Tomorrow, October 30, is the publication day for THREAD HERRINGS, the seventh in my Mainely Needlepoint mystery series, set in the small working waterfront town of Haven Harbor, Maine.

My protagonist, Angie Curtis, runs a custom needlepoint business which includes a group of idiosyncratic Mainers who have in common a talent for doing needlepoint: Sarah, an antique dealer from Australia; Dave, a high school teacher who has a poison garden; Captain Ob, who runs a charter fishing boat in season; Ruth, who writes erotica; and Angie’s grandmother, now the wife of the local minister.  In each book in the series Angie not only solves one (or more) crimes, but she also learns a little more about one or more of her fellow needlepointers.

In THREAD HERRINGS Angie accompanies her friend Sarah to an estate auction: her very first. As a fourth-generation antique dealer, auctions were familiar venues for me from the time I was about eight. (I made my first auction purchase, a first edition Encyclopedia Americana, when I was ten.) It was fun to introduce Angie (via Sarah) to the ways, means, customs, courtesies, and traditions of an auction. And, of course, Angie had to be intrigued by one item, and buy it.

And of course, it is a piece of old needlepoint. And, of course, it has a story.

As a long-time adoption advocate, adoptive parent and history buff, I’ve always been fascinated by what happened to orphaned children throughout history, and have collected information about it for years. So it isn’t surprising that a piece of that history is connected to Angie’s eighteenth century needlepoint. Nor is it surprising that soon a twenty-first century crime is also woven into the story.

How did I fit those pieces into the plot of a book set on the coast of Maine? You’ll have to read it to see. And remember … you’ll also find some red herrings in THREAD HERRINGS!    

Available in mass market paperback and e-book.