Tales of the City author to appear at Third Place Books Tuesday, November 9

The TV series of Tales of the City was good, but the books were even better.  Now Armistead Maupin is on tour with his newest book in the series, Mary Ann in Autumn, and one of his stops is Lake Forest Park's Third Place Books, 206-366-3333  He'll be reading and signing books on Tuesday, November 9, from 7-8 pm.

John Hartl, former theatre reviewer for our NewsPartner, the Seattle Times, reviewed Mary Ann in an article posted at the Seattle Times. Put "Mary Ann in Autumn" in the search box to read the whole article.

In Maupin's new book (Harper, 287 pp., $25.99), the aging heroine of this resilient and enjoyable series, 57-year-old Mary Ann Singleton (so wonderfully played by Laura Linney in the television version), is not in the best of health as she returns to San Francisco for the first time in a couple of decades.

She's left her unfaithful husband, she's facing an operation for uterine cancer (the doctor offers an appendectomy as a freebie), and she's desperately looking for a hint of homecoming as she climbs the weathered steps that intersect with her lost Barbary Lane wonderland.

"The past doesn't catch up with us," she thinks. "It escapes from us."