***

A reporter is much like a detective; sometimes you have to dig up someone’s yard to find the story. I’m the literary reporter for the New York Daily, so not about to dig up a yard but digging was certain.

Daryl David, certainly a nom-de-plume, was whom I needed to dig up. Mr. David wrote a gentle book of short stories centered around Rehoboth, Delaware, called Beach Misses. It was first released by Cat & Mouse Press, a tiny publisher in Lewes. Each year, they hold the Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Contest, and publish the winning stories, but they also publish other books of short beach reads. So, it wasn’t a surprise the initial printing of Beach Misses was published by them.

I started by reaching out to Nancy, the owner of Cat & Mouse Press. Excited to be contacted by the New York Daily, she was happy to help. Nancy told me that Daryl David had contacted her out of the blue and pitched her Beach Misses. She was hesitant at first, but after reading the manuscript, agreed immediately. She detailed the entire process, but throughout the publishing interaction, she never once met the author. She edited the book via email, tried unsuccessfully to convince the author to change the title, and released the book in time for summer. In August, the book was reviewed by LA Tribune. The Tribune’s literary critic—a friend of mine—was born in Rehoboth and goes back each summer for a visit.

The critic loved the book, raved about it. She said it was one of the best collections of short stories she’d seen in decades and put it on her must-read list. That fall, BOI Press, the country’s second-largest publisher, bought the rights and printed ten thousand copies. Before the following summer season, the print run hit two hundred fifty thousand copies and kept climbing, making it a bestseller.

. . . . . .