For anyone who has read or heard any of National Public Radio's Sarah Vowell's pieces, the 30-something commentator is bitingly funny. Whether talking about being a member of a high school band (in her book “Take the Cannoli”) or her pilgrimages to the sites associated with three presidential assassinations, she is extremely entertaining.

A week from tonight she will speak in Auburn as part of a series that the Seward House has sponsored over the years to bring in authors who write about the life of the 19th century secretary of state. Last year it was James L. Swanson, the author of “Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer.” Prior to that it was best-selling historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose newest book “Team of Rivals” has been a national bestseller (and an unimaginable advertisement for the Seward House).

This year, the Seward House has Vowell, with the support of NPR's WRVO in Oswego, coming to East Middle School to talk about her book, titled, I kid you not, “Assassination Vacation.”

Riotously funny, it covers her infatuation with the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley and the Americana that goes along with it.

The Lincoln/Seward connection is an easy one to make. So is the McKinley/Auburn connection, when one remembers that his assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was electrocuted at Auburn prison. It is unclear, where the anarchist is buried. Some suggest that it is at the prison's cemetery on State Street, while others believe that he was secretly buried at Fort Hill Cemetery.

Oddly enough, Vowell, in her delightful book, misses that Auburn may have also had a connection with the assassination of James A. Garfield. One former city historian reported that one of Garfield's doctors, trained as a surgeon at the then Nelson Street Medical School, may have done more harm to the stricken president than the assassin. The bullet that had lodged in Garfield became encased in a hard cyst and when the surgeon poked at it, it may have ruptured and released deadly toxins that eventually killed the president, some 80 days after he was shot.

Vowell, who may not be a household name, is a well-known to many children, and not because of NPR. She was the voice of the sulking teen, Violet Parr, in 2005's “The Incredibles.” Tickets for the event are $15 each ($12 for students and Seward House members). They can be purchased at the house on South Street or at Nash's Art Supply on State Street.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com