In 1993, one huge building in the "Harborplace” area remained undeveloped – the old Power Plant with it’s massive brick exterior and four towering smokestacks. Baltimore was looking for a use for this unusual building to make it another major tourist attraction and sponsors a competition to come up with the best plan.
Our main character is Randy Palmer, a former war photographer who served in Vietnam. He works for a public relations firm involved in the competition, Through this novel, you will have the opportunity to experience in vivid detail the adventures of a newly single man who, after "living by the rules", begins a journey of re-inventing himself as an artist. His best friend, an African-American lawyer who has been single for a long time, helps lead the way into the sub-culture of single life and provides support when Randy runs into serious legal problems at work!
But fate intervenes. While shopping for Christmas gifts for his son and daughter, Randy shares a table at Gallery Place with a stranger, Susan who is beautiful inside and out. Susan has an abusive alcoholic husband who travels a lot, and she is the perfect match for Randy. But how will they ever get together?
Written in a vivid descriptive writing style that some have compared to Baltimore author, Anne Tyler (The Accidental Tourist), this book features characters and events based on many of Scott's experiences. And as you read about Randy's many adventures, you will visit not only Harborplace, but also the Baltimore Museum of Art, Camden Yards, the University of Baltimore, the art galleries of Charles Street, the light rail system, quaint Mt. Washington, and other many other places that give Baltimore its unique character and charm.
Some of the places in the book are now gone. The German restaurant, Haussner’s, which had over $10,000,000 worth of paintings on it's walls, was turned into a culinary school. The large nightclub, Hammerjack's, was torn down to make way for the Baltimore Ravens' football stadium. Whirlitzer’s nightclub at the Hunt Valley Inn, where staff danced to oldies on the counters, has changed to an entirely different format. But many of the city’s other top attractions are still here and are featured in this fast-moving book.
So, whether you are a local resident, history buff, novel fan, or visitor, Museum of the Mind is a place to entertain and enlighten your mind as well as stir your soul. Designed from the beginning to be a movie, it is a story of adventure, love and treachery that you will never forget!
