Debut of the Tenth 1940's Mystery Novel Set in West Orange, New Jersey

WEST ORANGE, N.J. - June 7, 2023 - PRLog -- Dead During Intermission is the tenth Tony Del Plato mystery novel set in the author's hometown of West Orange, New Jersey, during World War II. By the 1940's, author John Dandola's family had been ensconced in that town for nearly two hundred years. It was a time when families stayed in place for generation after generation and everybody knew one other. Dandola captures that flavor along with the very look and feel of the town in each novel. Alas, the town has changed so drastically over the past forty years that its origins are now completely unrecognizable.

As Dandola puts it: "The town has now devolved into a disjointed place where people move in and just as quickly move out. There's no longer any sense of roots. They just make up or misinterpret the local history to suit their present-day needs and you're only praised, ignored, or damned by how you display your politics not by your accomplishments. I write about a time when that wasn't the case and the town was much happier and much more unified."

This tenth novel continues to follow the series' protagonist, Tony Del Plato. Through Tony's investigative work for Paramount Pictures, his rather adventurous surrogate daughter, Patty Drury, has inspired a string of B-movies made by that studio. The first movie is slated to premiere in town just before Patty's high school graduation. Of course, there are outside complications.

The plot:

Amid preparations for Patty Drury's movie premiere and her 1944 high school graduation, the F.B.I. zeroes in on a Nazi counterfeiting operation then asks Tony Del Plato for assistance. It all becomes layer upon conflicting layer of wartime intrigue played out on the streets of a small American town with help from New Jersey gangsters and topped off by a substantial touch of Hollywood gloss.

The counterfeiting premise revolves around gas-rationing coupons and was inspired by a vintage article Dandola read about East Coast municipal and state level politicians getting embroiled in such things during the Second World War. Since politicians are not the author's favorite group of people, it sparked the beginnings of a story.

Dead During Intermission is published by Compass Point Mysteries, an imprint of the Quincannon Publishing Group. It is 290 pages and priced at $16.95.

To purchase directly from the publisher click on https://www.quincannongroup.com/DelPlatoMysteries.html or e-mail Sales@QuincannonGroup.com. It is not available through Amazon or Barnes & Noble due to the deep discounts they demand of independent publishers.