About Me

'Death by Vaudeville - A Journey Back From the End of the World' is my first released published novel, published in June 2021 with Page Publishing, Inc.  My story was intended only for my family. I wanted to tell my children about what had happened to my grandmother's family, before I forgot them.  

Very little was ever really known of my grandmothers family. However, she did share enough information with me that it lead me to more then I expected.  And what I learned made me the family historian from that time on. Finally, I understood why she kept her stories so quiet. 

What was intended to stay buried with the past soon revealed itself to this inquiring mind. As I searched through hundreds of newspapers articles, combined with 40+ years of census records, birth records, and death records, as well as other genealogical documents, I was able to piece together this mysterious puzzle. One that put her brother in prison for life. A story so tragic,  it could be made into a movie.

I will never know if my grandma knew the full truth about her brother Robert? Or that his story was as notorious as it was? But I would learn that every state across the country in 1924 was buzzing about her brother, Robert L.V. Smith, aka Zane R. Southern's story. With hundreds of thousands of readers waiting with bated breath, many would read about it over their morning coffee, or on their way to work on the trains, or from their Hollywood offices; they were all reading about this tragic love murder case as it unfolded.

After reading the newspaper reporter's perspectives of his case, and after seeing the bigger picture of his life for myself, I decided to tell his story from the point of view of a genealogist, who knew him from his earlier years and how he came to the life he lead. 'Death by Vaudeville - A Journey Back From the End of the World' is his story. 

I start to tell my grandmother's recollections about her family in Michigan, when at the age of ten, her borther Robert's life turned on other path. The reader will follow him to South Dakota, where tries to rebuild his life and fill the void for missing family. The reader will learn about his marriage to a younger pretty flapper-type girl, from Deadwood, where he worked in the Black Hills Mines. And, learn about circumstances that leads him out to California, to chauffer to the rich and famous. It was their dream to become rich and famous themselves, as Robert played his guitar, and Violet got to entertain in a local cafe, auditioning for parts in Hollywood. It would be the worst decision of their lives, as two worlds collide.     

Thank you for being apart of this community. If you want to learn more about happened to Robert L.V. Smith, aka Zane R. Southern, chauffeur to Hollywood, order your copy today online @ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-by-vaudeville-frances-white/1139871124 or  

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=death+by+vaudeville&ref=nb_sb_noss 

https://www.facebook.com/agenealogist.story

And please follow me, as we walk back into the past and revisit the generations. And an  occasional writing from Gods word.