Tedd Smith

Following college, Smith took off for the bright lights and big city to pursue his life-long dream of becoming an actor. One day while sitting at his bank teller window in midtown Manhattan waiting for Broadway to call, one of his regular customers walked up. The guy worked for the Scott Meredith Talent Agency across Third Avenue.

“I’m glad to be getting out of the office this morning. All hell’s breaking loose over there,” the guy told Tedd as he tossed a deposit on the counter.

“What’s going on?” Tedd asked.

“Norman Mailer’s locked up with Scott in his office and there’s a lot of yelling coming out of it.”

“What’s that about?”

“Didn’t you hear? Jack Henry Abbott, that jailhouse author Mailer brought to town a couple of days ago murdered a waiter last night downtown.”

This became the inspiration for Smith’s play, “Perpetrator” which enjoyed a limited New York City run.

Smith continues to let life inspire his creative pursuits with his latest novel, “Fatal in the Dunes: Fundraising in the Hamptons Can Be Murder.” It is as much a crime story as it is a scathing look back at his nearly thirty years of working in the charity event business.