Author to donate portion of book sales to charity

Kevin Sommerer, author of Mason’s Philly: Discreet Denial | Photo provided by Kevin Sommerer

A local author is planning to donate a chunk of the sales of his new detective novel to a pair of charities this winter.

Kevin Sommerer, a South Philly native, said he is planning to donate $1 for every issue of his book, Mason’s Philly: Discreet Denial, he sells in the month of December to Philabundance and the Philadelphia Youth Network.

Sommerer said the inspiration came while he was out performing his annual holiday acts of service over the last week.

“I delivered food and platters on Thanksgiving as I have been doing each year to seniors and shut-ins I know who were alone and that’s when I got the idea,” Sommerer said.

Philabundance, which serves both Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, helps to provide good, healthy meals to underserved families to drive hunger out of communities. Around 135,000 people each week benefit from the food drives and other activities organized by Philabundance.

On the other hand, the Philadelphia Youth Network works with its partners to help develop education and employment opportunities for youth and young adults throughout the city.

“I’m all for supporting our city’s future,” Sommerer said.

Sommerer said the overwhelmingly positive response to Mason’s Philly, which details the exploits of fictional gumshoe Mason Hall in 1998 Philadelphia, made him want to reciprocate that appreciation.

“I get much happiness hearing from my readers who are joyous about reliving the memories I’ve written about in the book,” Sommerer said. “I’m grateful for my career, so I’d like to give something back to the community.”