The Montauk Mystery

Review Diane Sawyer...has published the Montauk Mystery and the Montauk Steps, both set in Long Island and featuring interesting information about the American Indians who lived there and the relics they have left...There's also a nice love story and a feisty grandmother to liven things up. Mim Anne Houk "Take Note" Column, The St. Petersburg Times (now The Tampa Bay Times).If you like mysteries, perhaps you'd like to cuddle up with a good read by Diane Sawyer, a former teacher and administrator in the East Ramapo School District. A prolific writer, she recently had two books in a series, The Montauk Mystery and The Montauk Steps, published in the same year. News Briefs.The road to being published is often bumpy and circuitous. With two mystery novels out and several stories in progress, Diane Sawyer keeps her seatbelt fastened, stays on course and enjoys the view along the way....The Montauk Mystery is a tale that entwines mystery, romance, archaeology and the history of Long Island's Montauk people. "Alumni Standouts Column," Seton Hall Magazine, Shannon Rossman Allen, Editor-in-chief.“Diane Sawyer...has published The Montauk Mystery and The Montauk Steps, both set in Long Island and featuring interesting information about the Native Americans who lived there and the relics they have left…There’s also a nice love story and a feisty grandmother to liven things up.” ―The Tampa Bay Times“If you like mysteries, perhaps you’d like to cuddle up with a good read by Diane Sawyer, a former teacher and administrator in the East Ramapo Central School District. A prolific writer, she recently had two books in a series, The Montauk Mystery and The Montauk Steps, published in the same year.” ―News Briefs“The road to being published is often bumpy and circuitous. With two mystery novels out and several stories in progress, Diane Sawyer keeps her seatbelt fastened, stays on course and enjoys the view along the way…The Montauk Mystery is a tale that entwines mystery, romance, archaeology and the history of Long Island’s Montauk people. ―Seton Hall Magazine Product Description When rich boy Matt Revington offers Annie Devane a summer job on an archaeological expedition to nearby Shell Islands, she had no reason to think her safety would be compromised. The former home of the Montauk Indians is a beautiful, unspoiled group of islands which developers are itching to take out of the hands of local environmentalists. However, Annie soon discovers the group’s true mission. Furthermore, the fate of the islands depends on whether Matt and Annie live to talk about the startling discovery that they make. From the Author Following the advice "Write about what you know," I set The Montauk Mystery in the fictional town of Grayrocks, Long Island, very similar to Greenport, the town where I grew up. That gave me the familiar ambience of a seaside resort town where people worked hard and played hard, usually near the water. Greenport also had a history dating back hundreds of years. Looking for plot ideas, I researched countless sources about Greenport and the surrounding area. The information I found about the Montauk native people, scant as it was, brought back many fond memories.Growing up, my friends and I knew a few Montauk words, like the names of surrounding towns. We knew wampum was made from oyster shells. (We used to play among the oyster piles at the end of Fifth Street.) We found arrowheads in the bay where we swam and on the beaches where we played.As I researched, the Montauk people's place in Long Island history and the legends about them intrigued me. A plot began to form. I created Annie Devane, a local artist, knowledgeable about the Montauk culture. She is hired to join an archaeological expedition to the Shell Islands where danger and secrets await. (The Shell Islands are fictional, but similar to Shelter Island, which I could see from my bedroom window.) The story developed incorporating romance, ecology, histor