The Twelvetrees Diner Mysteries
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ORIGIN

The Name Twelvetrees

In my grandmother’s attic was a large box of postcards from the early 1900s. Several featured the artwork of Charles H. Twelvetrees.

Charles H. Twelvetrees (1872–1948) was a prolific illustrator whose work appeared on postcards, magazine covers, book illustrations, and comic strips. The card shown here is one of his.

Like many people, I first assumed the name was Native American. Instead, Charles Twelvetrees came from Utica, New York, and the name itself is English.

Another Twelvetrees—Helen Twelvetrees (1908–1958)—became a Hollywood actress with a star on the Walk of Fame.

The name stayed with me—and eventually became the heart of a fictional diner in Brindle Bay.

1920 postcard illustrated
by Charles H. Twelvetrees

SETTING

Real Places Behind
the Twelvetrees Diner

I have lived in several states, including Pennsylvania, but I grew up on a farm outside Emerson, Iowa. And as a young adult I rented an apartment for a couple of months in the Judge Hotel.

My first taste of diners came at Ann’s Café in town. At first I always ordered a hamburger and fries—until my mother suggested I try something different. I switched to a hot roast beef sandwich and never looked back. Soon I was ordering one and a half every visit.

Years later, driving from town to town with the Carson & Barnes Five Ring Wild Animal Circus, my shotgun and I regularly stopped at roadside greasy spoons for coffee and a piece of pie.

Judge Hotel - Emerson, Iowa
Inspiration for renovated Twelvetrees Diner and apartments

Like many fictional places, the diner
in Brindle Bay was shaped by real ones.

Ann's Cafe with waitresses and owner- Emerson, Iowa Helped inspire the fictional diner in Brindle Bay.

The fictional Twelvetrees Diner draws on places like these—where coffee was always hot, conversation never stopped,
and everyone eventually learned everyone else's story.

Where the idea of the Twelvetrees Diner quietly began.

AUTHOR

About the Author

Curiosity about people and their beliefs has followed me from a rural Iowa childhood to retirement on an equine rescue in Utah.

When my worldview cracked, I dropped out of college, hitchhiked across the country, worked odd jobs, drove the lion truck for a traveling circus, and stopped at dozens of diners along the way.

Having been a regular myself, I chose the iconic small-town diner for the setting. Anyone might slide into the booth across from you, any conversation might start, and sometimes a mystery might follow. That’s how the Twelvetrees Diner opened its doors to the many people I met on the road.

With a degree in English Education, I tried teaching high school students until they do-si-doed me into other careers—public relations for Washington, DC associations and ministry in Presbyterian churches. The same spiritual and political forces I encountered there eventually found their way into the fictional town of Brindle Bay.

Like Twelvetrees and October, I sometimes bypassed the intimate aspects of relationships. My wife— to whom this book is dedicated—taught me that feelings run deeper than simply good, bad, or sad.

The colorful people I’ve known—the fragile, the wounded, and the steady—mirror my own journey of risk, second chances, and faith in the Highest Power.

Noel Layne Allen
Author, The Twelvetrees Mysteries
noel@powerup.press