By Marie Pfeifer
Mendham author Virginia Dyer Vogt grew up in a house built in the middle of a cornfield in Indiana, a very different place than New Jersey.
“Moving into the Morris area I became enamored with the history of Morristown,” she told a luncheon audience at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Thursday.
Vogt’s second novel, Death by Moonlight, looks at Morristown’s most notorious crime – the 1833 triple murder that claimed the lives of Judge Samuel Sayre, his wife, Sarah, and their teenaged slave, Phoebe.
Antoine LeBlanc, a French immigrant, was found guilty of the crimes. Public sentiment was against LeBlanc from the start because he was an immigrant and a Catholic as well. He was convicted quickly, and brutally executed in a circus-like atmosphere.
While Vogt explores the possible theory that LeBlanc may not have committed the murders, she also tells a parallel story of a contemporary murder through her main character, Anya Gregory, whose dreams play a role in solving both sets of murders.
That character is a beautiful performance artist with a rare sensibility known as synesthesia that comes into play.
Vogt’s story weaves in many local landmarks – the Mayo Performing Arts Center, Macculloch Hall, and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, to name a few.
Death by Moonlight is available on Amazon.com and at bookstores.
