In this episode, Lara sits down with Exeter author Renay Allen, who writes under RM Allen, to talk about her trilogy of mysteries set in Exeter, and how they shed light on the history of the black community in town.
Allen has been researching the town's black history for the past three years and compiled a report which can be found on her website https://rm-allen.com.
Her desire to do more led her to write "The Incident at the Exeter Tavern" and the "Incident at the Ioka." The books feature Jude Hall, a black man who earned his freedom by fighting in the Revolutionary War, and James Monroe Whitfield, a black abolitionist poet. A third book, due in 2021, will be set in the suffragette era and profile a successful black hotelier on Hampton Beach. Proceeds from the book are being used to build a pocket park dedicated to the town's black history.
