ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Young readers looking for a good mystery will soon have just that chance thanks to author Paul Cicchini.
Cicchini recently announced the upcoming release of his newest book “The Central Park Irregulars,” which follows a group of children who form a detective club in Central Park to solve the mystery of a stolen artifact and clear leader Harper Jensen's mother's name. The newly-formed group of friends follow clues throughout the famous park, uncovering a dangerous plot involving international smuggling and family secrets.
Cicchini said the inspiration for the book came a couple years ago in a somewhat odd way.
“The whole process started about two years ago, and the actual writing of the book didn't take that long because I got the first draft out within four or five months, but the research took me much, much longer than that. I've always loved Central Park, and this is my first novel in the middle-grade mystery genre – I've written a few books in a few different genres, including fiction and non-fiction, but 'The Central Park Irregulars' is my first mystery book for middle schoolers,” Cicchini said. “There came a point where I was talking to some of my writer friends and they were the ones who suggested I write something for that age group since that's where the most readers are. Even later on, there was a time when my wife and I were visiting Central Park with a friend of ours who's an actor/singer on Broadway, and after I told him about the idea, he told me there's a very storied history with the Seneca Village in Central Park. Seneca Village was community of mostly African-American and Irish property owners located in the area of modern-day Central Park between 82nd and 89th Streets before it was acquired by the city for eminent domain in 1857 and bulldozed to make way for the park. Hearing that story got me started researching all the interesting parts of the park and there was one day I was running around the park taking many, many photos. There's everything in that park from a man-made lake to a castle to reliefs that are considered among the earliest public art.”
There were a few other inspirations for the work, Cicchini said.
“I've also always been a big fan of Dan Brown and his work, especially 'The Da Vinci Code' since I'm actually a Templar knight in Delaware, but Dan Brown hasn't ever really written for younger reader, so ultimately, I decided I wanted to write a Dan Brown-style adventure mystery that includes a bunch of historical landmarks that are featured in Central Park like the John Lennon memorial mosaic to the Delacourt Theatre that produces a lot of Shakespeare productions and other plays,” Cicchini said. “I wanted to use those landmarks as clues for my mystery and tell the story. There were definitely multiple trips to New York dragging my wife with me, but it all came together in a great way, and I'm really proud of how everything came out. I also have to give a shoutout to the artist who did the book cover, he did an absolutely amazing job and seemed to almost read my mind in terms of how I wanted the characters to look. And funnily enough, the design for my leading lady, Harper, rather resembles my 11-year-old granddaughter, Magnolia, so that's a great and somewhat unintentional Easter egg. The book is set to come out Sept. 15 and so far, it's getting a lot of great reviews – we're hoping to do some special launch events because the book is for middle schoolers, and there are multiple schools around that area we'd love to have involved with the launch.”
Though this is not his first foray into publishing, Cicchini said there is still a lot of excitement for the book’s upcoming release.
“It's very exciting knowing my book is about to be out on the shelves, but it's also a little overwhelming. My publicist and that team have done a wonderful job of heralding the book's imminent arrival, and I can't thank them enough for that,” Cicchini said. “This is my fourth or fifth book, and I've typically written for the love of it, but when you start having bigger media outlets and entities like that getting in touch about doing a story about the book, it can be a lot because I didn't expect there to already be this much attention. We've already gotten some really great reviews prior to launching, including one who said this is the type of book they would have loved to read when they were in middle school, and we're really happy to hear so much positivity already. It's a great mystery that is good for children to read and maybe even the adults in their lives, and I'm happy with how it turned out.”
As for a potential sequel, Cicchini said only time will tell if that will happen.
“I'm going to let the book sales and critical reception dictate whether or not there will be a follow-up – if the book sees a lot of success and acclaim, I would absolutely be game to do that,” Cicchini said. “All the books I've written are wildly different in terms of subject – my first book was supposed to be a farce about a modern person being exposed to the Greek gods, but it wound up being more of a Christian story and being picked up by a Christian publisher, which I absolutely did not expect. I've also written a superhero novel that ended up spawning a comic book collaboration, and I also wrote a fictional novel about the teenage years of Cyrano de Bergerac, and now I've got 'The Central Park Irregulars.' I've got experience in multiple genres and I can't think of a reason I'd want to stop writing at the moment.”
Overall, Cicchini said, he cannot wait for the book to officially be on bookshelves everywhere.
“Besides being a mystery story, it's also a story about friendship because the main characters come from some different walks of life and have different interests, but they end up coming together and becoming a team, which I think is amazing,” Cicchini said. “And among all of that, it's also a love story to New York and Central Park – there's a wonderful group called the Central Park Conservancy that's working to preserve the history of that area, and I can't thank them enough for being so helpful to me during my writing process and research. Central Park is among the most popular filming locations in the world, and there are multiple pieces of media that feature all of its glory. I'm so excited for the book to officially come out, and I can't wait for people to be able to read it!”
