BELLOWS FALLS — Author Bill Lockwood debuts his first book, “Buried Gold,” at Village Square Booksellers, 32 The Square, in Bellows Falls at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16.
Lockwood retired in 2015 after decades of working in social services in Maryland and Vermont. An avid amateur theater participant and writer, he grew up in Baltimore and was active in founding Fells Point Theatre, starting a theatrical career that continues today, according to a news release.
He went on to write articles and reviews of local community theater productions as well as produce a theater newsletter in Baltimore called Stage Right before moving to southeastern Vermont in 1992.
Lockwood had four short stories published in the 1990s while working on several novels. Upon his retirement he completed the first of those, “Buried Gold,” for which he drew inspiration from local legends about illegal rum-running during the Prohibition era in Long Island.
The novel's protagonist, Evie, is a single thirty-something who steals a map from her father's New York City home after he dies. The map is the principal clue to where a box of ten-dollar gold coins was buried during Prohibition, just before U.S agents known as revenuers raided her great grandfather's illegal business.
Evie and her daughter collect other clues that help them stay a step ahead of Evie's brothers, who are also after the treasure. But the search is complicated by the murder of an old-timer in the little town on Peconic Bay, as Evie desperately tries find someone to help her unlock the mystery of the map.
Lockwood now lives in North Walpole, N.H., with his wife, Jeanie Levesque, but for 10 years as a Vermont resident was Chair of the Bellows Falls Opera House Restoration Committee. In 2006, he received the Greater Falls Regional Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year Award.