Matthias Jones Mysteries Series Background

Who is Matthias Jones and what is he doing here? Jones is not a forensic expert or a crackerjack private investigator. He does not possess overwhelming analytical abilities and relies on hunches. Jones does not seek to solve murder cases, but is inexorably drawn into the accumulating evidence. The people that drop into his murder investigations appear to be bumblers and are terribly annoying, yet they contribute surprisingly cogent assessments of the crime.
I liked Stephen J. Cannel's, The Rockford Files, and how numerous characters would unnerve Rockford. The humor and empathizing with Jim Rockford fired the story.

James Garner as Jim Rockford

I have always been amazed at people's depth and abilities below the everyday superficialities. A murder investigation involving Coach Jones is laced with humor, a small town flavor, and solid relationships.

I was ready to expand my genres into mystery writing, but I wanted a few chuckles in the endeavor. Why would I write a mystery series with an athletic coach solving murders in a rural college hamlet? I must say I did not readily have the answer until I was well into the series.
When I was a boy we had no great political or social concerns in my small Massachusetts town. We did not have a mayor, but we had a coach. The idea of a coach in a small town provided the template for Matthias Jones.

Coach Val Muscato

From my perspective and the perspective of my friends, athletics and sports teams at the high school were overriding themes. Even as kids we spent our Saturday afternoons walking along the buzzing crowd and chanting cheerleaders during our football games at Frothingham Park.
The humorous characters assisting Jones are not duplicates of people I knew when I was growing up, (many are people I met as an adult) however, the tempo of the 1950's-60's North Easton, Massachusetts was in remarkable contrast to the suburban sprawl and political correctness of today. Many people had a nickname, a nebulous past and sometimes a flamboyant personality.
The bonehead stunts in the Jones series are things I have observed or done myself!

Town Common Amherst, MA

Given that initial framework, Hamilton evolved around the town common I knew so well in my college days in Amherst.

The Lord Jeff
(location of Jones' colonial)

Jones' colonial, the streets and Hamilton College certainly were constructs of my imagination, but simmered in thoughts of places where I lived.

The Holyoke Range
(The Devonshire Hills)

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire occupies the geographic space of Hamilton. In the real world there are no Devonshire Hills separating Hampton Beach and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The actual hills hug the valley around Amherst, Pelham, Hadley, and Northampton, Massachusetts.
Prince William is reflective of larger cities near the towns where I have resided and I have lived along the ocean. Hamilton is a conglomeration of my sojourns on the planet.

and who is Matthias Jones ... really ...

Comedy is a serious business.

Buster Keaton

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Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study In Scarlet

Beyond The City

Copyright c 2000
by Robert P. Fitton