Tony

A Boulder of A Problem I was behind the counter, reading the letter for the third time. It was handwritten, which was unusual enough, the return address, Boulder, Colorado. A woman named Margaret Ellison had penned it, on behalf of her elderly father, who was looking to sell his collection. She’d heard about my tiny … Read more

Coming Home A reflection by Tony Delucca I want to be clear about something. I did not come back to Flat Rock, Minnesota, with a plan. I came back with a duffel bag and a truck that needed an oil change. I also came back to my father, who was alone for the first time … Read more

I wrote about Tony’s mother on Mother’s Day. I told you about the piano, and her marigolds. The garden she kept that was as practical as it was beautiful. I told you about a woman whose presence fills the books even though she never speaks a word. Today I want to tell you about the … Read more

Sometimes there’s a character in a book that isn’t really even there. They don’t say a word, but their presence is known. Felt. June Carlson DeLucca is one of those characters. In the prequel to the Originally Pressed Mysteries, Tony comes back to Flat Rock on bereavement leave to help his father with funeral arrangements … Read more

A Conversation with Tony DeLucca, Future Proprietor of B-Sharp Vintage Records, as taken from the Flat Rock Gazette.   The Monroe Street storefront that had been the subject of quiet speculation around town for the better part of a month looked, on the afternoon of our visit, like the inside of a very organized fever … Read more

Chapter 1 The Slim Whitman record had come in on Tuesday, tucked between a reissue of Ambrosia’s One-Eighty and a copy of Herb Alpert’s Whipped Cream that someone had special-ordered a month ago and never picked up. I’d set it aside behind the counter with Marveen Huppert’s name on a Post-it note, and called to … Read more