, once again, the Porridge Sisters are becoming embroiled in a mystery that will lead to Murder at the Old Howard!

Murder at the Old Howard: The Second Porridge Sisters Mystery (Porridge Sisters Adventures)

<p>It's 1924, the Twenties Roar. Speakeasies abound. The Second Ku Klux Klan revival is in odd contrast to the success of white & black revues-one of which is stranded in Boston. The Porridge Sisters sell Portridge Arms and all the Castle Square Irregulars move to Bay Village following an unexpected bequest. London's Metropolitan Police send Scottish Inspector Alastair Poole to Boston on a secret mission, but Poole is diverted from his primary purpose and assigned to investigate a Murder at the Gayety Theatre. Smart cops, crooked cops, dumb cops abound as Lavinia and Florrie help solve the Gayety murder that ends with Poole (and readers) following the Porridge Sisters on a motorcar chase though Boston's narrow streets in the Porridge Sisters Fifth Adventure.Frank Cullen & Donald McNeilly, co-authors of the Porridge Sisters Adventures were honored in 2011 by the New York Theatre Museum for Excellence in the Preservation of Theatre History.</p>

Murder at the Gayety Theatre: The Fifth Porridge Sisters Adventure (Porridge Sisters Adventures)

“Vaudeville Times” was published quarterly from 1998 until 2008. Each issue ran twenty to twenty-eight pages and included four to ten profiles with photos of vaudevillians, old and new, plus reviews and other showbiz histories. AVM is reissuing all forty as a ten volume set.  AVM principals Frank Cullen & Donald McNeilly, recipients of The Theatre Museum of NYC’s 2011 Award for Excellence in the Preservation of Theatre History, also present adventures—and recipes—from the Porridge Sisters.  Florrie and Lavinia Portridge are well-known among vaudevillians and actors as “The Porridge Sisters” for the vegetarian cuisine they serve at Portridge Arms, a ‘boardinghouse for theatricals’ that offers comfort, cleanliness and bohemian camaraderie. The projected series of seven Porridge Sisters Mysteries takes place in Boston between 1908 and 1932. The “Porridge Sisters Cookbook of Hearty Vegan Fare” was published in 2012. All AVM publications are available at vaudeville.org and on Amazon.  The American Museum of Vaudeville (aka American Vaudeville Museum and AVM) was established in 1982 as a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the preservation, collection, presentation and publication of all vaudeville materials, records and effects as may advance and preserve the knowledge of vaudeville, its performers and its place in the cultural and social history of the United States. AVM received its tax exempt 501 (c) (3) designation in 1984.

Vaudeville Times Volume I (Vaudeville Time Bound Volumes)

Arts & Photography

Performing Arts

"Vaudeville Times" was published quarterly from 1998 until 2008. Each issue ran twenty to twenty-eight pages and included four to ten profiles with photos of vaudevillians, old and new, plus reviews and other showbiz histories. AVM is reissuing all forty as a ten volume set. AVM principals Frank Cullen & Donald McNeilly, recipients of The Theatre Museum of NYC’s 2011 Award for Excellence in the Preservation of Theatre History, also present adventures—and recipes—from the Porridge Sisters. Florrie and Lavinia Portridge are well-known among vaudevillians and actors as “The Porridge Sisters” for the vegetarian cuisine they serve at Portridge Arms, a ‘boardinghouse for theatricals’ that offers comfort, cleanliness and bohemian camaraderie. The projected series of seven Porridge Sisters Mysteries takes place in Boston between 1908 and 1932. The “Porridge Sisters Cookbook of Hearty Vegan Fare” was published in 2012. All AVM publications are available at vaudeville.org and on Amazon. The American Museum of Vaudeville (aka American Vaudeville Museum and AVM) was established in 1982 as a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the preservation, collection, presentation and publication of all vaudeville materials, records and effects as may advance and preserve the knowledge of vaudeville, its performers and its place in the cultural and social history of the United States. AVM received its tax exempt 501 (c) (3) designation in 1984.

Vaudeville Times Volume II (Vaudeville Time Bound Volumes)

Vaudeville Times Volume IV (Vaudeville Time Bound Volumes)

Vaudeville Times Volume VI (Vaudeville Time Bound Volumes)

Vaudeville Times Volume VII (Vaudeville Time Bound Volumes)

Vaudeville Times Volume VIII (Vaudeville Time Bound Volumes)

Vaudeville Times Volume IX (Vaudeville Time Bound Volumes)

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