Before TomKat, Brangelina or Bennifer, There Was ParkBench

NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Celebrity super-couples, such as TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) or Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), seem like a modern-day fad. But the popular media had its own super-couple back in the 1920s: Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley, or ParkBench. A new novel imagines a romance blossoming between the witty Mrs. Parker and the humorous Mr. Benchley as they solve a murder mystery together.

Dorothy Parker was famous for such quips as "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses," and Robert Benchley was the one who said, "Why don't you get out of that wet coat and into a dry martini?" After working together at Vanity Fair magazine, they struck out on their own as freelance writers. They chose "ParkBench" as their address for cablegrams, and leased a tiny office that could barely fit two desks. "An inch smaller and it would have been adultery," Dorothy Parker said.

In real life, there was no adultery. Robert Benchley was a married man and Mrs. Parker had recently separated. But they were the best of friends, and in their own way they were as devoted to each other as any happily married couple. A new mystery novel, YOU MIGHT AS WELL DIE, imagines that devotion blossoming into a complicated, and humorous, romantic relationship. It is the second novel in THE ALGONQUIN ROUND TABLE MYSTERIES.

This Valentine's Day, mystery readers and historical fiction readers alike will be entertained by this intriguing romance and exciting mystery. It's especially timely because of the public's renewed fascination with the Roaring 20s, including such popular productions as HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," the PBS documentary "Prohibition" by Ken Burns, Woody Allen's Oscar-nominated "Midnight in Paris," and the upcoming big-screen adaptation of "The Great Gatsby," starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.

About THE ALGONQUIN ROUND TABLE MYSTERIES
The Algonquin Round Table Mysteries, published by Obsidian (a Penguin imprint), feature the witty Dorothy Parker, with a quip on her lips and a cocktail in hand, as a reluctant sleuth of murder mysteries in Roaring 20s Manhattan. Historical Novels Review says, "This new series shows comical and intelligent promise. Each character stays true to the original in comment and personality."

In the first book, MURDER YOUR DARLINGS, Mrs. Parker finds a dead body underneath the famed Algonquin Round Table. When the police suspect that a young unknown writer named William Faulkner committed the murder, the quick-witted Mrs. Parker aims to clear his name and find the real killer.

In the second book, YOU MIGHT AS WELL DIE, a second-rate artist jumps to his death from the Brooklyn Bridge, but soon he reappears as a "spirit" in a Halloween séance. With the help of Harry Houdini, a skeptic of spiritualism, Dorothy gets to the bottom of it all—while also getting to the bottom of a glass of spirits.

www.RoundTableMysteries.com

Media Contact: J.J. Murphy Algonquin Round Table Mysteries, 4842386470, [email protected]

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE Algonquin Round Table Mysteries