Luncheons with exciting authors, artists, musicians & historians at area eateries
For 25 years, the Moveable Feast, founded and managed by Linda Ketron, has been held at local restaurants throughout the year on Fridays (and some Tuesdays). Now, the Moveable Feasts are held on Tuesdays, unless the presenter or the preferred venue is unavailable. The presentation precedes the meal. For each Feast, the chef prepares a special menu, typically unavailable during the restaurant’s public hours. Food allergies are accommodated with advance notice; vegetarian option always available. Individuals, couples, friends, book clubs, and other small groups are assigned table seating. We will call to confirm your reservation 10 days prior to the event. *Each feast is $35 (or three for $100 paid in advance), unless additional expenses dictate a higher fee. The three-fer could be for future feasts, or for three guests at a single feast. After lunch, authors will adjourn to My Sister’s Books (13057 Ocean Hwy # C) to sign stock and chat with fans.
Tues., May 2 ~ Susan M. Boyer (Big Trouble on Sullivan’s Island) at The Village House ($35)
(13089 Ocean Hwy, Building E, Pawleys Island 29585)
After a dozen murders on fictional Stella Maris, author Boyer finds a real and bigger Lowcountry island on which to kill! Meet Hadley Cooper…some would say she’s the best private investigator in the state of South Carolina, albeit a tad eccentric. She drives a Ford Fairlane convertible that’s older than she is, listens to eighties Southern rock, refuses to carry a gun, and eats nothing but plants. Who knew there was such a thing as vegan pimento cheese? Eugenia Ladson’s husband—retired judge Everette Ladson—is engaging in marital misbehavior—she’s certain of it. But to activate the clause in her pre-nup, she needs proof, and is willing to pay for as many hours of surveillance as it takes. When Eugenia turns up dead, Hadley is in Greenville, South Carolina—three and a half hours away—where she’s followed Everette. Every instinct tells Hadley Everette is responsible for Eugenia’s death, but she is regrettably his alibi. Hadley reckons with the skeletons in her own closet as she races to find the truth about what happened to Eugenia and bring a killer to justice.
*WED., May 10 ~ Jennie Holton Fant (The Regions of the Rice Planter) at Ocean One ($35)
(1 Norris Drive, Pawleys Island, SC 29585)
Writer, editor, librarian Fant established her credibility as a charming traveling companion through the Charleston lowcountry with her prior books: The Travelers’ Charleston (Accounts of Charleston and Lowcountry, South Carolina, 1666-1861) and Sojourns in Charleston, South Carolina, 1865-1947 (From the Ruins of War to the Rise of Tourism). Here, she turns her attention to chronicling the impressions of travelers on historic journeys around Georgetown and the Waccamaw River Regions of South Carolina, from 1734 to 1875. These first-hand narratives of visiting clergy, statesmen, ladies companions, continental relatives, botanists, and adventurers reveal a South no longer noticed by its residents. The writers – each eloquent regardless of station in life – document the challenges posed by early geography and allow us to see old plantations, houses and buildings, churches and slave chapels. They reveal forgotten sights, old taverns, the food consumed, as well as encounters with early residents.
They allow us to witness slavery as they did, the day-to-day lives of the enslaved on the plantation, to experience their plight, to hear the haunting beauty of their songs. That said, some of these travelers are opposed to slavery, others are sympathetic to it, and many are downright offensive regarding the enslaved Africans. As the reader journeys via the travelers’ eyes, layer by layer, a larger history comes into focus, a window into time where Jennie’s footnoted comments bring people, places and events into their historical context with enlightening observations.
Tues., May 16 ~ Jackie Layton (A Killer Unleashed) at Hot Fish Club ($35)
(4911 US-17 Business, Murrells Inlet, SC 29576)
In Layton’s fifth cozy mystery (Bite the Dust, Dog-gone Dead, Bag of Bones, Caught and Collared), featuring adorable, resilient “investigator” Andi Grace Scott, there are puzzles, pretenses and possibilities when a client’s dog turns up missing and her husband turns up dead. Our Low Country dog walker will have to rely on dogged determination to track down the killer, amidst ransom demands, her own wedding plans, and a widow more upset about her missing puppy than her dead hubby. The trail of clues leads Andi Grace to a scheme more nefarious than her suspicion that the whole thing was a setup.
Tues., May 23 ~ Brian Livingston (The Habits of Squirrels) at Quigley’s Next Door ($35)
(251 Willbrook Blvd., Pawleys Island, SC 29585)
In this charming, thoughtful meditation on all of life’s journeys, Brian Livingston finds humor, grace, and sunburn on one of America’s great hikes. Gabe Jenkins spent his career driving in circles. For thirty years, his life revolved around his mail route. Upon retirement, this accumulated inertia steers Gabe onto the Great Eastern Trail, the meandering pathway running south to north through the sprawling Amicola Mountains. As he walks, he encounters the Trail’s eccentric inhabitants, who will help him, challenge him, and ultimately shape his journey. As a new Gabe ambles toward the Great Eastern Trail’s northern terminus, he is forced to reckon with how he has lived his life and to determine what kind of person he wants to be—as a husband, as a father, as a human being— and how he wants to spend his remaining years.
