Author Talk at South Coastal Library
South Coastal Library — Bethany Beach, Delaware
Thursday, April 30, 2026 | 2:00–3:00 PM
Join local Delaware author Dave Tabler at the South Coastal Library for a fascinating presentation about his book Delaware Behaving Badly.
During this engaging talk, Dave will explore some of the most intriguing crimes and scandals in Delaware’s history. Learn about the real events that inspired the book and hear how Dave researches and selects the stories that reveal the darker side of the First State’s past.
Following the presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to meet Dave and have their books signed.
📍 South Coastal Library
43 Kent Avenue
Bethany Beach, DE 19930
Registration is appreciated but not required.
Link will post when available, here.
About Delaware Behaving Badly
Delaware Behaving Badly chronicles the most scandalous, unsettling, and at times absurd criminal episodes in Delaware’s history, from the colonial period to the 21st century. Drawing on vivid newspaper accounts, court records, and historical archives, the book tells the stories behind the headlines: crimes that exposed not just individual wrongdoing but the social, racial, and political tensions that shaped the First State. From Patty Cannon’s kidnapping ring and oyster wars on the Delaware Bay to the art heist masterminded by a suburban burglary gang and the shocking abuses of Dr. Earl Bradley, each case reveals something deeper about the culture, power structures, and blind spots of the communities involved. With careful attention to both detail and narrative pacing, the book offers more than just true crime—it holds a mirror to Delaware’s public life and asks what these stories say about who we were, and still are.
About the Author:
Ten-year-old Dave Tabler decided he was going to read the ‘R’ volume from the family’s World Book Encyclopedia set over summer vacation. He never made it from beginning to end. He did, however, become interested in Norman Rockwell, rare-earth elements, and Run for the Roses.
Tabler’s father encouraged him to try his hand at taking pictures with the family camera. With visions of Rockwell dancing in his head, Tabler press-ganged his younger brother into wearing a straw hat and sitting next to a stream barefoot with a homemade fishing pole in his hand. The resulting image was terrible.
Dave Tabler went on to earn degrees in art history and photojournalism despite being told he needed a ‘Plan B.’
Fresh out of college, Tabler contributed the photography for The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics, which taught him how to work with museum curators, collectors, and white cotton gloves. He met a man in the Shenandoah Valley who played the musical saw, a Knoxville fellow who specialized in collecting barbed wire, and Tom Dickey, brother of the man who wrote Deliverance.
Dave Tabler moved to Delaware in 2010 and became smitten with its rich past. He is the author of Delaware Before the Railroads, Delaware from Railways to Freeways, and Delaware from Freeways to E-ways. He still takes pictures, but his younger brother tells that fishing story every Thanksgiving.
Speaker
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Dave TablerAuthor
Ten-year-old Dave Tabler decided he was going to read the ‘R’ volume of the family’s World Book Encyclopedia set over summer vacation. He never made it from beginning to end. He did, however, become interested in Norman Rockwell, rare-earth elements, and the Run for the Roses.
Tabler’s father encouraged him to try his hand at taking pictures with the family camera. With visions of Rockwell dancing in his head, Tabler press-ganged his younger brother into wearing a straw hat and sitting next to a stream barefoot with a homemade fishing pole in his hand. The resulting image was… terrible.
Fresh out of college with degrees in art history and photojournalism, Tabler contributed the photography for The Illustrated History of American Civil War Relics. This experience taught him how to work with museum curators, collectors, and white cotton gloves. In addition, he met a man in the Shenandoah Valley who played the musical saw, a Knoxville fellow who specialized in collecting barbed wire, and Tom Dickey, brother of the man who wrote Deliverance.
In 2006, Tabler launched AppalachianHistory.net, drawing on those earlier encounters with Appalachian culture. Today the site attracts 375,000 readers annually.
He moved to Delaware in 2010 and became smitten with its rich past. Tabler no longer copies Norman Rockwell, but his experience working with curators and collectors proved invaluable when he set out to create a photographic tribute to Delaware’s colonial heritage. That project marked the beginning of an ongoing journey into Delaware’s layered past.