Maine Crime Writers

When I Don’t Mind Being Wrong

Posted on October 1, 2026 by kaitlynkathy

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, today dipping back into my fascination with the lives of women who lived in sixteenth-century England.

When I wrote the first version of what is now my A Who’s Who of Tudor Women in the early 1980s, it was in part because I had done tons of research for the unsold historical novels I’d been writing and didn’t want all that work to go to waste. Then, every time I’d read another biography about someone from that period, I’d find myself taking notes on interesting mentions of women, some of whom turned out to have had much more interesting lives once I realized they had multiple names thanks to multiple marriages and their husbands’ elevations in the peerage.

When I published the three volume print version of the Who’s Who last year I vowed to stop making changes and additions (although I did add an addenda page to KathyLynnEmerson.com). I knew, you see, that many more biographies of sixteenth-century women were bound to be published—the fascination with the century of Henry VIII and his wives, Elizabeth the First, and Shakespeare just never seems to end. In addition, new discoveries are being made all the time as records are found and studied or simply reviewed with fresh eyes.

Katherine Champernowne Astley is a woman I’ve been fascinated by for decades. Way back in the mid-1970s, one of my earliest attempts at writing a novel was a tome titled Dame Katherine’s Army, in which Katherine, known as Kat, Elizabeth Tudor’s governess, was the guiding force behind a group of women devoted to keeping Elizabeth safe during her sister Mary’s reign. Later, I used her as a character in another novel, this one actually published, first as Winter Tapestry and more recently (revised and reissued) as Death of an Intelligence Gatherer. I assigned to her the task of organizing intelligence gathering as it related to plots against Queen Mary that could affect Elizabeth. In all three fictionalizations of the period, I portrayed Kat as clever, resourceful, and devoted to keeping her young charge safe. This interpretation went against the opinions of generations of historians who dismissed Kat’s importance and considered her actions to have been foolish in the extreme.

Here is her mini-bio from A Who’s Who of Tudor Women:

KATHERINE CHAMPERNOWNE (d. July 18, 1565) Known as Kat, Katherine Champernowne’s birth year and parentage are uncertain. Some sources say she was the sister of Joan Champernowne, others identify her (and sometimes, Joan) as the daughter of Sir John Champernowne of Dartington (1458-1503) and Margaret Courtenay (c.1459-1504). She may have been from another branch of the family altogether. No contemporary records refer to Joan and Kat as sisters. What is known is that Kat was appointed as a waiting gentlewoman to the young Elizabeth Tudor in July 1536 and that a letter from Kat to Lord Cromwell written in that same year makes reference to her father, saying he “has much to do with the little living he has,” indicating that he was still alive and was not well-to-do. This seems to eliminate both Sir Philip, who was wealthy, and Sir John, who had died thirty-three years earlier. By the end of 1537, Kat had been made Elizabeth’s governess. In 1545, Kat married John Astley—also spelled Ashley—(c.1507-August 1, 1596), Elizabeth’s senior gentleman attendant. In 1547, when Henry VIII died, the household was combined with that of the Queen Dowager at Chelsea. While there, Kat permitted her charge to go to a party on the Thames at night. The Lord Protector’s wife declared that she was not fit to have governance of the king’s daughter. Kat faced a more serious problem in dealing with a flirtation between Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour (the Queen Dowager’s husband) and the young princess. When it came to light, Elizabeth and her household were sent to Cheshunt. After the Queen Dowager’s death, Kat seems to have believed that a match between the Lord Admiral and the princess could be arranged. She journeyed to London in December 1548 to meet with Seymour. On that same visit she also saw Lady Cheke and Lady Tyrwhitt and was commanded to go to the Lord Protector’s wife, Ann Stanhope, duchess of Somerset. On January 21, 1549, Sir Anthony Denny arrested Kat at Hatfield and conducted her to the Tower. She confessed in February, but not to anything treasonous. She was released thirteen days before Seymour’s execution. By August she had returned to Hatfield. When Mary became queen, Kat’s husband went into exile but Kat remained with the princess until Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower in 1554. Kat was allowed to rejoin her in October 1555. Shortly thereafter, a search of Somerset House unearthed a casket full of seditious books and papers. Kat was arrested in May 1556. This time she spent three months in Fleet Prison and after her release was forbidden to see Elizabeth Tudor again. When Mary Tudor died the order was rescinded and Kat was made either First Lady of the Bedchamber or Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. She may also have served as Mother of Maids until 1562. She was much sought after as a source of information about the new queen and as a go-between to ask favors of the sovereign. Her death distressed Elizabeth greatly. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Astley [née Champernowne], Katherine.” Portrait: unknown artist or date, posed with a skull.

It turns out that some of this information is wrong, and I am delighted. Rosemary Griggs’s new biography, Queen Elizabeth I’s Governess, based on extensive research in primary sources, reveals the reality. Kat Astley did not behave as I had my fictional versions of her act . . . but she could have. Griggs provides proof of her intelligence, reassesses the motivations behind some of those “foolish” actions, and finally settles the dispute over who her parents were. It’s simple, really. In common with many families of the period, Sir Philip and and Katherine Carew Champernowne had more than one child with the same first name. Two, in fact. Two Joans, and two Katherines. Documents refer to Kat as “Katherine the elder” and her sister Katherine (mother of Sir Walter Raleigh) as “Katherine the younger.”

There have been many biographies of royal Tudor women published over the years, and new ones keep coming. There have been far fewer written about non-royal women of the era, and many of those have been short on details about the subject of the biography. It is necessary, of course, to provide context for the life story in question, and some educated guesses are also necessary, given the refusal of early (mostly male) historians to take an interest in the lives of non-royal women, but Griggs’s biography has much more detail about its subject’s life than most, and she chooses to focus, when details are scarce, on Kat’s family and close associates rather than generalized history, giving the reader a clearer insight into Kat’s world and how she would have viewed the events she lived through.

The picture that emerges, well documented, shows a woman who was politically savvy, a steadying influence on her young royal charge, and an influential figure at court once Elizabeth became queen. Griggs’s text and footnotes provide sources and she includes a extensive bibliography. The book as a whole is an impressive accomplishment, and I’m not just saying that because she lists my Who’s Who in her bibliography.

My copy of Queen Elizabeth I’s Governess, pictured here, is festooned with flags, every one indicating a page where Griggs included some tidbit of information I had not previously encountered about one or more of the women I include in the Whos’ Who. Most of these new-to-me details will eventually be added, with attribution, to the addenda page at my website. Any time new facts emerge, I am delighted to hear about them, even when they reveal that my interpretation of the old facts was wrong.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. In 2023 she won the Lea Wait Award for “excellence and achievement” from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. She is currently working on creating new editions of her backlist titles. Her website is www.KathyLynnEmerson.com.

Posted in Kaitlyn's Posts | Tagged A Who's Who of Tudor Women, biographies, Elizabeth I, Kaitlyn Dunnett, Katherine Champernowne Astley, Kathy Lynn Emerson, new research, Rosemary Griggs, Tudor England, Tudor Women | 4 Comments

What’s the Mystery? By guest author V.S. Alexander

Posted on September 29, 2026 by matthewcost

A lifetime ago, I purchased a small paperback titled Ten Great Mysteries by Edgar Allan Poe. For those of you able to recall memories from the dim mists of time, you’ll remember that a variety of books such as Ten Great Mysteries could be purchased through your school. This lovely little volume, with its swirling green-and-yellow psychedelic cover and decidedly sinister, creepy-looking Poe, is the Scholastic Library Edition that still haunts my desk to this day, despite its brittle, yellowed pages. I won’t mention the copyright date for fear of ridicule.

But what brings me to this topic is the “mystery” these stories define. I never thought about this as a kid. I wanted to read Poe because he was spooky, a writer of the macabre, the paragon of suspense and terror. I was far more interested in the horror delivered by certain stories—”The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,”—rather than the groundbreaking mystery tales of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Purloined Letter.” Nearly everyone defines the last two as the foundation of modern detective fiction. There were contemporary writers in Poe’s time, and even some before, who dabbled in investigation and puzzle solving, but Poe appears to claim the title of father of the genre. However, Poe is no stranger to other genres (or mysteries): psychological suspense, horror, and crime. The constant scholar can make a case for all these in the tales.

Certainly, the 1960 film, The Fall of the House of Usher, starring a blond Vincent Price in the delicious role of Roderick Usher, piqued public interest in the writer, as did later movie adaptations of Poe’s stories. Perhaps Usher spawned the publication of Ten Great Mysteries.

The movies were fodder for a young man who purchased Famous Monsters of Filmland and other horror and science fiction magazines. Who must have come to Poe through such reading and late Saturday night TV creature features.

To me, Poe’s horror came in “the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder,” “any death but that of the pit,” or the maddening and turbulent descent into the maelstrom. In Poe’s world, at least from an editorial viewpoint, the definition of mystery included suspense, horror, madness, and incest. And, yes, crime is rampant in the stories too.

And the language! The sentence structure, the tone, the generated suspense. Who could ever forget a word like “putrefaction” when first confronted with its foul and slimy presence? Poe did so much to change American literature and, for that, we owe him our gratitude.

When I purchased this modest volume, probably for the astounding sum of ten cents, I started to read through the stories, and much to my chagrin, I found many words I didn’t understand. Much the same thing happened a few years later when I bought a copy of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, only to be turned off by the Yorkshire dialect. I had been fooled into thinking that Emily’s masterpiece was a ghost story, i.e., horror. Of course, it is in a way, but ghosts are not the focus of the novel. Rather, I would say, obsession. When I was 38 years old, I picked up the book again and was transfixed and transformed into a Brontë fanatic.

In closing, I would like to recount a story—again from the distant past. Struggling with the words and some of Poe’s concepts, I asked my mother to read me one of his stories. I selected “The Black Cat,” possibly because I’ve always been an animal lover and I had some inkling—I don’t remember how—of what the story was about.

It was summer, the day was brutally hot, and by ten o’clock we had our one window air conditioner running to chase away the Kansas heat. I will always remember my mother sitting in her new French Provincial chair, which she was so proud of, with my small volume of Poe in her hand. The brilliant light cut through the glassine curtains and fell in shafts on the floor. Her body was backlit against the picture window. And she read the story. I remember thanking her for taking the time because it was her day off.

Jumping about forty years forward, I came up with an idea for a novel called Poe’s Mother. It’s about a family that worships Poe in the way that others worship their chosen religion. Only available in e-book, it was never a commercial success—I self-published it—but the reviews made my day. Most readers wrote they’d never read a novel so disturbing and weird. I hope that Poe would appreciate my effort.

A life without Poe—a life without this definition of mystery—would be unthinkable.

About the Author

V.S. Alexander writes across genres, including mystery, historical fiction, psychological suspense, and horror. His eleven novels have garnered critical acclaim domestically and have been published in more than a dozen countries. The Voyage, a novel about the Titanic and a devoted dog aboard, is slated for publication this December. V. S. lives in Maine and is currently at work on a mystery series set in West Yorkshire, England.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Falling words

Posted on September 28, 2026 by kaitcarson

By Kait Carson

I throw things.

First Draft

Pottery things, that is. Bowls mostly. They’re easy. Someday, I hope to graduate to mugs. No denying they are a close cousin of bowls, but so far, functional handles have eluded me. That hasn’t stopped me from multiple, spectacularly unsuccessful attempts. For me, potting is a Zen experience. I can lose myself in the world of damp clay while I create something out of nothing. When I first started, I tried to make every ounce of clay belong. When bits and chunks oozed from between my fingers, I scraped them off my hands and patted them back into place. Then, a wise teacher shared a secret: “Let what isn’t important fall away. A good pot keeps only the essential elements.”

Essentials only, please

Although I didn’t realize it, the advice applies equally to writing. My early writing attempts were also spectacularly unsuccessful. Convinced the reader couldn’t understand the characters or plot without a full explanation, I strove like a banshee to keep every single syllable. Fortunately, a wise critique partner with way more experience than I took me, and her red pencil, in hand. She struck out entire pages of backstory and broad hints. The loss nearly broke my heart, but her margin notes felt like a masterclass. “Kill your darlings, Kait, books, and stories begin with the action. Readers don’t care what went before. They want to know the now. And they want to sift the clues from the red herrings on their own. It’s best not to bog them down with the non-essentials. They don’t need to see your first draft.”

Kill those darlings, darling.

The phrase ‘first draft’ struck like a knife in the heart. Had I been less eager to learn, it might have driven me into a first-class hissy fit. Except the words struck a chord. My drafting style is a combination of outliner and pantser. I need to know the full beginning—even the boring stuff—the ending, and four or five highlights in between so I know how my characters got there. Then I let my characters have at it and tell me the story. Together, we work through the twists and turns, wander down dead ends, and uncover motives, means, and opportunities. We argue over who gets top billing, who dies, and who did it. Pro tip: trust your characters. They know more than you do in the first draft. In Death by Sunken Treasure, they knew my plotted villain was innocent. The brats didn’t share the real villain with me until the second draft. Characters do not always play fair. I forgave them when I realized their killer followed the plot, and mine was more of a convenient walk-on.

Somewhere around what feels like the end of page 100,000, I know there’s a story hiding in all those words. That’s when the pottery knife comes out and I shave away the excess. Word by word, and phrase by phrase, I carve my darlings and the boring bits from the story. By the end of the third draft, only the essential remains, and the polishing begins.

How about you? Do you write tight from the start?

Posted in Kait's posts | Tagged editing, Kait Carson, kill your darlings | 4 Comments

Weekend Update: September 26-27, 2026

Posted on September 26, 2026 by matthewcost

Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Kait Carson (Monday), V.S. Alexander (Tuesday), Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Thursday), and Allison Keeton (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

Matt Cost is excited for the cover reveal of 1955: A Jazz Jones & January Queen Raleigh Mystery, which will pub on October 13th. What thinks you?

On Tuesday, September 29th at 6:30 PM, Cost will be participating in Mystery Making Mayhem at the Portland Public Library along with Maine Crime Writers Jule Selbo, Richard Cass, and Gabi Stiteler. Also joining in will be Ryan Lowell.

On Wednesday, September 30th at 7:00 PM, Cost will be participating in a Noir at the Bar at Barliman’s in Bangor with Gabi Stiteler and a whole host of fantastic Maine authors.

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business, along with the very popular “Making a Mystery” with audience participation, and “Casting Call: How We Staff Our Mysteries.” We also do programs on Zoom. Contact Kate Flora

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Author Interview with Dennis Pierce

Posted on September 25, 2026 by Allison Keeton

Last September I participated in the launch of a new bookstore in Kittery with writers from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. One of the authors I met was Dennis Pierce whose debut novel, Swinging for Power, captured my attention as I pursued the tables.

Book One, Parker Hanson Mystery series

In the spirit of bringing new mystery authors to the forefront, I spoke with him earlier this month about his novel and writing process. Here is our conversation.

Why do you write? I grew up with a love of reading, riding my bike to the library as a kid. The librarian would warn me that I only had two weeks to read the large stack that I brought to the counter. In two weeks, I’d return those books, read, and bring home more. It started with the Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown, and by fifth grade, I was reading Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. Knowing how much I loved reading, I wanted to create a work that would bring joy to others.

How did you get started as a writer?
I majored in English in college, but I admit, I didn’t know how to make the leap to becoming a professional writer. I did eventually work as a journalist, and now I am a freelance writer. Besides writing novels, I am also still a journalist and a copy writer. I found writing fiction difficult at first. I would start a first chapter, and then when it felt difficult, I would quit that story and start a new one.

One day, in a bookstore, Walter Mosley’s This Year You Write Your Novel caught my eye. He said to write 250 words a day, and in a year you’d have a novel. It inspired me. He also said writing every day keeps you in the flow, and it’s easier to keep going.

After reading Mosley’s book—it’s a short read—I started to work on a political thriller, and while I didn’t end up finishing that project—the work felt dated—I used some of the Concord, NH, research in Swinging for Power.

How do you create and develop your characters? How did you come up with Parker Hanson, your protagonist, in particular? I use many ways to come up with a character. I brainstorm for the type of character I need. Also, dialogue shapes the character. I start to write how the character speaks. That is where Parker came from. My villain in book two, Cross Checking, is a well-educated mobster—-“Harvard-educated mob boss…Once I know that, I bring them to life and round them out. I learn what quirks or individual touches they have vs.a cardbord/cliche version. Like I wanted to subvert the tough sidekick to Parker, so I made her a woman.

How did you come up with the premise for Swinging for Power? I had an idea for an underdog to take on someone powerful, and who is more powerful in a state than the governor? I wanted class to play a role in the story: class differences. Power and wealth often go hand in hand. Parker grew up like I did, working as a teen. I draw differences between the governor (Dartmouth) and Parker (public college), and the confidence issues that can exist when you don’t come from money, like feeling not worthy.

The book works on a story level—David vs. Goliath—Everyman, Every Person taking on a powerful person. It’s also an allegory for where we are as a society. We can all make a difference—if we find the courage to do so—with today’s issues such as the environment. You don’t need a gun to have courage

Who or what have been your writing influences? Robert B. Parker and Spenser for Hire as a wise-cracking detective. Lee Child’s Reacher books, except I want my characters to be “everyman” who still tries to change. In my novels, I have a journalist in danger. As Parker says, “What am I going to do? Hit those two crooks with a well-placed metaphor?” I have to figure out another way for him to succeed.

What are you working on now? Book Two is out, Cross Checking. I’m working on Book Three, Full Court Press. I like using sports naming conventions.

I’m also working on a SciFi Mystery set in the 1980s.

Book Two, Parker Hanson Mystery series

To learn more about Dennis Pierce’s excellent novels, please visit https://denniswpierce.com/books

***

Allison Keeton writes the Midcoast Maine Mystery series. Arctic Green is now available and Lobster Red launches in February 2027. She can be reached at www.akeetonbooks.com.

Posted in Allison's Posts, Author Interview | Tagged author interview, environment, journalist, murder mystery, mystery writer, New Hampshire, underdog, writer | 1 Comment

A Day in Brooklyn by Matt Cost

Posted on September 24, 2026 by matthewcost

This past Saturday, my wife, Deb, and I visited my daughter in Brooklyn. There was a night and a morning on either end of the visit, but really it was one day, and the idea was to see how much we could cram into it. But the sojourn was about more than seeing the daughter. It was also about research, as how can one write off a trip if they don’t tie in the writing?

We booked a hotel at the top of Fort Greene, bordering Vinegar Hill, a significant neighborhood setting for the book I’m finishing up. Kings County Gone Amok is the third book in the Brooklyn 8 Ballo series, in which 8 investigates the kidnapping of a young girl that brings him again and again to Vinegar Hill, which was then known as Irish Town.

Bright and early on Saturday, Deb and I struck out for a walk around to get a feel for the place. As we entered Vinegar Hill, we walked down Sands Street, the location of where I’m currently in the big showdown that involves various factions who were historically accurate entities of the time. The Italian Black Hand gang led by Frankie Yale. The Irish White Hand gang led by Pegleg Lonergan. And the Gangster Squad, led by Detective Johnny “Broadway” Broderick. The kidnappers and 8 Ballo are the fictional part of this climactic scene.

Sands Street led right up to the gates of the Brooklyn Naval Yard, still does, and was a place of sin-filled fun in 1925 Brooklyn. At the time, it was nicknamed Hell’s Half Acre. It housed illegal speakeasies, tattoo parlors, brothels, gambling joints, and just about any sort of carnal adventure you might want to engage in, as long as you weren’t afraid of risking your life. The primary creatures crawling through this excess of indulgence were the sailors from the Naval Yard, but many more were drawn to its bestial, animalistic eroticism.

Sands Street at seven on a Saturday morning certainly seemed a bit tamer than that, and now hosts high-rise buildings and small parks. All the same, as I walked down the street, putting myself back to 1925, I could feel the hoots, hollers, and screams of pain, pleasure, excitement, and terror.

We walked up and down Bridge Street, the center of Irishtown back in 1925, trying to place my fictional headquarters for the White Hand Gang and Pegleg Lonergan. I found the building I wanted on Water Street, and was forced to move it to the top of the hill of Bridge Street, melding the location and edifice into the creation of my book, The Five Fingers Club, which is a speakeasy in the basement, a hardware store on the first floor, and the offices up above where Pegleg decided who was going to work that day on the waterfront.

At the bottom of Jay Street, on the edge of the East River, a walking path wove its way between the water and green parks, leading under the Brooklyn Bridge, into DUMBO, and beyond. At this time of day, the sparse traffic consisted of joggers and dog walkers. This beautiful spot, overlooking the Manhattan skyline, was a major reason I imagined why so much of 1920s Irishtown had been torn down and rebuilt into high-rise apartments in 2026 Vinegar Hill, but a significant amount of historical character still remained if you looked close enough.

Several of the streets were still cobblestone. There was the old brick building, worn and forlorn-looking, that my mind was able to relocate to Bridge Street to become the Five Fingers Club. The fringes of the neighborhood still possessed either old-world charm or run-down poverty, depending on your mood of the day. The Hudson Avenue Generating Station, built in stages from 1922-1932, is being repurposed from fossil fuels into the Brooklyn Clean Energy Hub.

Next, we headed to Downtown Brooklyn, on the edge of Brooklyn Heights, for brunch with my daughter and her partner. We had a fabulous meal at French Louie’s, which I highly recommend if you ever find yourself in Brooklyn. Then it was off to the Buffalo Parade.

Tatanka Owe Akupi. Return of the Buffalo. Amir Nizar Zuabi created this artistic version of wild buffalo roaming the streets of Brooklyn in partnership with Elders from the Lenape and Lakota Tribes. It started with short talks and songs by these elders that spoke to unity, love, harmony, and peace. Then the buffalo came.

The buffalo were life-size puppets, each with two people inside and several handlers outside, and they came in a herd of fifty. They streamed into Abolitionist Park in Downtown Brooklyn as if they were pounding across the Great Plains, the most amazing puppets I’ve seen since Sesame Street and the Muppets, but even more powerful and realistic.

The herd circled the park, then went off down the street, following a marching band with a crowd of thousands following, as they paraded toward Brooklyn Bridge Park, a mile and a half away. We followed for a bit, caught up in the spectacle of it all, but eventually had to peel ourselves away as we had plans to go to the Rockaways for an Oyster Festival and a sailboat ride on Jamaica Bay.

The Rockaways, a peninsula of Queens that feels more like a barrier island, was the perfect bookend to a day that started on Sands Street of Vinegar Hill. The name “Rockaway” may have meant “place of sands” in the Munsee language of the Native American Lenape who occupied the area at the time of the arrival of the Europeans, the same Native American tribe whose Elders were speaking at the Tatanka Owe Akupie.

The Oyster Festival was a bit of a letdown as it didn’t compare to those offered in Maine, but a few of those succulent mollusks found their way into our bellies as we listened to an Irish band play. Yes, another tie-in to Kings County Gone Amok (if you happen to be an IRS auditor reading this).

A cloudy (not sunset) sailboat jaunt out into Jamaica Bay followed, taking us through marshlands, across the bay, to the edges of JFK Airport, and back to the Rockaways. I’m not sure if 8 Ballo will find his way to doing any of the Rockaway events, but I’ve been tinkering with incorporating this fascinating getaway spot less than an hour from Manhattan and part of Brooklyn into the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed.

We ended the night with dinner at The Wharf, a bayside restaurant and bar with a band inside that could be heard on the extensive waterside deck. This made me think the Rockaways might be a good venue for 8 Ballo’s next investigation. It turns out it was a booming spot in the 1920s, a summer playground for New York City, and was filled with bootleggers because of the irregular coast. There were many high-speed chases on land and water, making the wheels turn in my head, but I have a few other books to write first.

When being a writer, it is impossible to separate work from play. It is all one and the same.

About the Author

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014, he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.

Cost has published twenty books, mostly in the crime genre, from traditional PI to thriller to historical mystery. His most recent book is the debut of a new series, 1955: A Jazz Jones & January Queen Raleigh Mystery.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. Cost now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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Tips for Self-Editing

Posted on September 22, 2026 by Robert T. Kelley

I had a chance to teach an online class this past weekend for Great Lakes Fiction Writers titled “Working with an Editor & Self-Editing Tips.” It was well-attended and recorded for their membership.

It was a really nice opportunity to think about my process, and how it’s evolved. I just submitted my next manuscript’s final edit to my editor, so I had much to say about that process, but I actually spent most of the time talking about self-editing.

I started by assuring my students that process is personal. That a writer has to find what works for them, and also acknowledge that your process may change depending on length, genre, or nature of the project.

Walter Mosley once said that “your novel is bigger than your head,” by which I’m sure he meant a great many things, but one of the takeaways for me has always been that it’s enormously difficult to wrangle the entire project at once. So, for me, that means multiple editorial passes, each with its own purpose.

I base my process off of the one Allison K. Williams espouses in Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book, but have adapted it to the challenges unique to my writing. That’s the evolution of my process. Now having worked with multiple editors and done major rewrites to multiple manuscripts, I know where my writing challenges are.

Nowadays I can get a draft down on paper pretty reliably. It’s not always smooth, not always consistent, and usually pretty ugly. Then the fun begins.

Allison K. William’s Seven Drafts are:

The Vomit Draft (aka, the “Shitty First Draft,” Williams also channels a friend’s kinder epithet, thinking of this draft as grocery shopping and editing as making a meal)
The Story Draft (in which you pay attention to plot and structure)
The Character Draft (in which you refine characters, make their voices consistent, and consider dialogue)
The Technical Draft (what most of us think as editing: POV, sequencing, show don’t tell, pacing, line editing, and word choice)
The Personal Copy Edit (formatting and style)
The Friend Read (beta readers if you have them)
The Editor Read (either on your own nickel or by your press)

I follow most of her model, though I add a few more based on what editors have helped me to see as consistent challenges I have or that I know I undoubtedly have to improve. So, my drafts are:

First Draft
Story Draft (since I write in multiple POVs, this also looks at each narrator’s arc to make sure it is consistent and compelling)
Character Draft (voice is especially important here for me, making each POV unique)
Detail Draft (essentially world-building, a full read through in which I ask in every paragraph, is it clear where we are, when we are, what senses are being activated, what grounds us)
First Technical Draft (looking at chapter, paragraph, and sentence lengths, dialogue vs. narrative)
Emotion Draft (aka Character Draft 2–since I write thrillers, sometimes I can let the plot dominate the characters, so I need to make sure I am expressing how the circumstances and action affect them)
Second Technical Draft (now looking at spelling, grammar, and my “Tic List”–I’ll come back to that)
Read Aloud Draft (I have Word read me the manuscript aloud. Amazing what you catch here, from inconsistent voice to repeated words, to clunky sentences)

It’s not much different from Allison K. Williams’s, but where it is, it’s because it addresses weaknesses in my initial drafts, like details and character emotions.

Probably the least fun part of the process for me is processing the “Tic List.” This is a list of words I know I over utilize or let clog up the prose: but, and, had, that, very, even, etc. The list goes on to over 200 words I try to cull. That pass as part of the Second Technical Draft often removes several thousand words, to my initial surprise!

Then, of course, I do parts of all this over again after I get my editorial line edits! No doubt the process will continue to evolve but it does allow me to, at least in part, make the novel not much bigger than my head.

Always filling in the classics I never got around to. This week I’m diving into John LeCarré’s The Constant Gardener, 2004.

Next up in my TBR is Emily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party, 2026.

Posted in Rob's Posts | 9 Comments

Who is This Jimmy Guy?

Posted on September 21, 2026 by Vaughn C. Hardacker

Vaughn

Vaughn Hardacker here: As a kid growing up in Maine and later as an adult living near Boston and in Southern New Hampshire, I have been a devout Red Sox fan (with a 12-year sojourn as a Cubs fan while living in the western suburbs of Chicago). Every year, the Boston Red Sox, in conjunction with a Boston sports radio station, conduct a weekend telethon in support of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This year marked the 24th year the telethon took place (August 17 & 18, 2026) and raised over $7,300,000 in donations (a new record — the original 1948 telethon raised $231,485.51). All of Boston’s major sports franchises, along with many corporate and individual donors, support the fund. However, I always wondered: Who is this Jimmy? I was surprised to learn that there was NO Jimmy! The name was used to protect the patient’s identity.

Einar in his Boston Braves uniform (left) and Dr. Sidney Farber (right)

Still curious as to who he was, I started doing a bit of research. I was further surprised to learn that the original Jimmy was a boy who grew up and lived within ten miles of me! Jimmy’s real name was Einar Gustafson from New Sweden, Maine. Born Carl Einar Gustafson on a New Sweden potato farm on August 18, 1935. When he was twelve, he felt a pain in his abdomen while walking to school. He had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the small bowel and had surgery at Cary Memorial Hospital in Caribou. His doctor referred him to Children’s Hospital in Boston. At the time Children’s Hospital had a curate somewhere around thirty percent. At that time, Einar’s doctor was raising money for cancer research with a charitable group of show businesspeople called the Variety Club.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

On May 22, 1948, radio (later TV) star Ralph Edwards was broadcasting his show from Children’s Hospital. The broadcast was coast-to-coast and Farber selected Einar. Although the Jimmy Fund has been identified with the Red Sox, Einar was a Boston Braves fan and he longed for a television so he could watch their games. The broadcast was done from Jimmy’s bedside and Boston Braves players made a surprise appearance bringing hats, bats, and a small Braves uniform. Edwards announced that Einar would get a TV if $20,000 was raised. Before the Braves left the hospital, people were already showing up at the door with donations. Dr. Farber suggested the fund drive be called The Jimmy Fund. In its first year, the fund raised the aforementioned $231,485.51 and Einar got an additional bonus the Braves won the National League pennant.

In 1953, the Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee and the Red Sox adopted the Jimmy Fund. The most fervent advocate for the fund was Ted Williams. Williams later said: “Back in the 1950s, Dr. Farber told me, ‘Ted, we’re gonna find a way to save these kids.’

BOSTON – JULY 9: From left: the original “Jimmy”, Einar Gustafson, Dana Farber president Dr. David Nathan, and Boston Red Sox’s Ted Williams and John Harrington at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund benefit. (Photo by Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

For years, many people believed that Jimmy had succumbed from his disease. He did not. He and Farber stayed in contact until Dr. Farber died of heart disease in his office in 1973. After years of anonymity , in Einar’s sister, a resident of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, wrote the Jimmy Fund that her brother was still alive. The fund director dismissed the letter. One fund-raiser took the letter seriously and tried to locate Einar. One day her phone rang and the caller said: “This is Jimmy. I heard you were looking for me.”

Einar had continued receiving chemotherapy in Boston on a regular basis. He grew to be 6’5″ tall, had graduated from Caribou High School (My alma mater, however, for some reason the school had never mentioned him.), he drove trucks, married his high school sweetheart, and raised three daughters. He explained why he’d kept his identity quiet: “We were taught when we were kids you didn’t talk about those things. You didn’t talk about sickness.”

Jimmy Fund Ted Williams Statue at Fenway Park

In 1999, Ted Williams came to Boston for an All-Star event and he toured the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Williams said the Jimmy Fund was the softest spot in his heart about the New England people.

He heard “Jimmy” was at the clinic, too. “Where’s this Jimmy?” Williams yelled. “I want to meet this Jimmy guy!”

The two men sat in rocking chairs and chatted.

“This is the biggest thrill of my trip, right here,” Williams said.

Einar Gustafson died of a stroke on Jan. 21, 2001, at his home in Caribou. Ted Williams died a year and a half later.

Once again I have to ask: Who says nothing ever happien in Aroostook County.

I would like to thank Leslie Landrigan, her article The Jimmy Fund Survives, Gives Ted Williams A Thrill was invaluable in my research of Jimmy. I found the article via an email from the New England Historical Society. If you’re interested here’s a link to the original article. https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/jimmy-fund-jimmy-survives-gives-ted-williams-thrill/

Posted in Uncategorized, Vaughn's Posts | Tagged Boston Red Sox, Cancer Research, Children with cancer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Einar Gustafson, Jimmy Fund, Ted Williams | 7 Comments

Weekend Update: September 19-20, 2026

Posted on September 19, 2026 by kaitlynkathy

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Vaughn Hardacker (Monday), Rob Kelley (Tuesday), Matt Cost (Thursday), and Allison Keeton (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

Posted in Sunday Updates | Tagged Allison Keeton, Maine Crime Writers news, Matt Cost, Rob Kelley, Vaughn Hardacker | Leave a comment

They’re Only Books . . .

Posted on September 18, 2026 by dickcass

Shameless Commerce Division:

Many thanks to the folks who showed for the launch of Hard as a Headstone at Longfellow Books on September 1. Great time, great cake.I’ll be signing books at the South Portland Barnes and Noble on Saturday, September 12 at 1 PM and at The Maine Book & Print Fest at Thompson’s Point the next day at the same time. After that, Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick hosts a reading/discussion of The Last Altruist and Hard as a Headstone at 4 PM on Saturday, September 19. Hope to see you at any or all of them.

They’re Only Books

The geese are flying into the farm pond at Maxwell’s, which means it is fall. Blessedly. If you’ve been following the saga, you will no doubt be fascinated to learn that we are in the middle of moving house. In fact, on the day this post appears, we will be closing on our old home and officially moving into a cozy apartment with a view of the Portland ship channel.

Any move is disruption maximized, but for a household with two ex-English majors, one of them a writer, the critical point has been what to do with the books. I’d already thrown out the bad poems and the old love letters.

Going from fifteen feet of built-in bookcases and ten freestanding ones, all crammed tight, to a manageable number of volumes has been an exercise in self-reflection and not a little ex post facto masochism. (Why did I need three copies of Early Love and Brook Trout?) A serious winnowing process was required—I never thought I was going to get rid of ALL my books.

This didn’t feel like this was a desert island situation. There will be space for books at the new address. But it felt like a great opportunity to revisit why I was giving certain authors and genres shelf space. I finally decided that the only reasonable way I could narrow the collection was to decide which writers I needed most to have around me. To wit: