We’re just back from our annual stay on Allen Cove in Brooklin, where the library is situated at the very center of the village. This is as it should be, because the Friend Memorial Library is a hub for both year-round patrons and summer visitors.

Friend Memorial Library in Brooklin

On July 28, the library hosted Cheryl Head, Rob Kelley and me for an enjoyable conversation about crime writing.  We kicked things off by each reading a brief passage from our work before chatting with the engaged audience about where/how/why we write.

Cheryl chose the opening scene from her work in progress, a historical mystery with the heart of a Western. The passage ended with a hook that made the audience (including Rob and I) gasp with delight.

Rob introduced the audience to Mev Hayes, the intriguing protagonist in RAVEN, his debut novel that was nominated for the 2026 Maine Literary Award.  A skilled techie, Mev can’t quite figure out how she was admitted as a grad student and welcomed into a prestigious MIT computer lab after her proclivity for hacking got her bounced out of an undistinguished undergraduate school in the Midwest.

Here I am with Cheryl Head and Rob Kelley

I read from my short story ASSUMPTIONS CAN GET YOU KILLED, which features a New York novelist who realizes she’s a fish waaaay out of water when on a solo writing retreat at her dead mother’s cottage perched atop a sea cliff in Downeast Maine.

We also talked about what everyone’s reading this summer. When I mentioned my vow to finally read LONESOME DOVE (see my recent summer reads post here: https://mainecrimewriters.com/2026/06/16/books-im-dying-to-read/) library director Catherine Nevin said Friend Memorial and all of the other local libraries have long wait lists for Larry McMurtry’s classic this year. Apparently, I’m on trend reading-wise.

I’m happy to report that last summer’s plan for expansion of the library is fast becoming this summer’s reality. The new addition to Friend Memorial will honor the town’s boatbuilding heritage with a maritime research center. It also will make possible an enlarged collection, more space for children’s programming and more accessible technology.  Here’s the link to last summer’s post:  https://mainecrimewriters.com/2025/08/06/a-maritime-research-center-in-a-boat-building-hub/ and here’s a link to the library’s own website that chronicles the brisk pace of construction to date on what its staff and board rightly call A Library For Us All: https://campaign.friendml.org/blog

Construction of the library’s addition is proceeding apace.

We did more than just hang out at the library, of course. I got a lot of writing done, fueled by my usual summer vacation breakfast of blueberry pie.

We swam most every afternoon, watched the tide rise and fall and listened to Red Sox games on the radio (old school!) as the sunset painted the evening sky over the cove.

I call this one Fire Three Ways. The sunset, the firepit and the Red Sox offense, which ignited night after night when we were in Brooklin.

Happily, my favorite songbird was nearby for the entire two weeks, serenading us from a perch very close to the cottage. For those of you who appreciate the flute-like song of the Hermit Thrush as much as I do, here it is: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hermit_Thrush/overview

What did you do on your summer vacation? Let us know in the comments.

Brenda Buchanan sets her novels and short stories in Maine. Her three-book Joe Gale series features a contemporary newspaper reporter with old-school style who covers the courts and crime beat at the fictional Portland Daily Chronicle. Brenda’s short story, “Means, Motive, and Opportunity,” was included in the anthology Bloodroot: Best New England Crime Stories 2021 and received an honorable mention in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022.  Her story “Cape Jewell,” appeared in Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories 2025. “Crime of Devotion” was included in Murder Most Senior, an anthology released this spring at the Malice Domestic conference and her story “Links in the Chain” will be published in the anthology The Lines We Cross, which will launch at Bouchercon this coming October.