It’s September, Maine’s best month. And the living is fantastic.
We are so lucky to live here. And sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.
I took this from my campsite at sunrise in Baxter State Park a couple weeks ago.
Enjoy.
The run rising behind Mount Katahdin at Daicey Pond in Baxter State Park, September 7.
Lea Wait, here, taking a deep breath between publication of my SHADOWS ON A MORNING IN MAINE a little less than two weeks ago … and publication of DANGLING BY A THREAD, October 24.
Of course, I’m not sitting around or being bored. My next manuscript is due to my editor December 1. So, while I’ve been talking about this fall’s publications, I’ve been thinking a lot about plots, characters, clues, pacing … all the elements that, put together in the “right” order … become a mystery. Most specifically, I’m thinking about the book I’m writing.
My grandmother used to spread the pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle on the corner of our dining room table. (Except at holidays, when the table was actually used for dining. But that’s another story.) When I passed the table I was always tempted (as were other members of the family) to add one or more pieces. Matching colors were sorted. Edges were put together first. Corners were the easy parts. But seeing a picture in terms of shapes didn’t come easily to me. I enjoyed the puzzles, but I was not a master at jigsaw puzzle solving.
And now I write mysteries. Some authors are “seat of the pants writers” (“pantsers,” for short.) They sit at their computer keyboards and words flow, turning magically into characters and plots and solutions.
That’s not me. (I wrote one book that way, and it’s the only mystery I’ve written that has not sold. And it took three times as long to write as I normally allotted.)
I’m an “outliner.” Not the sort my fifth grade history teacher insisted on, with large As and small, Roman numerals and Arabic. But an outline of the plot and characters, nevertheless.
True, I leave some plot details to imagination (or serendipity,) to be developed while I write. But before I put my hands on that keyboard I know where I’m going to start, where I’m going to end, and have a fairly detailed idea of what will happen between those points.
When I speak at schools I often explain that writing is like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle … a puzzle that begins with all white pieces, and no edges. The pieces are parts of the book: characters. Scenes. Weather. Time frames. Clues. A murder weapon (or two.) Suspects. Motivations.
Is it winter, or spring? Is my protagonist angry or contented, haunted by his or her past, or afraid of the future? Why does he or she get involved with solving the crime? Who will die? Why? How? Do they deserve it? What secrets do each of the main characters have? Do those secrets overlap? How do they complicate the plot?
Some puzzle pieces are the characters’ backstories. Their relationships with each other, then and now. Is there a romance? Is it in trouble? Is there a business that must be run while the crime is being solved? Are there children or elderly relatives who must be cared for? Friends with difficulties? Do any of the characters have flaws that complicate resolving the crime?
What about the unpredictable. Will there be a storm? A flood? An automobile accident? An unrelated crime that confuses both the police (yes, they’re in there, too) and the protagonist?
Could there be a second murder? Or even a third?
The answers to all of those questions become jigsaw puzzle pieces that, when best put together, tell a story.
Sometimes sub-plots or minor characters take over, and demand more than their share of the puzzle. Theses must be ruthlessly disconnected from the rest of the plot and tossed on the floor, perhaps for a dog to nibble or a cat to hide. They have no place in the completed puzzle.
So now, as (I hope!) readers are sitting back and reading SHADOWS ON A MORNING IN MAINE, or anticipating and pre-ordering DANGLING BY A THREAD, I’m organizing the pieces of a Christmas mystery set in Haven Harbor, Maine which will be published in November of 2017. I know who dies. I’m pretty sure who the murderer is. I want to set my characters and plot in a realistic (but slightly glamorized) Maine holiday setting.
And, of course, there will be red herrings and Christmas ornaments and eggnog and cats and lots of motivations and secrets.
When the puzzle is complete, I hope the picture I’ve put together is a true one, and a Christmas my readers won’t forget — at least for about three hundred pages.
For right now … I’m putting together the pieces.
Jessica: Enjoying a day at the desk, listening to the rain.
One of the many pleasures of writing historical fiction is the research. And one of the things I particularly love is when I find new resources to use. Over the summer I was lucky enough to find several old souvenir postcards from Old Orchard Beach. All of them had inspirational images on their fronts that helped me to imagine life in Old Orchard during the Gilded Age. Today I thought I’d share a look at some of what inspires me as I work.
This is a postcard of Fern Park which was a scentic area in Old Orchard set away from the shoreline.
Except for the clothing styles this photo could have been taken on the beach at any time since European descendants began lounging on the sands in Old Orchard.
This was the way the shoreline with all it’s hotels looked until August 14, 1907. Before the next day was through most of the hotels pictured were burnt to the ground in the worst fire York County had seen up until that point.
The back of this one really made me feel connected to the the past in a way none of the other research I have done so far had. Most of the postcards had never been sent but this one briefly chronicled a vistor’s experience in Old Orchard just after the devastating 1907 fire broke out. The sender writes “As I stood for a moment on the piazza of the Aldine, and surveyed that beautiful stretch of sea and land, I little thought that before the midnight hour, the pretty picturesque shore would be a mass of seething, smoking ruins.”
Readers, do you collect or send postcards when you travel? Writers, what sorts of research do you do and what do you find the most inspirational?
BREAKING NEWS! CHRIS HOLM WINS THE BEST NOVEL ANTHONY!
One of our own Maine Crime Writers is bringing home the top prize from New Orleans Bouchercon. Congratulations Chris!
Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Jessie Crockett (Monday), Lea Wait (Tuesday), Maureen Milliken (Wednesday), Jen Blood (Thursday), and Bruce Coffin (Friday).
In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:
Co-authors ROGER GUAY & KATE FLORA present “A Good Man with a Dog: a Retired Game Warden’s 25 Years in the Maine Woods”
Freeport Community Library
Monday, Sep. 19, 6:30 pm
Join us in welcoming Kate Flora and Roger Guay, co-authors of the April 2016 publication A Good Man with a Dog: a Retired Game Warden’s 25 Years in the Maine Woods. This memior chronicles Guay’s career as a Maine game warden and certified K9 handler.
Keeping a watchful eye over the acres of wilderness that span the state, Guay spent years catching poachers, rescuing lost hikers and hunters, and even dealing with grizzlier tasks in the aftermath of violent crime. The book also looks at Guay’s years of work with dogs and the establishment K9 units throughout the game warden service.
From Kaitlyn Dunnett: Just showing off. This is the first time I’ve had an audiobook for any of my Liss MacCrimmon mysteries, and it’s on CD for those who (like me) can’t figure out how to download stuff.
I’ll be bringing copies to the New Gloucester Public Library where Lea Wait, Jen Blood and I will be speaking TODAY (September 17) at 1PM.
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. Contact Kate Flora
This has been a crazy, wonderful, nerve-wracking week for me. (Well, will have been. I’m typing this on Saturday, September 10th, for reasons which will soon become obvious.)
My fifth novel, RED RIGHT HAND, was released on Tuesday. It’s the second in my Michael Hendricks thriller series, after last year’s THE KILLING KIND. So far, folks seem to dig it. It earned stars from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, and a rave from the Press Herald. Barnes & Noble named it one of their Best New Thrillers of September. And my Grandma quite enjoyed it… or so she said on Facebook. (Sidebar: only a writer could possibly be insecure enough to doubt a grandparent’s praise.)
On Thursday, travel gods willing, I flew to New Orleans for Bouchercon, where THE KILLING KIND is (was?) up for three awards: the Barry Award for Best Thriller, the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery, and the Anthony Award for Best Novel.
The Barry and the Macavity were given out on Thursday night, so by the time you read this, I’m either elated to’ve won or honored to’ve been considered. (No, really. I’m up against some damn fine books by authors I truly admire. Much as I’d love to win, I’m just happy to be in the club.)
Tonight—not last Saturday when I wrote this post tonight, Friday when it went live tonight (keeping this post straight in my head is like trying to map out the timeline of the Terminator franchise)—the Anthony Awards will be given out, so I’m almost certainly a basket case right now (your right now, that is). Keep a good thought for me if you’re so inclined.
Oh, and on top of all that (good) stress, I’ve got a panel to moderate, another to participate in, and a wife to cheer on from the front row of her panel.
I’m not the only MCWer at B’con, of course. Barbara Ross, Bruce Robert Coffin, and Richard Cass are here, too (unless me writing this ahead of time jinxed them). If you’re reading this at B’con and would like to track us down, a) you can find our schedules here, and b) HOW THE HECK DID YOU CARVE OUT ENOUGH DOWNTIME TO READ A BLOG POST?!
Speaking of Bruce, I’m also not the only one who had a book come out this week. His excellent debut novel, AMONG THE SHADOWS, is now available! If you’re a fan of killer mysteries with strong Maine ties (a safe bet for readers of this blog), do yourself a favor and pick up a copy today.
Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, confessing one of my greatest sins—I’m a lousy housekeeper. If this wasn’t already obvious, it became blindingly apparent the other day when I decided to haul out the things stored beneath our bed as a continuation of the general weeding we began a few months ago when we were making room to install an upstairs half bath. It’s truly astonishing how many things can be put aside and forgotten just because they might “still have some good in them.” We tossed everything from ancient sweatshirts to moth-eaten blankets, to old electronics that haven’t worked for decades. But I digress.
We sleep in a nineteenth-century bed that was a wedding gift from my in-laws. It has elaborately carved head and foot boards and is much higher off the floor than most modern beds. There is lots of space underneath for storage. Our policy has been to shove it under there and forget it. Judging by the thickness of the layer of dust, it has been at least a decade, maybe more, since anything was pulled back out.
Let the treasure hunt begin.
Yes, that is what you think it is, a utilitarian piece of equipment we lovingly dubbed “the world’s largest chamber pot.” When we used to go camping in a pop-up camper, it went along. Let’s face it. No one likes to go traipsing through a wooded campground just to visit the comfort station in the middle of the night. After dusting, it went back under the bed. Yes, we have an upstairs bath now, but there are still those occasions when the power goes out, taking the pump with it. No pump, no water. It doesn’t happen often, but we can still remember the blizzard of ’98 when the entire state was without power for most of a week. We’re keeping the chamber pot.
Next up came the first of several suitcases containing old uniforms—bagpipe band, U.S. Navy, and Franklin County sheriff’s department. This first one used to be used, back when I was a kid, to hold hair rollers and clips for pin curls. Boy does that date me! Contents intact, these three suitcases went back under the bed, too.
I didn’t know what to expect when I pulled out the old green suitcase that belonged to my mother. It turned out to be a suitcase full of smaller suitcases. This was a nice set back in the day, but it’s way too heavy to lug on a trip now. These, and another suitcase-in-suitcase are going to the “share shack” at the transfer station. Maybe someone’s doing a play set in the 1980s?
Finally there was the mystery suitcase. I had a vague memory of storing it under the bed after my late mother-in-law gave it to us. I don’t even want to think about how many years ago that was. Anyway, it turns out to contain boxes of slides taken by my late brother-in-law. Some folks reading this probably don’t even know what slides are. Fortunately, since my father was also an avid photographer who left behind negatives, prints, and slides, I actually own a slide projector. We’re going to take a look at these soon, assuming the bulb in the slide projector still works. If it doesn’t, replacing it could well be my next challenge. Anyone know an easy, preferably inexpensive way to convert slides into either snapshots that can be scanned or digital photos?
Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett is the author of over fifty books written under several names. She won the Agatha Award for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category for “The Blessing Witch.” Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (Kilt at the Highland Games) as Kaitlyn and the historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries (Murder in a Cornish Alehouse ~ UK in December 2016; US in April 2017) as Kathy. The latter series is a spin-off from her earlier “Face Down” series and is set in Elizabethan England. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com
By Brenda Buchanan
There comes a time in every writer’s life when she needs to back away from the keyboard and ask for help.
For me, this moment comes when I’m so close to my story that I can’t separate myself from it. The telltale sign is when my characters show up in my dreams. At first, this nocturnal workaholism freaked me out. Now I know it’s my signal to call in my betas.
Beta readers are the indispensable people willing to read a full manuscript and give critical feedback at the point in the process when a writer cannot objectively assess her own work.
My sentiments exactly. Love your beta readers, that is.
Some writers work one-on-one with a series of beta readers, honing the manuscript in stages. Others have a standing writing group. Still others partner with a colleague who writes in the same genre, finding shared understanding of craft to be useful.
I’ve tried all three methods and they worked reasonably well. But with my last two books I’ve come to rely on a beta ritual I call roundtable, which supercharges me as I head down the home stretch. That said, it may not be for everyone. Like every aspect of the writing process, what works for me may not work for you.
Roundtable occurs after initial feedback from my spouse−who is my alpha reader−and separate from review by any necessary technical experts. For example, on my current project, I was lucky to have MCW’s own Bruce Coffin read the manuscript and share valuable knowledge about guns and police procedure.
In the lead-up to roundtable, I provide my beta readers with a full copy of the manuscript. Some find it easiest to mark up my prose on paper. I print out a full copy of the manuscript for them, put it in a three-ring binder and deliver it along with a sharp pencil and a pack of post-its. I email the file to those who prefer to evaluate it on the computer screen. A couple of weeks later, we meet around the big conference table in my office and my beta readers have at it.
There’s no stage of the writing process when kind words are not welcome, but the purpose of roundtable is for them to tell me what doesn’t work. How can I sharpen my characters? Give them more depth? Where have I failed to make the characters—major and minor, good guys and bad—believable, nuanced human beings? How can I create a more fully-realized setting? Where are the energetic lags, the holes in the plot, the clichés? Are there too many characters? Do they have the wrong names? Are there boring parts? If so, where? On the most fundamental level, how can I make it a better story?
With Truth Beat, the third book in my Joe Gale series, my four betas were Ann (a longtime professional editor with a serious mystery habit), Richard (a marketing expert who doesn’t read mysteries at all, but has breathtaking knowledge of popular culture), Shonna (a talented author with both fiction and non-fiction titles to her credit) and Travis (Shonna’s musician husband, who writes lyrics that make me weep with their compact brilliance). Other than Shonna and Travis, my beta readers didn’t know each other.
Before our meeting, I was hopeful but not entirely sure about the wisdom of putting myself on the hot seat and encouraging a barrage of critical feedback from this disparate group. But something told me they would click and it would work.
The hot seat
It turned into a synergistic spectacular. Multiple people reacting to my work at the same time yielded perspective and suggestions finer and richer than four individual critiques ever could have produced. Each beta reader started out with an individual critique, then they began to build on each other’s points, helping me to see not only what I needed to do to make Truth Beat stronger, but enthusiastically brainstorming with me how to get there.
Two nights ago the same reader foursome reconvened along with a new beta, Susan, a lawyer colleague and golf buddy who reads widely and perceptively. The five of them tackled my current project—the first book in a new series (I hope!) featuring a female criminal defense lawyer who returns to Maine and takes over her father’s practice after her hot-shot job in Boston didn’t work out.
Unlike Joe Gale, Christie Pappas and Rufe Smathers−three of the lead characters in my Joe Gale books−I’m still getting to know the characters in this new series. On Monday night every one of my betas identified my unfamiliarity with them as the manuscript’s greatest weakness.
My stories rely on strong, sure-footed characters. The betas were unanimous that with this book, I have more work to do. It was humbling, but so important to hear each of them make this essential point. What followed was a spirited conversation about the promise each character offers, and how I might go about making each as compelling as possible.
It feels good to have fresh bearings
By the end of the roundtable I was exhilarated about returning to the keyboard. Thanks to my beta readers I have fresh bearings on my creative compass. I know where I’m headed and can’t wait to resume the journey.
Brenda Buchanan is the author of the Joe Gale Mystery Series, featuring a diehard Maine newspaper reporter who covers the crime and courts beat. Three Joe Gale books—QUICK PIVOT, COVER STORY and TRUTH BEAT—are available through Carina Press or wherever fine ebooks are sold.
John Clark a tad late to the blog this morning. Next September Mother and I are celebrating 40 years together legally (you can tack on a couple in front of that where we lived in Sin, a small town between Augusta and Waterville). Ever since we heard those folks who bought out DeLorme might kill off the paper atlases for each state, we’ve been buying the different states from Uncle Henry’s, Ebay and wherever we can find them in preparation for an extended road trip to celebrate. We both figure if we wait to hit 50 years, it might have to be by ambulance, so we’re busting the piggy banks and going all out.
Uncle Dub whose knees and eyesight corralled him a couple years back, is loaning us his near mint VW Bus, complete with paint job and original McCarthy flower decals so we can travel in style. I can tell you lots of research, not to mention many a heated discussion, has gone into our itinerary, which isn’t completely finalized. We hope to hit unique events in all fifty states. Here, without further fanfare, is our planned itinerary, starting in Maine.
We’re starting with a fairly new event, the Deer Tick Orienteering Challenge in Gettumoffa, ME. After skipping Cow Hampshire, it’s on to the Bratty Sibling Therapy Conference in Illtellmy, MA, followed by a stop at the Gouged by Sketchy Internists Conference in Scanmeby, CT. We’re really looking forward to the Tipsy Poet Day in Comingthroughthe, RI. We’re looping back north to the Often Published, but Terribly Boring Academic Drone-off in Curriculum, VT before taking the ferry across Lake Champlain so we can hit the Get by with Less Sharing Day in Havent, NY.
After visiting relatives in Old Forge, we’re heading on a big swing through the middle Atlantic states before beginning our southern swing. I’m really looking forward to participating as a judge in the School Lunch Makeoff in PB, NJ, before we head to the Vanishing Political Promise-off in Fa, DE. Beth is hoping the Medical Fraud Symposium in Bogus, MD lives up to expectations, while I’m hoping for the same when we hit the Pennsylvania Polka Tuba Playoff in Omypa, PA. We have mixed feelings about hitting the Never Grew Up After College Reunion in Stilldointhe, WV because we’re sure we’ll encounter people we can’t stand. It’s on to The Borrower’s Fest in Doyouha, VA, but only to snap a few photos before we’re inundated with shouts of ‘gimmee’.
There are some really unique events once you hit the southern states, starting with The Bet Something’s Wrong Weekend in Feelin, NC, but sadly South Carolina is among the states lacking an interesting event, so it’s a zip through on our way to The Flashy Female Performer Wannabe contest in Ladyga, GA . I hear it’s almost impossible to tell who’s anatomically correct at this one. Florida beckons next with The Deadhead Museum in Grate, FL which is rivaled by its neighboring event, The Yankovic Family Reunion in Weird, AL. I’m eager to see if a cat fight breaks out at the Southern Belle Ball in Don’tcallme, MS, while Beth is intrigued by the possibility of a duel at the Perpetual Promise To Lower Them in Burdensome, TX right after the French Quarter Hottie Pageant in Oola, LA.
Since we have all summer to complete these visits and most events are at a fixed time, we loop back to moonshine country to hit some dandies, starting with the We’re Being Watched Paranoia Encampment in Yessu, AR, quickly followed by the Housebreaking Challenge in Skeleton, KY and the Cool Dude Smackoff in Gimme, TN. Speaking of Dudes, there’s an unspoken rivalry between the cools and the slows, so our next stop is at the Laidback Dude Fest in Slo, MO.
We’re finishing the heartlands next, starting with the Give Peace A Chance Bed-in at JohnandYok, OH, then the International Hypochondriac Society Summer Symposium in Feeling, IL and the Can You Overdo It Reality TV Tryouts at All, IN. Moving north, we’re anticipating the Narcissistic Weekend in Itsallabout, MI, overdoing it at the All The Way Home Pig Roast in Wee, WI and free samples at the Alphabet Soup Makers Get together in Jaykayell, MN.
West of the Mississippi again, we’re psyched to hit the Bad Vision 200 Auto Race in Myop, IA and the Drunken Hookup Rodeo in Sloppy, KS, before hitting the Compassion Competition in Areyou, OK.
Remember, life can be more relaxed or extreme out west, depending on the location as evidenced by the following events. We point to how different the Freud Fanatics Night in Penis, NV is from the Hardass State Cop Tournament in Gotany, ID. Even more intriguing are the Channeling The Insane Clown Possee Peyote Fair in Low, CO, the Anger Management %$#@@ Tour Night in Em, NM, the Village People Impersonation Contest in Whyem, CA and we can’t forget the Pretty Baby Week in Whattac, UT
I know we’re skipping a bit now, but the final itinerary isn’t cast in stone. (That’s an obscure town in Nebraska). Speaking of which, I almost forgot to mention we’re hitting the Learning to Panhandle Marathon Weekend in Got, NE, not to mention the Chronic Fatigue Campout in Runningon, MT. While most people look forward to the big bike Rally in Sturgis, or Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, we have better stops in mind. We’re hitting the Timothy Leary’s Not Dead Day in L, SD and the Last Beatniks on Earth Homecoming in Living, ND.
Our final stops find us at the Backward Shakespeare Festival in Youlikeit, AZ, the Ambivalence Finals in Either, OR and the Pondering and Mulling Fest in Everwonder, WY, before venturing farther afield for the Bloom County Snarkoff in Billthecat, AK and one we might never leave, the Pacific Ganja Growers Competition in Perpetually, HI.
We’re still looking for something to see in NH, SC and WA. Got any suggestions?
Kate Flora: I never wanted to write nonfiction. I was dragged into that world to help a
Wardens walking down the tote road to search for Amy.
friend and became fascinated by learning about the real world of crime and the stories of those who investigate it. That fascination with discovering new worlds while helping other people tell their stories has pulled me back into nonfiction several times now. Each time, at some point, someone will tell me a different version of the story, or remember an incident differently, and that will add new, and often surprising, dimensions to the story I’m writing. Or have already written.
Something like that happened while I was working on Finding Amy. I thought I knew the story of the investigation from the police point of view, that maze of stories and witnesses that helped them solve the crime, and was ready to move on to organizing and smoothing the draft, when someone—it might have been Bruce Coffin—said, “Did anyone tell you about the night we put a birddog on Gorman’s car?” Not only had no one told me about it, I didn’t even know what a birddog, or bird-dog, was, since obviously he wasn’t talking about a canine favored by hunters. He was talking about birddogging—or closely following. When I asked about the details, it turned out that he was talking about an elaborate scheme to attach a tracking device to the suspect’s car—an activity that had to be done while it was parked in a public place—and then let him know that a body had been found, hoping he would want to check where he’d hidden his victim’s body and they could follow him and discover the location. That led to whole series of interviews with Portland and Maine state police, trying to get the details of the story that ended up in the book, a story that included some very funny shenanigans in a parking lot while they put the device on the car, and Bruce Coffin walking up and down the dark rural street by the suspect’s house, waiting for him to leave—which he never did. Only later did they understand why.
A story like the investigation into Amy’s disappearance has a lot of people and events attached to it, some of which only to come to me long after the fact. At one point in the book, the murderer has confessed the story of the killing to his mother, and his mother calls her former priest down in Florida to disclose the confession and talk about her distress. Long after the book was published, I got an e-mail from that priest, who had read the book, and he shared a very sad story regarding his own son’s death. His son had been killed in a town in Texas, and when they found the body in a drainage ditch, they thought he was an illegal. His body had been in the morgue for a year while his family was trying to find him. The priest had only recently learned this when he received that call from the killer’s mother.
A writer’s job is to imagine things, but it is hard—and heartbreaking—to imagine the father’s distress as he tried to compassionately listen to a killer’s mother talk about her pain that her son was murderer when his own child had been murdered.
Ellsworth Library
Last week, Roger Guay and I were speaking at a library in Ellsworth, and Roger was telling the story of his dog Reba’s first venture into a cadaver search to help the police find a hidden body. In the past, I’ve only heard Roger’s version of the story—that the police, using the details provided by the man who helped the killer dispose of the body, had searched but been unable to locate the victim. Roger and his dog had come in—the wardens having used a detail from the informant about thorns and bushes to find the location—and almost immediately, the dog had indicated on a site. The police had done some digging and not found a body, and the dog had then moved a little distance away and found an arm bone. That bone had a break in it which correlated to a break the victim had had. The wardens, with their outdoor expertise, were able to figure out why the body wasn’t there—that bear had gotten at it.
Maine Crime Writer Kate Flora, retired game warden and rookie author Roger Guay, their book “A Good Man with a Dog,” and their secret weapon, Lucy, at the Guildford Library local author event June 11.
It turned out that there was a retired Maine state trooper in that Ellsworth audience, and he had been on that search. He told me three things which amplified the story that I knew in fascinating ways. First, that they had done an elaborate grid search of the area, trying to find the body, before calling in the wardens. Second, that in the course of searching further, once they understood what had happened, they found the bear’s skull. And third, and the kind of amazing thing a writer can’t wait to use in a book—they found a bird’s nest made from the victim’s hair.
We become writers, in part, because we’re fascinated by story. And the stories—however they come to us—never lose that fascination, and the possibilities these real world details offer for illuminating worlds and showing complex emotions to our readers.
p.s. That retired trooper, now a private eye, has become a crime writer himself. We look forward to introducing you to him in a future post.
Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Kate Flora (Monday), John Clark (Tuesday), Brenda Buchanan (Wednesday), Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Thursday), and Chris Holm (Friday).
In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:
from Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson: Next Saturday, September 17, Jen Blood, Kate Cone, Lea Wait and I will be in the gazebo just outside the New Gloucester Public Library in New Gloucester, Maine at 1 PM to celebrate the $1000 grant given to the library by Sisters in Crime. We’ll be talking about and selling our books and there will be food. Everyone welcome.
Our friends at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, who run a fabulous mystery author series every fall, have asked us to share the schedule, which includes two of our MCW writers:
Tuesday September 13: Ron Chase author of The Great Mars Hill Bank Robbery
Tuesday September 20: Maureen Milliken author of Cold Hard News and No News is Bad News
Tuesday October 4 : Amy Ray author of Dangerous Denials
Tuesday October 18: Chris Holm author of The Killing Kind and Red Right Hand
All programs are at 7pm in the library’s Morrell Meeting Room.
Susan Vaughan is excited to announce the publication of the first two books in her new four-book series, The DARK Files. In DARK MEMORIES, after witnessing a murder, Laura Rossiter hides under an alias at a Maine lake resort where she feels safe. Until old flame Cole Stratton walks back into her life. Now a Fed with DARK, he has come to protect her and flush out a killer. As dark memories assail them and a killer closes in, they must learn to trust each other—before their future is extinguished forever. In DARK COVER, Nick Markos inherited the shame of his brother’s terrorist dealings. Hoping to uncover the terrorists’ plot, DARK installs Vanessa Wade as Nick’s fiancée. Amid galas and intrigue, they cannot deny attraction, but is their relationship only a charade? One that can explode—along with a terrorist bomb? The DARK Files ebooks are available on Amazon.
If you’re coming to Bouchercon in New Orleans, you can find Maine Crime Writers and the Maine Crime Writer-adjacent (i.e Chris’s spouse, the wonderful Katrina) at the following places.
Thursday, September 15
12:30 to 2:30 Barbara Ross will be reading and signing at the Kensington Librarian’s Tea, Bissonet Ballroom
3:00 to 3:50 Barbara Ross will be on the panel Small Plot of Land, Small Towns, Mardi Gras ABC, signing immediately after in the Book Room
7:30 to 8:30 Bruce Robert Coffin will be signing at the HarperCollins Group Signing, in The Book Room
Friday, September 16
7:30 to 9:00 Bruce Robert Coffin will be on the New Author Breakfast Panel, Bissonet Ballroom, third floor Marriott
11:40 to 12:10 Chris Holm will sign at Mystery Mike’s Table in The Book Room
12:00 to 1:00 Barbara Ross will be a the Cozy & Proud meetup, location tbd.
2:00 to 2:50 Chris Holm will be on the panel We Don’t Need Another Hero: Author Thunderdome, Mardi Gras D, with signing immediately following in the Book Room
Saturday, September 17
10:30 to 11:20, Katrina Niidas Holm will moderate the panel What Is And What Should Never Be: Ever-changing Trends In Genre Fiction, Mardi Gras D
12:00 to 12:50, Chris Holm will moderate the panel Bad To The Bone: Antiheroes, Mardi Gras ABC, with signing immediately following in the Book Room
5:00 to 6:00 Bruce Robert Coffin will be attending the Blogger Meet and Greet for Witness Impulse Authors at the HarperCollins Room in the Marriott.
Sunday, September 18
9:00 to 10:00 Bruce Robert Coffin will be on the panel The Heat is On, Outdoing Yourself with Each New Book, Mardi Gras ABC, with signing immediately following in the Book Room
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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. Contact Kate Flora
