I first met Bruce Robert Coffin at Crime Bake a few years back and I’ve been lucky enough to bump into him a number of times since. There are a few things that stand out to me about Bruce. First, he’s a really funny guy. Not only does he have a lot of great stories, he knows how to tell them. In person. To a crowd. On the spot. There’s a gift there. Second, he takes writing seriously. He is deeply reflective about his practice and the business of writing. He reads deeply and widely. He asks questions. He writes in both short and long form. As a result, he’s a great person to go to for advice or with a question. Third, he listens. I think this may be a superpower many writers have but it is a real gift when that listening is turned to you. Whenever I see Bruce, he asks about that last project, pays attention to recent successes, and is genuinely supportive part of this wonderful crime writing community.

Last winter, Bruce, Jule, Matt, Ryan, and I all met up at the Great Lost Bear in Portland to connect on our writing. It was great. He was telling me about the Detective Justice series and lately it’s been everywhere. Most recently, Bruce was honored with the Silver Falchion for Best Book by an Attending Author at Killer Nashville.

With his latest book, DARK HARBOR, hitting a bookstore near you, I asked if he could take a minute to share a little about his latest series. It’s getting a lot of buzz, for good reason.

Welcome back our old friend Maine Crime Writers contributor, Bruce Robert Coffin.

GS: Firstly, congrats on your recent success with your Detective Justice series. This follows the success of your Detective Byron series and the Turner and Mosley Files, co-written by Lyndee Walker. The series centers on Detective Brock Justice and his rookie partner Detective Chloe Wright. In the first book, CRIMSON THAW, Justice has been exiled to Major Crime Unit – North for crossing the thin blue line. How did this series come to be? I’d love to know a little about your journey to writing this series.

BRC: Thank you, Gabi. I am so grateful to see both existing and new readers embracing the Justice novels. And I certainly never imagined Crimson Thaw being a finalist for the Anthony Award and the Barry Award!

Brock Justice might never have happened were it not for my partnering with LynDee Walker. LynDee and I had already completed the first book in the Turner and Mosley Files series and were busy writing the second when Paula Munier, my literary agent, reached out to me about the possibility of creating a new police procedural series for Severn River Publishing. At first I was reluctant to commit to anything new as I was already working under a four book contract, but it didn’t take long before the ideas began coming fast and furious and I knew I wanted to get started on the Justice books. I spent a few days working out the series and the storyline for the first novel and then Paula forwarded everything to the publisher, a few weeks later we were under contract for four novels. Since that time the series has been expanded and there will be at least eight Justice books.

GS: I’d love for you to share a little with readers about your latest release, DARK HARBOR. What is the newest Detective Justice about? What surprised you when you were writing it? 

BRC: One of the wonderful things about writing a series featuring a Maine state police detective is that it allows me the creative freedom to set the murder investigations anywhere in the state. This is a big departure from my Byron novels, set in Portland, Maine, as John Byron was a municipal detective which meant the crime always had to originate in Portland.

DARK HARBOR involves a break-in to the seaside mansion of Granville Warren, a well-to-do businessman, on Sols Cliff in Bar Harbor. Granville and his very young third wife return home from a day sailing around Frenchman Bay and the surrounding area of Acadia, to discover the break-in still in progress. The resulting mayhem leaves Granville and one of the burglars dead, but as you might imagine nothing is ever what it seems.

GS: One of the things that stands out to me about this series is the setting. From Blue Hill to Moosehead Lake to Bar Harbor, Detective Justice finds himself in communities known for their beauty. But in typical Bruce Robert Coffin style, there is always something a little rotten below the surface. When writing, how do you decide where to set the stories? Does the setting come first or the idea for the plot? In what ways does this compare to your experiences with your other series?

BRC: Truthfully, this newly acquired autonomy makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. I’m reveling in the ability to place my stories anywhere I choose. And you’re right, Maine is such a beautiful and sparsely inhabited state that it lends itself perfectly to the juxtaposition of placing a fictional murder in an idyllic setting. And not only setting, the changing seasons come into play, too. I’m currently writing FREEZE POINT, the fourth book in the series, which takes place in Presque Isle during a nor’easter. To answer your question, I normally think of plot first then try to decide the best locale and time of year to set it.

GS: Last year I moderated a panel where Lori Rader-Day, Edwin Hill, and Carolyn Wilkins shared their reflections about themes. They all said that the themes of their stories emerge organically through the process of writing the story itself. Somebody mentioned this idea of a having a core story – or ideas they come back repeatedly. When you look at your body of work, are there any themes that repeat?

BRC: Sounds like a fascinating panel! I write most of my novels around a central theme. I find that having that theme in mind before writing the story allows me to stay on course and not stray off on some tangent, as writers are wont to do. LOL

As for repeating themes, yeah, I guess I tend to revisit those. I hadn’t really given it too much thought until you asked, but looking back I have explored themes more than once. I think most writers naturally gravitate toward those themes that we find the most interesting. And let’s face it, the human condition is ripe with stories that revolve around its best and worst attributes.

GS: In addition to being a writer, you are also a retired police detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement. I’d love to hear about how skills and knowledge from your lived experience help you not only think about what to write, but inform your practice of writing and research.

BRC: Coming directly from a field in which finding answers and being able to document those answers was the sole focus has helped me immeasurably. Writing a cohesive and chronological story is something that every police investigator must learn. I had no idea that those very same traits would lend themselves so well to writing novels, but they have. Red herrings and unreliable characters came naturally during my real life investigations, so I have had a lot of experience from which to draw, allowing me to use them to the greatest effect in my fictional worlds. The other ingredient that adds so much is my knowledge of the emotional toll the job takes on real life investigators. I try and use emotion whenever possible to pull the reader into the story and get them to feel what my characters feel.

GS: You first started writing on this blog when you were pretty early in your career. What are some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way?

BRC: I did, indeed. I think my first contributions to this blog were a year before my first novel was published. At that point I had no idea how little I knew about the publishing business, and probably still don’t. But I knew I loved writing and spending time with my “imaginary friends” and that hasn’t changed at all. Which may be the most important lesson. Never stop writing. Never stop creating. This business, like any other, can be daunting at the best of times, there are so many things to worry about, things that will require large blocks of your time and will wear you down if you let them. Never lose sight of the most important things, the writing, the creating. Tess Gerritsen told me when I first started to play the long game. “Being a novelist is a marathon not a sprint.” As I sit here writing the manuscript for my thirteenth novel, I’d say Tess was spot on.

GS: What are you reading, watching, listening to now? Any recommendations?

BRC: I’m currently doing some reading to prepare for my Bouchercon panels, one of which I will be moderating. My pile consists of THE RED SCARE MURDERS by Con Lehane, NO HIGHER GROUND by Nicole Brooks, STATES OF GRACE by Mandy Miller, and Karen Dionne’s THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER (which I’m reading for the second time around, it’s so good!). I’m also on the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original finalists panel with James L’Etoile, Lina Chern, Tracy Clark, and Heather Levy, so I’m reading each of their nominated books too!

My current audiobook is FOX CREEK by William Kent Krueger.

GS: Thank you so much, Bruce! It’s always a pleasure to hear what you have going on and I can’t wait to see the next Detective Justice book.

You find find Bruce in person here in the great state of Maine at any of the following events:

• 8/29 1-3pm signing at Sherman’s Bookstore in Windham
• 9/12 11-1pm signing at Letterpress Books in Windham
• 10/21 – 10/25 Bouchercon in Calgary
• 11/17 6-7pm Kennebunk Free Library

DARK HARBOR – book #3 of Detective Justice series, published by Severn River Publishing

With intricate plotting reminiscent of Craig Johnson’s Longmire and the relentless, atmospheric tension of C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett, Bruce Robert Coffin delivers another gripping Detective Justice novel that cuts straight to the bone.

One dead millionaire, one dead intruder, and a detective whose only path forward means exposing the secrets of Bar Harbor’s wealthy elite.

HERE.

Bruce Robert Coffin is an award-winning and international bestselling novelist and short story writer. A retired police detective sergeant, Bruce is the author of the Detective Byron Mysteries, the Detective Justice Mysteries, and co-author of the Turner and Mosley Files (with LynDee Walker). His Anthony Award nominated short fiction has been published in more than a dozen anthologies including Best American Mystery Stories, 2016.

Winner of Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Awards for Best Procedural, and Best Investigator, and the Maine Literary Award for Best Crime Fiction, Bruce has also been a finalist for the Agatha, Barry, and Anthony Awards. His short fiction appears in more than sixteen anthologies including Best American Mystery Stories, 2016.

Bruce is represented by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services. He lives and writes in Maine.