Alison Barnet, South End News founding editor and columnist; author of two books, "South End Character", based on her current column and "Extravaganza King: Robert Barnet and Boston Musical Theater", chronicling her great-grandfather, a successful merchant turned theatrical impresario, tries her hand at fiction in her latest book, "Sitting Ducks". The new novel made its debut in a reading at the West End Museum on Thursday night, December 4, in front of an audience of about 20 former denizens of the West End and South End. While Barnet herself is not directly connected to the West End, having lived in the South End since she came to Boston for college in 1964, there is a certain kinship between the West End alumni who were displaced by urban renewal over 50 years ago and the children of the South End's former New York Streets, a vibrant, multi-ethnic enclave that was razed for urban renewal in the 1940s and 1950s. The two diasporas converged at the museum at 151 Staniford Street to hear Barnet read from "South End Character" and from "Sitting Ducks" and discuss the cultural changes she has witnessed resulting from the South End's redevelopment. Among the attendees were Jim Campano, editor and publisher since 1985 of the West Ender newsletter, and Gloria Ganno, who grew up in the New York Streets and is now active with the Hyde Park Historical Society.

"Sitting Ducks" is a whodunit of sorts set in the South End of the 1970s, when the neighborhood was widely considered a slum. By contrast, Barnet remembers it as a culturally diverse, close-knit district where neighbors knew each other, socialized well into the evening on their front stoops and looked out for each other. "Sitting Ducks" is the story of a series of assaults on older women in their homes inspired by a real-life incident involving her landlady in 1970. "That was a key time for me," Barnet said. As in her non-fiction writings, the characters, settings and situations in "Sitting Ducks" are richly detailed, bringing the story to life in the mind's eye. Barnet whetted the audience's appetite with an excerpt from the new book and then opened the floor to questions.

After her talk, the room continued to buzz with often-humorous tales of days gone by in the fondly-remembered neighborhoods. Ganno recognizes that the South End was considered a slum then, but reveals her pride in a story from her youth, when a 1955 film called "Six Bridges to Cross" with Tony Curtis and Sal Mineo shot on location in the New York Streets. "They were doing a scene on Florence Street, which is where Mel King lived, and they closed off the street. They wouldn't let anyone in unless they lived there, and I didn't live there at the time, so we went around the rooftops and looked down to watch them filming that scene." She continued, "Tony Curtis needed a place to change his clothes. In those days, they didn't provide a trailer. So the crew went up to my girlfriend and said, 'Hey kid, do you have a clean house? Tony Curtis needs to change his clothes.' She was all excited and she went to tell her mother. What a diplomatic way of putting it," Ganno said with a laugh. She went on, "So Tony Curtis comes in and he's looking all around. They had a nice house: not fancy, but clean, freshly painted. I think he was surprised, because he came from the slums of New York, which are really (Ganno makes a nauseated face). He's probably expecting worse because that's his knowledge of slums. He was surprised that everyone's house wasn't like that."

As with her previous book, "South End Character", Barnet will promote "Sitting Ducks" through a rigorous round of readings and talks in local bookstores, libraries and cafes. On the strength of her appearances and with no advertising, Barnet has sold over 400 copies of "South End Character". She plans to continue her up-close and personal marketing campaign with "Sitting Ducks".