Local fiction author Don Bredes offered area mystery lovers a preview of his brand-new book, “The Errand Boy,” here in St. Johnsbury, one day before the national release of the book. Hosted by local bookstore Boxcar & Caboose, Bredes  presented his first reading of the book at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum September 21, 2009.

Bredes appeared at the Burlington Book Festival September 26, and is now in the thick of a book tour promoting “The Errand Boy,” the third book in Bredes’s series featuring Northern Vermont small town constable Hector Bellevance. His previous novels in the series, “Cold Comfort” and “The Fifth Season,” received strong reviews for their thrilling plots, tightly drawn characters, and clear sense of place. Early reviews of “The Errand Boy” are equally favorable. Gary Moore writes about “The Errand Boy”: “Don Bredes’ 'The Errand Boy' has page-to-page pull and fascinating characters you keep wanting to get back to.”

Bredes lives in Wheelock, Vermont and has an impressive background as a fiction writer. A graduate of Syracuse University, he received an MFA from the University of California at Irvine and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in fiction at Stanford University.  He wrote the screenplay adaptations from two Howard Frank Mosher novels for the independent films “Where the Rivers Flow North” and “A Stranger in the Kingdom.” Bredes teaches creative writing at the college level and continues working on his next book.

Bredes’s website, www.donbredes.com, gives us an idea how Northern Vermont and its charms make their way into his mystery trilogy. The plot of his first novel in the series, “Cold Comfort,” was inspired by an actual double murder that occurred in 1984 in Jay, Vermont. Bredes knew the victims and years later he began to research the crime. After five years of writing and rewriting, “Cold Comfort” was completed, with the actual murder translated to fictional background for his mystery plot.

Bredes includes photos of his home and garden on his website. An avid vegetable gardener and athlete, Bredes enjoys the great outdoors whether he is harvesting carrots, beating opponents on the tennis court, or simply gazing at the stars. His books paint a picture of a fictional Northern Vermont that you may recognize in part, but his stories of mystery and intrigue will transfix you.

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