Next week at Maine Crime Writers we’ll be featuring posts from Gerry Boyle (Monday), Vicki Doudera (Tuesday), Lea Wait (Wednesday), Jim Hayman (Thursday), and Barb Ross (Friday).

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

Barb Ross: So thrilled that Clammed Up has been nominated for an RT Book Reviews, Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award in the Amateur Sleuth category (along with four other terrific books.) This is the first award I’ve ever been nominated for for a novel, so as you might guess, I’m over the moon.

You can see all the nominees here.

Lea Wait: Congratulations, Barb! That’s great news … and well-deserved! All’s pretty quiet in my life now .. which translates to mean “editing and writing.” But this coming Friday, November 22, I’ll be leaving my study and heading for Studio 53 (53 Townsend Avenue) in Boothbay Harbor, where I’ll be selling and signing my books in the midst of a special holiday exhibition of art from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m. Usually it’s my husband who’s at galleries … this should be fun!

Kaitlyn Dunnett: Way to go, Barb! I didn’t think I’d have any news to share this weekend, but I was wrong. I’ve just been given the final decision on the title for the next Liss MacCrimmon mystery, the one set on the Christmas tree farm that will be published in hardcover next November. I started out with a working title (so original!) of The Christmas Tree Farm Murders, then tried for a Scottish flair with Auld Lang Crime, but unfortunately the pun works better for a New Year’s Eve book than a Christmas one. So, after much debate and many suggestions, some of them sillier than others, my editor at Kensington polled the Sales Department (whose business it is to know what will grab a reader’s attention) and their choice was Ho Ho Homicide, one of the titles suggested by my agent. Getting a Scottish reference into this one just wasn’t in the cards. Still, based on past covers, I’m betting that the art department will do something clever with tartans. Readers here will be the first to see what they come up with.

Barb Ross: Rats! I loved the title Auld Lang Crime. But Ho Ho Homicide it is, and I’m sure you’re right about the tartans. Now you have to write a New Year’s Liss MacCrimmon mystery.

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.