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Museum Reads – “Murder at Beacon Rock”
July 20, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
A book group especially for art enthusiasts.
Welcome to Museum Reads, the Newport Art Museum’s Art-Themed book group for adults. We meet monthly, at the Museum and virtually, for discussion, and frequently are joined by the author.
This month, we’ll be discussing: “Murder at Beacon Rock” by Alyssa Maxwell.
We are excited to announce that Alyssa Maxwell will be joining the discussion virtually!
In June 1900, reporter Emma Cross discovers the body of a woman in the waters below the Morgans’ mansion, which threatens to send members of Newport’s high society floundering . . .
As a reporter, Emma is used to covering Newport’s social events. But this time she is appearing on the arm of her fiancé, Derrick Andrews, at a small but exclusive gathering of the New York Yacht Club at Beacon Rock, the Grecian-inspired summer “cottage” of Edwin and Elizabeth Morgan. The members—which include cousin and Yacht Club Commodore John Pierpoint Morgan and widow Lucy Carnegie, the first woman to be admitted to the Club—are there to discuss their strategy for the next America’s Cup Challenge, to be held in New York Harbor the following summer.
But it’s Emma who must come up with a strategy when she discovers a woman’s body bobbing against one of the hulls of the boats moored at the base of Beacon Rock. Is it possible she fell from the Newport ferry and was carried by the tide? Or could she have drowned herself or fallen victim to foul play?
After the woman is identified as the missing daughter of a yacht designer, the police—with the exception of Emma’s friend Detective Jesse Whyte—hastily conclude she is a suicide, perhaps to quiet any scandal for the Morgans, since her body was found floating near their property. But Emma suspects the woman was murdered and begins to sort through a who’s who of sportsmen, boat crews, and the Newport elite in search of a stone-cold killer . . .
Museum Reads is FREE for Museum Members and only $5 for non-members. It is held in-person at the museum, and also virtually. Be sure to register (via the link below) to receive email updates and Zoom links. For last minute registrations, please call the front desk for the Zoom link at 401-848-8200.