Next week at Maine Crime Writers we’ll be featuring posts from Susan Vaughan (Monday), John Clark (Tuesday), Kate Flora (Wednesday), and Gerry Boyle (Friday). In honor of Halloween, on Thursday we’ll have a special group post to answer the question “What is the scariest book you ever read, and why?”

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

From Lea Wait:  Busy week coming up for me!  Monday (Bob and my 10th wedding anniversary!) I’m meeting with some wonderful folks at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, doing research for my next mystery. Then Thursday Bob and I will head south … Friday we’ll be at the New York Historical Society’s centennial Armory Show exhibition (more research? perhaps.) Then Saturday the 2nd of November I’ll be doing a signing at The Moonstone Mystery Bookstore, 12 Bloomfield Avenue in Flemington, New Jersey, from noon until 2:00 … and then we’ll head further west to New Hope, PA, where Bob’s paintings will be featured in an opening that night from 5-8:00 at the Blank Canvas Gallery, 19A West Bridge Street.  If any of you live close to either of those events, we’d love to see you! And then on to Philadelphia and a peak at the Barnes … and home. Somehow, I suspect not a lot of actual writing will take place in the next week! But a lot of ideas will be simmering.

From Kate Flora: It was like something from a teenage nightmare flick. I was on my way to what promised to be a pleasant evening at the North Gorham Public Library, when suddenly, on a dark road in the middle of nowhere, my Google maps program stopped speaking to me. Desperate, I pulled over to the side and reloaded the map. No help. It placed me in the middle of nowhere and wouldn’t get me unlost. For about twenty minutes, I drove mysterious back roads that kept being dead ends. And the clock was ticking. Finally, with fifteen minutes left to find my destination, the program located me. Many frantic moments on twisty roads later, acting on faith and desperation, I found my destination with one minute to spare. Despite this, it was a wonderful crowd who asked great questions. I read them stories. We all ate cookies and went home to watch the ballgame.

No two library events are ever the same. Libraries, and their patrons, have personalities, and it is part of the adventure of being a writer in Maine to explore them. So thank you, Maine libraries, for all the great adventures.

Next Wednesday, I’m doing a panel at the Concord (Mass) Author Festival on book promotion. Those who know me understand that I find the topic baffling, but I’m looking forward to what my fellow panelists have to say. On November 5th I’m heading south to a library in Barrington, Rhode Island. Then there’s the New England Crime Bake, and then a quiet winter to finish Death Warmed Over, my next Thea Kozak mystery.

For those who worry that indie bookstores are dying, this week’s good news is Letterpress Books in Portland. Here’s the info: Letterpress Books is located at 91 Auburn Street in Portland. (P) 207-747-4232; (E) info@letterpress-books.com; also on Facebook and Twitter (@letterpressbks)

Please do stop by on Thursday for our Halloween special post on the scariest mysteries ever. There will be prizes for those who leave comments.

Linda Barnes answers an audience question at the Concord Author's Festival while Daniel Palmer, Andrew Goldstein and Barbara Ross look on.

From Barbara Ross: Feeling as peripatetic as Lea and Kate. Did an emergency fill-in for an ailing panelist on Mystery Night at the Concord Author Festival on Friday. This week finds me with an author scrum including Julia Spencer-Fleming at the Mystery Writers of American Launch Party at the New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton, Massachusetts today, on Monday speaking at Writer’s Work in Weymouth, MA and on Tuesday night at 7:00 at with my Grub Street Launch Lab buddy Ron MacLean at the Harvard Bookstore in Harvard Square. Then, a quick trip to visit kids and grandkid in Connecticut and back to writing. Bliss!

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.