Dear Mr. Rickman

By Evelyn Burke

A Baby Boomer woman in the American Midwest establishes an unlikely long-distance friendship with a famous British actor in this romantic comedy/mystery with a dash of Harry Potter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evelyn Burke
• Release date: Apr 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9780463483442

Evelyn Burke

Evelyn Burke is a freelance writer based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Book preview

Dear Mr. Rickman

By Evelyn Burke

Published by Evelyn Burke at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Evelyn Burke

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover photo adapted from original by Matthew S. Nolan

*****

* With apologies and homage to Alan Rickman, J. K. Rowling

and assorted real people who play cameo roles.

All other characters and all events depicted are completely fictional.

Really.

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Table of Contents

Dear Mr. Rickman

About Evelyn Burke

*****

Dear Mr. Rickman

By Evelyn Burke

Imagine my surprise when I, an A.A.R.P. card-carrying, average-looking, slightly wrinkled, ex-hippie chick, captured the fancy of an acclaimed British actor of the stage and screen.

The sheer unlikelihood that such a pair could even meet in the middle of America, let alone become transatlantic friends, or more — it’s just so, well, Hollywood.

He demanded my attention as the evil (or is he?) Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films — an inspired casting choice, to be sure. Then, through the miracle of video rentals and the library, I caught up on his many other films that I had so foolishly missed. So when I heard that Alan Rickman would be directing and appearing in a play at Gateway Repertory Theatre here in town, I called in a favor to a friend, who just happened to be in charge of Cast Comfort at Gateway.

For the past few years, I had so missed my tickets to all of Gateway Rep’s opening nights since I left my last real job—and the attendant freebies—as a newspaper editor. Self-employment had its benefits, but free theatre tickets were not among them. So there I was, at the opening night after-show party, chatting with one of the other media regulars.

Through the crowd I saw him—that face that can tell a whole story with one look, those milk-chocolate eyes that can reveal everything or nothing—Professor Snape/Colonel Brandon/Hans Gruber et al. He had escaped the dressing room, jettisoned the costumes and make-up, and joined the party as himself in jeans and a V-neck brown sweater. His formerly sandy-colored hair was now mostly a distinguished grey and platinum. Colonel Brandon in jeans? Oh, yummy.

I caught his eye—probably because I