A request to hold a book signing at the Asa Packer Mansion for a mystery novel set in Jim Thorpe was turned down Thursday by borough council on a 4-2 vote.

Members raised concerns about using a National Historic Landmark to promote fiction, setting a precedent for future unrelated events, and potentially alienating donors as the borough pursues an endowment for the property.

The book in question is “The Wicked,” published in August 2025 by Matt Birkbeck, an award-winning investigative journalist and best-selling author who grew up in the region. It is his debut work of fiction — a murder mystery set in modern-day Jim Thorpe featuring the Molly Maguires, local landmarks and a newspaper reporter protagonist. The signing would have been held Oct. 24 at the mansion from 1 to 3 p.m. and was slated to be free and open to the public.

Birkbeck’s previous nonfiction books — including “A Beautiful Child” and “Finding Sharon” — were adapted by Netflix for the 2022 film “Girl in the Picture,” for which he served as executive producer.

Voting no were Connor Rodgers, Mike Hartman, Alice Roberti and Lyle Augustine. Mike Yeastedt and Joanne Klitsch voted in favor.

Borough Secretary Brooke Klotz, who brought the request forward and advocated for it Thursday, acknowledged the book’s connection to the mansion itself is limited. “The only time that the mansion is mentioned in the book, the mayor ends up having a dinner with a reporter,” Klotz said. “It’s more general. They talk about different locations throughout Jim Thorpe.”

But Klotz argued that getting more people through the mansion’s doors, by any reasonable means, is a priority. Tour attendance, she said, has been inconsistent this season.

“Attendance is down this year; it’s hit or miss,” Klotz said. “There’s been days where we were open, and honestly, it wasn’t even worth being open that day. And then there’s other days that we sell through every single tour.”

The previous Sunday had been one of those banner days. Augustine noted he visited the mansion and found it sold out. Klotz called it “the busiest day that we’ve had in a long time.”

Rodgers voted against the signing, citing concerns about what the borough implicitly endorses when it allows events at the landmark.

“If this is something where eventually we have an endowment and nonprofit status and we’re accepting donations, you could have some that would potentially see this as a reason not to donate,” Rodgers said. He also said he had reservations about promoting content that is not historically accurate at a historic property. “I just don’t think it’s really appropriate for a historic site,” he said.

Roberti also raised concerns about precedent: that approving an event with a loose connection to the mansion could make it harder to deny future requests.

“I don’t think this is a terrible idea, but there are some concerns about this opening things up to other people wanting to do the same thing when it’s not really necessarily connected to the mansion,” she said. “What is this going to open up for the future in terms of other people wanting to do similar things?”

Yeastedt pushed back, arguing the approval process itself is the safeguard.

“They all come up and vote, so we can vote and we can approve or deny them,” Yeastedt said.

Klotz also pointed to a historical comparison. The Lions Club, which operated the mansion for decades, had held events there with no historic connection to the Packer family such as yoga on the lawn. She acknowledged the current council is a different body but pressed the case.

“I’m just trying to bring new ideas and bring people that get the attention the mansion needs and get more people interested that wouldn’t necessarily originally be interested in it,” Klotz said.