I am deeply honored, proud and humbled that the Kingston Public Library and the Kingston Council on Aging in Kingston, Massachusetts, recently awarded me the Jennie F. McLauthlen Award for Lifelong Learning after featuring my book, Burn Boston Burn—The Largest Arson Case in the History of the Country.
You may not know anything about this award so below is a description and some of the stellar past recipients. I found it unbelievable that I am now included in this group.
Jennie F. McLauthlen was Kingston’s first librarian, from 1896 to 1936. As librarian, she began collecting documents and artifacts of Kingston history, inaugurating what has become an excellent research collection used by researchers across the country. We thought it appropriate to memorialize her work with this award, and now we are very pleased to offer the award to you. Past recipients include David McCullough, Nathaniel Philbrick, Mitchell Zuckoff, Dick Lehr, William Martin, Casey Sherman, Kate Clifford Larson, Stephen Puleo, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Ellen Fitzpatrick, Juliette Fay, and Randy Susan Meyers. See below the photo.
Casey Sherman, New York Times–bestselling author of The Finest Hours which is the story behind a Disney film and Boston Strong.
David McCullough has twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback; His other widely praised books are 1776, Brave Companions, The Great Bridge, and The Johnstown Flood. He has been honored with the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the National Humanities Medal, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Kate Clifford Larson is the author of three critically acclaimed biographies: Rosemary, The Hidden Kennedy Daughter (2015); Bound for the Promised Land.
Hank Phillippi Ryan--An award-winning investigative reporter at Boston's WHDH-TV and a television reporter since 1975. Along with her 34 EMMYs and 14 Edward R. Murrow awards, Ryan has won dozens of other honors for her groundbreaking journalism. Ryan’s newest book is the acclaimed standalone psychological suspense thriller THE FIRST TO LIE. The Publishers Weekly starred review called it "stellar." Her 2019 thriller THE MURDER LIST, is the only novel to be nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity and Mary Higgins Clark awards. Her 2018 thriller is TRUST ME (August 28, 2018), which Suspense Magazine's reviewer calls "By far one of the best thrillers I've read in years." The Booklist starred review says "a knockout!" and New York Post, BOOK BUB, PopSugar and CrimeReads named it one of the Best Thrillers of Summer 2018.
The bestselling The Other Woman, (now in a third hardcover printing and also available in e-book and paperback), was the first in her Jane Ryland series (Forge Books, 2012.) It's listed as a Best Book of 2012 by the Kansas City Star, the Sacramento Bee, Suspense Magazine, and The Boston Globe, won the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark Award, and was the only novel nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, Shamus and Daphne awards for Best Novel of 2012. Ryan has won multiple other awards, including the Agatha Award.
MICHELE R. MCPHEE has been nominated for three Emmy awards for investigative journalism and works as a Boston-based producer for the Brian Ross Investigative Unit at ABC News. She is the host of a daily radio talk show on Boston’s WMEX. McPhee earned many journalism awards as the police bureau chief at the New York Daily News and wrote an award-winning column at the Boston Herald. She has written for New York, Newsweek, People, Boston, and other national and international magazines. She is the author of five true crime titles: A Date with Death, which became a Lifetime movie; A Professor’s Rage; When Evil Rules; Heartless; and A Mob Story, currently in development as a feature film. McPhee’s newest book Maximum Harm—The Tsarnaev Brothers, the FBI, and the Road to the Marathon Bombing recently hit the market.
Happy Thanksgiving and stay safe.