Lea Wait's Blog, page 150

An Excerpt from Lea Wait’s THREAD AND BURIED

Lea Wait’s Thread and Buried hit bookstore shelves and ebook outlets yesterday. Here, for your reading enjoyment, is an excerpt from the beginning of the novel, number nine in the Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series, supplied by Lea’s publisher, Kensington Books.

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THREAD AND BURIED

Lea Wait

 

Chapter 1

 

Still as through Life’s meandering path I stray

Lord be the sweet Companion of my way.

My kind Conducter, to the Blest abode

Of Light, of Life, of happiness and God.

—Sampler titled “An Emblem of Innocence,” stitched in silk on linen by Eliza Mallonee in 1825. Eliza’s sampler does not include an alphabet, but is intricately embroidered with a border of strawberries on two sides, and flowers, birds, and trees on both the top and bottom.

From Harbor Hopes

by Ruth Hopkins

July 4, 1963, a small town on the coast of Maine

The red, white, and blue scarf tied around Amy’s ponytail blew behind her as late afternoon sea breezes cooled the air. She ignored the boats in the harbor, the tourists snapping pictures of the lighthouse, and her red apron, stained with the salt water she’d been steaming lobsters in, and turned inland, toward the pergola on the town green, where Caleb had said he’d meet her.

Caleb. She smiled, just thinking of him. Fate and heritage had brought them together. When she was in kindergarten he’d defended her from first-grade bullies. In junior high he’d carried her books home from school and they’d done homework together on the pine kitchen table while her mother made molasses cookies for them.

When her mother was sick he’d brought flowers to her hospital room, and held Amy as she cried. He and his family had sat behind hers at the funeral. When she was sixteen he’d asked her to wear his class ring. She hadn’t taken it off since then, and had encouraged him to stay in high school even when she knew the life he’d planned as a lobsterman didn’t require graduation.

She turned the corner and waved. He was standing, tall and slim, his crew cut as short as ever, waiting for her, just as he’d said he’d be. He’d never failed her.

Amy waved back, and glanced at her watch. She couldn’t stay long, and neither could he. The Sea Fare, where she worked, expected her back from her break in half an hour, and Caleb would be heading out to Second Sister Island to help his father set up tonight’s fireworks.

She started to run as he held out his arms. They both smelled of lobsters and the sea, and, as their lips met, they knew they were always meant to be together.

“Meet me after the fireworks tonight?” Caleb murmured in her ear. “Down at the wharf?”

Amy nodded. Caleb’s Sea Witch, the inboard lobster boat his grandfather had left him last year, and that he was so proud of, was docked near his father’s lobster boat. “I’ll be there. But not for long.”

Caleb sighed. “Your dad?”

“He told me he wanted me in by ten thirty tonight.”

Caleb broke away and moved to the other side of the pergola. “He won’t always be able to control you, Amy. You’re not a child anymore. You’re seventeen. I have a lobster boat; I can make a living for both of us. And I’m not disappearing.”

“I know,” she said. “But it’s easier if I just tell him I’m going to watch the fireworks with Carol and Joan and Marty.”

“He really hates me, doesn’t he?”

Amy didn’t say anything. They both knew the answer to that question. “We’ll find a way, Caleb. We will.”

He put his arms around her again. “Yes. We will.”

 

Thousands of vacationers head for the coast of Maine every July looking for lighthouses, beaches, lobster rolls, and cooler temperatures than in their home states. But for those of us who live in Maine full-time, temperatures in the eighties seem hot, and summer isn’t a time for relaxing.

It’s a time to run restaurants and tourist attractions, sell the art and crafts we created during winter months, and convince visitors that Maine is, indeed, “the way life should be.”

That’s the goal of the police, state troopers, Marine Patrol officers, and Coast Guard, too. “The way life should be” should not include murders. And if it does, then solving them as quickly as possible is critical, not only for the victims, but also for Maine’s reputation.

Somehow in the fifteen months I’ve been back in Maine I’ve gotten involved in helping the police do just that.

I’m Angie Curtis. I grew up here in Haven Harbor, but took a ten-year hiatus working for a private investigator in Arizona, which is why I have some of the skills the police are looking for, although you probably wouldn’t guess it if you met me. I’m twenty-eight, I live with my black cat, Trixi, I have ordinary straight brown hair that I pin up in summer. And, oh yes. I have a Glock. Which I know how to use.

But what most people in town know about me is that I run Mainely Needlepoint, a business started by my grandmother. I make sure gift shops, galleries, and decorators have all the needlepointed pillows of eider ducks and lighthouses and harbor scenes they can sell, update our Web site, meet with customers who want custom work, and keep track of the schedules of all the needlepointers who have other jobs.

Nothing to do with crime.

Which is fine by me.

I’ve also been seeing Patrick West. He’s an artist, and runs a gallery in town. And, yes, what most people know about him is that his mother is movie star Skye West.

This summer Patrick and I’d hoped to spend time together, exploring Maine and each other. Patrick even hired a student from the Maine College of Art to “gallery-sit” so he’d have more time in July and August for his own painting and for me.

We didn’t schedule time for any activities other than art and needlepoint and romantic evenings.

That fantasy crumbled when Patrick’s mother announced that her friend, producer Hank Stoddard, had found enough investors so he could make a movie here this summer. Harbor Heartbreak would be directed by Marv Mason, and written by Thomas and Marie O’Day, who’d spent last Christmas with Skye here in the Harbor and fallen in love with the idea of making a movie based on a book written by my friend and fellow needlepointer Ruth Hopkins. Ruth has supported herself for years by writing, and many of her stories are based here in the Harbor. Not many people in town even knew she’s an author, since she writes under different names. Or, they didn’t know before now.

Of course, Patrick’s involved in the film. Skye also recruited me and another fellow needlepointer (and antique dealer) Sarah Byrne, to help lighting and set designer Flannery Sullivan create two sets, one for scenes set in the early 1960s and one for contemporary scenes.

They’d hired a number of locals, and were paying a lot more than minimum wage seasonal jobs paid here, so that was good. “It’ll be a summer to remember,” Gram kept reminding me.

But so far I kept remembering what I’d hoped this summer would be: time for Patrick and me to spend more hours together.

Looked now as though we’d have to wait for fall.

Here it was, already the third week of July, Harbor Heartbreak was set to begin filming in a week, and Patrick and I had hardly seen each other in the past couple of weeks.

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Lea’s cat, Shadow, with THREAD AND BURIED

To read the rest of Thread and Buried, here’s a buy link to all the usual online booksellers. You can also ask your local independent bookstore and/or your local library to order a copy.

For more information on Lea and her books, you’ll find her website at http://www.LeaWait.com

ROAD TRIPPING

Susan Vaughan here. I’m not what anyone who knows me would call spontaneous. I like things planned, I like to plan, but I can adapt when events don’t go as planned. Striking out with no particular goal or direction in mind shifts my pulse up a notch. Or two. So when my husband the Car Guy declared we should go on a road trip for a couple of weeks, with only the vaguest notion of “heading south,” first my pulse did that shift and then my stomach clenched. “But where?” I asked, and “how far?” He responded that after a week of heading south, we’d turn around and head back home to Maine. My mind whirled with questions—where would we stay and how far would we drive each day and how would we know what to see and do in various places. He brushed off my concerns with a “we’ll figure it out as we go.” (Which meant I would figure it out as we went.) Two weeks had to be our limit because of our senior dog, who would have to board.

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After some back and forth, I agreed on the road trip but had stipulations. One, I would not stay in any dives. Two, we’d try for hotels with breakfast included. And three, we would decide each day how far we could go so I could start finding a hotel by early afternoon. I began perusing a road atlas to figure out a general (dare I say it?) plan for “heading south.” My finger moved along Interstate highways through Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, and landed on—Gettysburg!

I knew I had him. Car Guy is also a history buff. Neither of us had ever been there. Yay, our first major destination. Not really a plan, I told him, because who knew where we’d stop between here and there. Then he mused that it would be nice if we could get to Nashville, if it wasn’t too far south. There, I felt much better knowing we weren’t just heading out blindly. And I had places to research. Planner’s heaven. (And yes, for my books, I’m also a plotter.) So on October 15, we packed up the RAV4 with suitcases, various layers of jackets, maps, the GPS, my little Acer netbook, and a cooler and headed south.

After a slow, rainy trip and two overnight stops (success with phone apps and GPS directions finding decent hotels), we reached Gettysburg in sunshine. We walked around the historic downtown and had a delicious early dinner at One Lincoln on Lincoln Square.

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Lincoln Square

The next day, armed with a map from the visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park, we drove and walked various parts of the battlefield.  Tomes have been written about

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Gettysburg National Military Park.

the Battle of Gettysburg, but I’ll share the tidbits that have stuck with me from our visit. First some background for those of you, like me, who remember little from long-ago history classes about the importance and events of that 1863 struggle. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, emboldened by an earlier battle victory, marched north. They were followed closely by the Union Army, and the two met at Gettysburg, by chance. On July 1 through 3, the Union Army commanded by George Meade and the Confederates fought near the town on farms and hillsides.

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Cannon hole remains above the lower roof.

July 3 brought the fateful Confederate attack known as Pickett’s Charge. Cavalry and foot soldiers marched across an expanse of fields toward the Union Army hunkered down on a

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Copse of Trees

hill near a copse of trees, which is still on that knoll today. That attack is known as The High Water Mark because it marked the greatest advance north of Confederate forces . The attack was driven back and, in the span of one hour, cost Lee 5000 lives. The fields were soaked with the blood of men and horses.

The Battle of Gettysburg was essentially over, and the loss turned the tide of the war. Every state participating has a monument, and smaller memorials to individual soldiers or skirmishes stand in every cornfield. Yes, those fields are still farmed. If you look in the background of this photo, you can see a small memorial and a cannon.

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Toward the end of our day, we climbed Little Round Top. On that hill on July 2, Joshua Chamberlain’s 20th Maine Regiment defended the brigade’s left flank.

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View from Little Round Top

At the top of the hill we found the Maine monument and a plaque commemorating the successful defense. Notice the coins on the monument’s base. A Vietnam veteran who placed a penny there explained to me it was a sign of respect, showing you’d visited.

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20th Maine Regiment

We finished the afternoon at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, very near the battlefield. The Gettysburg Address was Abraham Lincoln’s speech to dedicate this burial ground. The cemetery is immense, with memorials created by family members of the deceased soldiers as well as a vast field of unknown soldiers. Stone markers identified each state’s section of simple graves for hundreds of men. I found the one for my home state of West Virginia and this one for Maine.

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Maine’s Unknown Fallen

The scope and ferocity of what we saw and learned that day sobered us both and more than once brought me to tears. Although the Civil War tore the country apart, its conclusion preserved the Union, for which I am profoundly grateful.

The next day we continued south. In case you’re wondering, yes, we made it to Nashville. We saw a show at the Grand Ole Opry, walked the so-called Music Row (Broadway, actually ), and visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a great trip, but I’m happy to be home in Maine.

Finally, a word about Thread and Buried, by our dear friend and colleague Lea Wait. Today, November 26, is the release date for her final book. This link to Kensington Publishing will connect you to all the major booksellers for both the digital and print versions. https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/39279 Or you can purchase this book from your favorite independent bookstore and request that your local library order copies. If you want to know more about Lea and all her books, visit her Web page at http://www.LeaWait.com.

Mystery Loves Company

Dear Readers, Dorothy cannot blog this month, so since we know you like your regular dose of her insight and humor, we are rerunning a post from a few years back that you might enjoy discovering or rereading. What are your thoughts about whether Agatha Christie’s novels were cozy or had a dark underside?

Dorothy Cannell: A few weeks ago a friend from England came to visit and gave me, perhaps in hope of breakfast in bed, a page from The Times, Monday October 3, 2016 written by David Sanderson under the headline “And Then There were … Plenty.” Set below is the opener:

“The best known novels of Agatha Christie are being revived for new film and TV audiences writes David Sanderson…. For once the culprit is obvious. It was Agatha Christie in her study with an astonishing output of drama and intrigue.

“The author’s murder mysteries are set for a multi-million pound, 21st century makeover after her estate signed a string of film and television deals. The names in the frame are a who’s who of Hollywood including Sir Kenneth Branagh, Ben Affleck, Dame Judi Dench and Johny Depp.

“There are at least four feature films in the pipeline, plus a seven-programme adaptation deal with BBC, and another Hercule Poirot continuation novel.”

In my thoroughly biased opinion as an enthusiast of Christie’s work I think this news calls for a National Day (if not year) of The Mystery. What mainstream writer of her era is in her league when it comes to garnering fans not born until yeaCrs after her death in 1976? To have escaped becoming dated, as has been the fate of many from her era, is an inspiration to today’s mystery writers.

A quote from Hilary Strong, chief executive of Agatha Christie Limited, caught my attention:

“There is a darkness to the work that has not necessarily been interpreted by the film makers before…And Then There Were None is actually the grandmother of horror.”…. She was a social historian, and there is the wonderful sense of humour. Sir Kenneth [Branagh], who is directing and starring in a new film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, agreed that there was an edge to Christie’s work. He described the novel as ‘mysterious, compelling and upsetting,’ adding that he was honoured to be bringing ‘these dark materials to life for a new audience.’’’

I have frequently been involved in writers’ chit-chat as to whether Cristie’s mysteries can be labeled cozies. My take on The Body in the Library has long been cozy title to fit setting and grim plot, and that’s what I took from this article – that she can’t be slotted into any niche. She was the whole package – unique until some other writer can work out how she wove her magic.

Upcoming Feature Films: Murder on the Orient express; Witness for the Prosecution, And Then Were None, Crooked House.

BBC TV Adaptions: Ordeal by Innocence, Death Comes As The End, The ABC Murders.

On a personal note, huge thanks to PBS for the many wonderful British programs they provide. Currently loving Poldark and The Dr. Blake Mysteries on Thursday nights.

All best wishes, Dorothy

Mystery Loves Company

Dear Readers, Dorothy cannot blog this month, so since we know you like your regular dose of her insight and humor, we are rerunning a post from a few years back that you might enjoy discovering or rereading. What are your thoughts about whether Agatha Christie’s novels were cozy or had a dark underside?

Dorothy Cannell: A few weeks ago a friend from England came to visit and gave me, [image error]perhaps in hope of breakfast in bed, a page from The Times, Monday October 3, 2016 written by David Sanderson under the headline “And Then There were … Plenty.” Set below is the opener:

“The best known novels of Agatha Christie are being revived for new film and TV audiences writes David Sanderson…. For once the culprit is obvious. It was Agatha Christie in her study with an astonishing output of drama and intrigue.

         “The author’s murder mysteries are set for a multi-million pound, 21st century makeover after her estate signed a string of film and television deals. The names in the frame are a who’s who of Hollywood including Sir Kenneth Branagh, Ben Affleck, Dame Judi Dench and Johny Depp.

“There are at least four feature films in the pipeline, plus a seven-programme adaptation deal with BBC, and another Hercule Poirot continuation novel.”

In my thoroughly biased opinion as an enthusiast of Christie’s work I think this news calls for a National Day (if not year) of The Mystery. What mainstream writer of her era is in her league when it comes to garnering fans not born until yeaCrs after her death in 1976? To have escaped becoming dated, as has been the fate of many from her era, is an inspiration to today’s mystery writers.

A quote from Hilary Strong, chief executive of Agatha Christie Limited, caught my attention:

“There is a darkness to the work that has not necessarily been interpreted by the film makers before…And Then There Were None is actually the grandmother of horror.”…. She was a social historian, and there is the wonderful sense of humour. Sir Kenneth [Branagh], who is directing and starring in a new film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, agreed that there was an edge to Christie’s work. He described the novel as ‘mysterious, compelling and upsetting,’ adding that he was honoured to be bringing ‘these dark materials to life for a new audience.’’’

[image error]I have frequently been involved in writers’ chit-chat as to whether Cristie’s mysteries can be labeled cozies. My take on The Body in the Library has long been cozy title to fit setting and grim plot, and that’s what I took from this article – that she can’t be slotted into any niche. She was the whole package – unique until some other writer can work out how she wove her magic.

Upcoming Feature Films: Murder on the Orient express; Witness for the Prosecution, And Then Were None, Crooked House.

BBC TV Adaptions: Ordeal by Innocence, Death Comes As The End, The ABC Murders.

On a personal note, huge thanks to PBS for the many wonderful British programs they provide. Currently loving Poldark and The Dr. Blake Mysteries on Thursday nights.

All best wishes, Dorothy

Weekend Update: November 23-24, 2019

[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Dorothy Cannell (Monday), Susan Vaughan (Tuesday), Maureen Milliken (Thursday) and Charlene D’Avanzo (Friday). On Wednesday. the day after it’s published, we’ll be posting an excerpt from Lea Wait’s Thread and Buried.

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

[image error]Lea Wait’s Thread and Buried has been garnering good reviews from Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) sent out by her publisher. There’s one here at Maine Crime Writers and the prestigious review journal Booklist praises its “Maine setting and satisfying plot twists.” To read Thread and Buried for yourself, here’s a buy link to all the usual online booksellers. You can also ask your local independent bookstore and/or your local library to order a copy.

Also, for those of you who read ebooks with Kobo: from November 29-December 1, most of Lea’s previous Mainely Needlepoint Mysteries will be on sale at $1.99 each. This includes Thread on Arrival, Dangling by a Thread, Thread and Gone, Thread Herrings, Thread the Halls, Threads of Evidence, and Tightening the Threads.

 This holiday season, if you’re looking for something special to do in Maine, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens winter feature, Gardens Aglow, is a magical event. Here’s the link, and some photos from last year. https://www.mainegardens.org/calendar-events/gardens-aglow/

 

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

How Hating November Enriches My Vocabulary

Kate Flora: Three cold, rainy days this week have reminded me how much I hate [image error]November. The sky is gray, the clouds are gray, the world around me is gloomy shades of brown. I don’t want to write in the midst of so much gloom, I just want to eat cookies and leftover Halloween candy and avoid the fact that soon I’ll have to carry my collapsed pumpkin, the only bright spot in the landscape, around to the compost pile.

When the writing is stuck and the world is dark and dull, I take refuge in reference books for better language to illuminate the dark and the dull. Perhaps this is an exercise of “When life gives you lemons, etc.” After all, if a character merely says the world of November is dark and dull, the reader isn’t given much with which to imagine what that world looks like.

[image error]First, though, now that the sun has finally returned, I kick myself out of the desk chair where I am sulking and take myself outside. How is this November landscape different? Past the bright orange pumpkin, whose features are falling in like an old man’s face, there is still the defiant bright gold of my amsonia, rich against the fallen leaves. To my right, a handful of pink buds on a rose still look hopeful, as though maybe the weather will warm again and they’ll still get a chance to bloom.

Hiding under the bare branches of the spirea, two heuchera, transplanted from planters[image error] where they’ve spent the summer, still cling to their color—one a startling bright lime green, the other a velvety purple and silver, like the dress of a medieval lady. Farther along, somehow dark and sinister, with its large leaves resembling lily pads and thick purple stems, the ligularia has collapsed across the path as though waiting to trip an unsuspecting passerby.

 

More heuchera are at the edges of the stonewall, clinging stubbornly to their color. The shedding of the leaves reveals the shapes of different types of trees, and the fierce, broken stumps from storms that have been hiding behind the summer green. The blooms of grasses still stand feathery and golden above the plants.

When I come inside, I pull out the books and look for better language than brown. My trusty Rodale’s synonym finder suggests bay, chestnut, sorrel, rust, brick, cinnamon, ginger, hazel, chocolate, coffee, mahogany, walnut, dun, fawn, tawny, amber, tan, drab—and the rather delicious dusky, fuscous, umber, and musteline. If I used musteline in a story, would you know what it meant, or would it stop you in your tracks and send you scurrying to a dictionary?

[image error]Another challenge: how to convey the decay and desolation left when frost has killed the leaves. My mother liked the word “sere,” described as withered, shriveled, or dessicated. There are also terms like drooping, dragging, sagging, wilted, or limp. Searching “wilt” gives us flop, drop, dip, bow, languish, dwindle, atrophy, molder, rot or decay.

In the book I’m writing, it is still August, so I can turn my back on November and go back to Thea’s first garden, her bright new house, and Maine roads liked with gardens and farmstands. But fall will come in this book or another, and my refreshed vocabulary will be ready.

The Creation of Lea Wait’s THREAD AND BURIED, Part Two

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here. This is the second of two posts taken from emails I received from Lea during the time she was working on Thread and Buried , the ninth Mainely Needlepoint mystery. At the same time, she was being treated for pancreatic cancer. She was a writer’s writer and this is the story of how she persevered to leave us with one last book to read and enjoy.

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March 4, 2019

Edited several chapters yesterday, but only did a couple of pages of new writing. Today I’ve done ten, I think. Going to take a break and then maybe start another chapter. I’d hoped to get to page 200 before Wednesday’s chemo, but I’m only at page 180. Yup, got to dig out more words today. Thank goodness I’ve felt well for the past week! Not sure what will happen after the chemo, but hoping I get some more days.

March 9, 2019

I’m finally over 200 pages in my book due April 1–so, clearly, have a ways to go. My goal was to finish the first draft by the 15th and then have 2 weeks to edit . . . not sure I’ll make that, though. With chemo . . . have been a bit weary and some of my side effects are back. Sigh. My neighbor did suggest a better way to kill someone so there are some revisions right there.

March 17, 2019

Rough week, but today’s pretty good–I’m still aiming at getting this book done by April 1. At the moment editing the first 200 pages or so (since I changed a few of the characters along the way.) I keep thinking that my oncologist as well as my editor said they wanted me to finish this book–so I know time is tightening.

2nd email same day

Got through 150 pages of book (editing and adding and etc) today–Hope to do another 50 pages tomorrow. Or maybe a few more. I think my total right now is about 225 and I haven’t gotten to the part where we disclose–voila!–the murderer.  Have two weeks to get it done but am aiming to finish most this week since no medical appointments. One day at a time.

March 22, 2019

Not having a bad day here.  In fact, just arrested two perpetrators, and now have to write a short “wrap up” chapter. It’s been a productive week, which is good, because although I still have (of course) editing to do–next week includes LONG tests (the sort where you have to drink a lot of junk for 90 minutes before they even put in an IV) and chemo, so I suspect I won’t be at my best. But I can still edit . . . I hope!  (Have locked the cat out of my study. She wants to be too cozy and sit on my mouse . . . and then reach out to scratch me if I start keyboarding. Enough, cat! She likes it when I stay in bed and watch CNN and Netflix all day, and I may be doing that soon enough. But not today!)

later the same day

Just drafted acknowledgements. This book is a bit shorter than the others.

still later

I have a week to edit.

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Lea with other MCW bloggers at Maine Crime Wave June 2019

March 26, 2019

Been through the manuscript twice now for edits–tomorrow will check one thing I want to make sure I was consistent about, and then hope to get another read through before I send it in.

March 27, 2019

Monday I had scans (MRIs) as I’ve been having every couple of months and today I had chemo and talked with my oncologist. Bottom line: for the first time I have (small, but) new lesions. I haven’t forgotten that the usual  life span for stage four pancreatic cancer is 6-12 months. I’m at the 9 months mark. (My doc does remind me . . . indirectly. He’s kept saying, “you really should finish that book soon.”) The couple of days after chemo aren’t dependable–could be no problem–could be a lot. I’m hoping I’ll be ok enough to edit the manuscript 2 times more and then send it in next Monday–my April 1 deadline. Hurrah!

March 28, 2019

I’m at home, editing. Trip to post office later will be my only time out today. But so far, feel pretty good. Often the day after chemo I’m OK (because of the steroids)–tomorrow may be rougher! And I want to get through the manuscript at least twice more.

2nd email, same day

I’m still feeling OK–editing like crazy!

3rd email, same day

Guess I’m nervous abut my manuscript; it’s taken me so long to write, and I’ve changed several plot elements along the way, which is one reason I’m trying to be careful about editing! Not that we aren’t always careful . . .

April 2, 2019

Good news! Editor John S just approved the book I sent him Saturday. Said he couldn’t wait to read it and loved it

April 4, 2019

Good news! Just heard from John S that Kensington has moved up the pub date for Thread and Buried to December of this year. (At one point they’d moved it out to June of NEXT year.)  So–I’m more or less back on schedule. Love that!

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Lea’s cat, Shadow, with THREAD AND BURIED

Lea Wait lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on August 9, 2019 but she left behind a legacy of wonderful books, including Thread and Buried. It will be released next Tuesday, November 26, 2019, in paperback and ebook editions. If you click here, it will take you to links at all the major online booksellers. You can also ask your local independent bookstore and/or your local library to order a copy.

The Creation of Lea Wait’s THREAD AND BURIED, Part One

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here. Today and tomorrow I’ll be sharing some gently edited excerpts from emails I received from Lea during the time she was working on Thread and Buried , the ninth Mainely Needlepoint mystery. She received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2018 and was very open about her health, writing several blogs about it here at Maine Crime Writers. Everything below is in Lea’s own words except for the occasional book title I’ve inserted in brackets for clarity.

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July 7, 2018

Agent talked with Kensington about my situation–Kensington sent me flowers! One day at a time. I don’t feel awful but am tired a lot.

August 20, 2018

Publisher/editor/agent have been more understanding than I thought they might, even though I’ve told them I don’t think I’ll be doing any more new writing. Of course, I suppose even that might change. All depends on my innards and how they react to meds and time.

August 26, 2018

I actually have been feeling well enough to consider the possibility of working on a new book. I gave all my reference books to the Saco Museum! When 4-5 weeks ago the doc said “any time” I believed him. But the chemo seems to be working now. Not what doc expected. He keeps saying I’m “atypical.” Well–OK. But it is really confusing my family, who were prepared to hold my hand while I died in August! As long as I can be productive, I’ll be OK–even if the productivity is a little different from normal.

September 3, 2018

[image error]Yes, I’m still around! Last week was a rough one–I was just exhausted and spent several days in bed. Thank goodness I’m a bit better now–in terms of energy. I’m taking steroids (although I know some side effects aren’t good) but yesterday I managed to get my blog for Friday done. Saturday got copy edits for my next spring’s Kensington book [Thread on Arrival], which they want back by September 13. So that’s top of the pile right now. In other words, I’m back working after taking those days off, and hoping the exhaustion stays away. Back to copy editing—not my favorite job. And this copy editor has 12 pages of notes to start with–all copy editors hate my epigraphs because they don’t all include exactly the same info in the same order (because I don’t have it for 19th century sources,) so I have to take a lot of deep breaths and cuss a bit. And that isn’t even the book. This one I wrote last spring when Bob was so ill I hardly remember it, so it should be more interesting to read than usual. Onward!

September 7, 2018

Today I had a consultation with my oncologist pre-chemo, and post-CT scan Wednesday. The news? Unusually for pancreatic cancer, mine is reacting very well to the chemo treatments. In fact, where two months ago my doctor was talking “days to weeks” as a prognosis, the chemo has made such dramatic changes to the cancer in both the pancreas and the liver that he is now saying, ”You could have another year.” (No promises, but right now everything looks very good.) At the moment I’m doing copy edits for next May’s mystery. Then it looks as though I’ll be back to working on the mystery under contract [Thread and Buried] for which I’ve already missed deadlines. Right now it appears I’ll be around for a while.

September 24, 2018

Today I started by flipping through all my notes–then had to lie down. This ain’t the easiest way to live–frankly, would have been easier if I’d just died quickly, as first predicted. Waiting around isn’t fun.

[image error]October 18, 2018

I’m up to date with all promo stuff for the book out in 2 weeks [Thread Herrings] and I’ve done copy edits and proofing for book out next spring. So I should be writing a new book. I may take a short lie-down (after cleaning the kitchen and such) and then try it this afternoon. I read what I’d written and wasn’t happy. The awful review I got in the PPH [Portland Press Herald]Sunday hasn’t helped, I’ll admit, although the review was a bit strange. I think what I was most upset about was the “full of cliches” line. But some people must have liked it–my Amazon numbers went up.

November 2, 2018

Kensington did a nice job in promotion this time around, and I did some on my own, too–there’s a lot out there! And one or two posts or reviews or whatevers each day for the next couple of weeks, too. Just hope people don’t get bored reading about the book before they buy it! I’m looking forward to having no excuses not to work on my next book now that I seem to be recovering, at least for now.

November 27, 2018

Completed all the epigraphs for the next needlepoint book (50) and tried to start writing yesterday–did turn out 3-4 pages and then realized none would work. It’s a first person series and I was writing in 3rd person. Shows I’m not focusing well . . . will try another beginning this afternoon.

January 5, 2019

I did about 3100 words yesterday–I’m trying for ten pages a day. Since my editor is pretty clear he wants the whole manuscript by February 1—not sure I’m going to make that. (I’ve only written about 50 pages!) But I told him I’d give him a better estimate after I have test results on the 16th. At the moment I’m just leaving the house to walk to the mailbox. I have a complicated plot, so I know there’ll be editing, making sure little pieces of information are inserted where they should be. Between my sore hands and my blurry eyes it ain’t easy! Yesterday I had a really sore neck by the end of the afternoon and took some pills, a hot bath, and then used a heating pad while reading Barb’s latest book [Barbara Ross’s Steamed Open]. Thank goodness, that combination helped! If I could get the whole book vaguely together by February 1, maybe I could ask the editor for another week or two for editing. Again, will see. He told me for the first time this week that the book is scheduled for publication next October, and other books on that schedule went to production this week. He even sent me a copy of the book’s cover. So it does look as though they’re planning on publishing it! Gee–now all I have to do is write it.

January 17, 2019

Will have to write to John today. He wants the manuscript by February 1. I’m only about 30% of the way through. I suspect they’ll have to push out the pub date. If I hadn’t been so exhausted this month–I really lost two weeks. But I feel good today (steroids yesterday and this morning!) and hope to make some progress this afternoon. Also doing laundry–big tasks at this point!

January 24, 2019

Am better today but not LOTS of energy. So far have edited 10 pages.  A few (!!) left to go, besides about 200 pages of new pages! Ah, well.

February 8, 2019

So far so good today. Usually I’m ok for 1-2 days after chemo and then it all hits. Hoping to make some major progress on manuscript today. Who knows?  Might happen!

February 26, 2019

I’ve now finished editing and inputting edits for the half of the book due Friday that I’ve written. I guess I have to break down and tell agent and editor no new book this week. Sigh. I’m feeing guilty, but it’s just the way it is. I’ll keep working on it. The past few days have been good ones although right now I’m tired from laundry/changing bed and defrosting and throwing out some of the dozens of misc. stuff (corn broth from husks?) that Bob made and then never used and I’m not going to use.

2nd email same day

Wrote to John Scognamiglio and told him book wouldn’t be finished this week. New deadline:  April 1. So–I’m not off the hook.

[image error]

Lea signing books at Malice Domestic in 2015

Part Two will appear at MaineCrimeWriters.com tomorrow.

 

Thread and Buried will be released next Tuesday, November 26, 2019, in paperback and ebook editions. If you click here, it will take you to links at all the major online booksellers. You can also ask your local independent bookstore and/or your local library to order a copy.

How We Lose and How We Find the Wild Maine

[image error]This week the undeveloped woods around my northern forest home were posted “No Trespassing.” Gates went up, cameras were leashed to trees, sheriffs were called; everything turned nasty. (Didn’t help that people angry about losing snowmobile access chain sawed their way through woods they didn’t own.)

[image error]

All of us appreciated our times in the woods there.

For 30 years I’ve been slipping in and out of these woods, following old game trails and trails hunters have used for decades. I had a favorite tree that I sat under each fall as the last leaves fell. I had a favorite spot where a stream joined a lake, a spot so thick with animal tracks, it always felt like a gift to go there. My daughter and I liked to visit “fossil rock” where eons ago, small creatures left their imprints for us to find.

These owners have a perfect right to close off their property, create house lots, or enjoy it as they see fit. And I admit that I failed to understand that new owners wanted new ways of doing things, so it made sense that I was evicted.

But I will miss the porcupine haunts I visited. The marsh where I could hide and watch moose feed. The silent, early dusk nights where the only sound was my skis through snow and the surprise of seeing coyote tracks cross my tracks as I headed home. [image error]

Over the next few years, there will be driveways and more gates and more signs and maybe some lucky landowners will appreciate the marsh and the stream and fossil rock. At some point, just like Boothbay, development will displace most wildlife except for determined squirrels and skunks. Wildlife does not thrive on chunked up lots.

It’s a replay of my Boothbay childhood in dense woods that shielded the Damariscotta River. We played in sea caves, ran races on woodland trails, and slid trays on frozen streams. These places were also lost: roaded, gated, and posted No Trespassing.

So while accepting that these changes have come to my part of Maine (there are over 20 new camps on my road alone), today I am too sad to write anything inspirational.

I will leave readers with some photo memories of my time there, some Aldo Leopold wisdom about what matters, and information on how to find parts of Maine (scroll down) that are conserved for all to enjoy, entities working on that good goal, and actions you can take.

We will have to be vigilant and generous if our grandchildren are to have wild places.

[image error]

quote from Aldo Leopold

 

*******

From Aldo Leopold:  ( father of wildlife ecology & our wilderness system)[image error]

“Man always kills the thing he loves. And so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in.” The Green Lagoons, A Sand County Almanac.

“To those devoid of imagination, a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” Conservation Esthetic, A Sand County Almanac.

[image error]

from the forward to “Sand County Almanac”

“Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.” Conservation Economics, The River of the Mother of God.

“Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free.” Foreword, A Sand County Almanac.

“Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides, but they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history, to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.” Engineering and Conservation, The River of the Mother of God.

********

Find Wild Maine; Help Grow and Preserve Public Access

[image error]

Cold Stream Forest is part of Maine’s Public Lands

Maine’s Public Lands: Some of Maine’s most outstanding natural features and secluded locations are found on Maine’s Public Lands. The more than half million acres are managed for a variety of resource values including recreation, wildlife, and timber. See this GREAT Public Lands Video,“The Untold Secret.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=_otWtJlT_r0&feature=emb_logo

 

[image error]

Portland Trails is a land trust.

Land Trusts (Find 80 of them, here!)  One reason Maine has such an active land trust community is because Maine has the lowest percentage of public lands among all states in our region. At 6.5%, it is also one of the lowest percentages in the country, lower than 36 other states. Most of our iconic coastline (at least 95%) is privately owned.

[image error]

Boothbay Region Land Trust

Maine boasts more than 80 land trusts, community-supported, non-profits that have permanently conserved more than 2.5 million acres–12% of the state. ACTION: Find, walk, hike, hunt, fish, and paddle on Maine land trusts. Join a trust near you; donate and volunteer!

The Land for Maine’s Future Program is the State of Maine’s primary funding vehicle for conserving land for its natural and recreational value. The program was established in 1987 when Maine citizens voted to fund $35 million to purchase lands of statewide importance.

[image error]

Mt. Kineo was one of the first purchases of public land through this fund.

The prime focus remains the same – conserving the prime physical features of the Maine landscape and recognizing that working lands and public access to these lands is critical to preserving Maine’s quality of life. Most of these areas are managed as public lands.

LMF accomplishements:
59 water access sites
41 farms and 9,755 acres of farmlands conserved
25 commercial working waterfront properties
Acquisitions include 1,272 miles of shorelines of rivers, lakes and ponds, 55 miles of coastline, and 158 miles of former railroad corridors for recreational trails.
Over 600,919 acres of conservation and recreation lands. This includes 333,425 acres of working lands reflecting LMF’s efforts to conserve the working landscape and keep lands in private ownership with permanent land conservation agreements

[image error]

the Caribou Bog Recreation Area is also from the MOHF

ACTION: Contact your state Representative/Senator. Ask/her/him to always fully fund LMF bond proposals. Remind them that these purchases are always matched and supported by federal or privately raised funds. In other words, our state dollars attract millions more conservation dollars.

The Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund has been helping to fund critical wildlife and conservation projects throughout the state since it was created by the Maine Legislature in 1996, in response to a grassroots effort from environmental and sportsman’s groups who recognized that wildlife and habitat conservation were poorly funded … if at all.

[image error]

The MOHF and lots of dedicated volunteers made the Royal River Trail happen.

Supported through proceeds from a lottery ticket, MOHF often finds its funds lagging while grant proposals continue to pour in. The more tickets that are sold, the more wildlife and habitat can be protected.

Find tickets at convenience stores, gas stations, and other outlets where Maine State Lottery tickets are sold. ACTION: Buy MOHF tickets.Something simple you can do that will add up.) Thank You![image error]

Sandy writes about the disappearing Maine. Her novel, “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine,” won a national Mystery Writers of America award, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest, and she’s been a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Find her novel at all Shermans Books and on Amazon . Find more info on her website. The second Mystery in Maine, “Deadly Turn,” will be published early in 2020..

 

Aldo said: “Man Always Kills the Things He Loves”

[image error]This week the undeveloped woods around my northern forest home were posted “No Trespassing.” Gates went up, cameras were leashed to trees, sheriffs were called; everything turned nasty. (Didn’t help that people angry about losing snowmobile access chain sawed their way through woods they didn’t own.)

[image error]

All of us appreciated our times in the woods there.

For 30 years I’ve been slipping in and out of these woods, following old game trails and trails hunters have used for decades. I had a favorite tree that I sat under each fall as the last leaves fell. I had a favorite spot where a stream joined a lake, a spot so thick with animal tracks, it always felt like a gift to go there. My daughter and I liked to visit “fossil rock” where eons ago, small creatures left their imprints for us to find.

These owners have a perfect right to close off their property, create house lots, or enjoy it as they see fit. And I admit that I failed to understand that new owners wanted new ways of doing things, so it made sense that I was evicted.

But I will miss the porcupine haunts I visited. The marsh where I could hide and watch moose feed. The silent, early dusk nights where the only sound was my skis through snow and the surprise of seeing coyote tracks cross my tracks as I headed home. [image error]

Over the next few years, there will be driveways and more gates and more signs and maybe some lucky landowners will appreciate the marsh and the stream and fossil rock. At some point, just like Boothbay, development will displace most wildlife except for determined squirrels and skunks. Wildlife does not thrive on chunked up lots.

It’s a replay of my Boothbay childhood in dense woods that shielded the Damariscotta River. We played in sea caves, ran races on woodland trails, and slid trays on frozen streams. These places were also lost: roaded, gated, and posted No Trespassing.

So while accepting that these changes have come to my part of Maine (there are over 20 new camps on my road alone), today I am too sad to write anything inspirational.

I will leave readers with some photo memories of my time there, some Aldo Leopold wisdom about what matters, and information on how to find parts of Maine (scroll down) that are conserved for all to enjoy, entities working on that good goal, and actions you can take.

We will have to be vigilant and generous if our grandchildren are to have wild places.

[image error]

quote from Aldo Leopold

 

*******

From Aldo Leopold:  ( father of wildlife ecology & our wilderness system)[image error]

“Man always kills the thing he loves. And so we the pioneers have killed our wilderness. Some say we had to. Be that as it may, I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in.” The Green Lagoons, A Sand County Almanac.

“To those devoid of imagination, a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” Conservation Esthetic, A Sand County Almanac.

[image error]

from the forward to “Sand County Almanac”

“Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.” Conservation Economics, The River of the Mother of God.

“Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free.” Foreword, A Sand County Almanac.

“Our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides, but they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history, to live on a piece of land without spoiling it.” Engineering and Conservation, The River of the Mother of God.

********

Find Wild Maine; Help Grow and Preserve Public Access

[image error]

Cold Stream Forest is part of Maine’s Public Lands

Maine’s Public Lands: Some of Maine’s most outstanding natural features and secluded locations are found on Maine’s Public Lands. The more than half million acres are managed for a variety of resource values including recreation, wildlife, and timber. See this GREAT Public Lands Video,“The Untold Secret.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=_otWtJlT_r0&feature=emb_logo

 

[image error]

Portland Trails is a land trust.

Land Trusts (Find 80 of them, here!)  One reason Maine has such an active land trust community is because Maine has the lowest percentage of public lands among all states in our region. At 6.5%, it is also one of the lowest percentages in the country, lower than 36 other states. Most of our iconic coastline (at least 95%) is privately owned.

[image error]

Boothbay Region Land Trust

Maine boasts more than 80 land trusts, community-supported, non-profits that have permanently conserved more than 2.5 million acres–12% of the state. ACTION: Find, walk, hike, hunt, fish, and paddle on Maine land trusts. Join a trust near you; donate and volunteer!

The Land for Maine’s Future Program is the State of Maine’s primary funding vehicle for conserving land for its natural and recreational value. The program was established in 1987 when Maine citizens voted to fund $35 million to purchase lands of statewide importance.

[image error]

Mt. Kineo was one of the first purchases of public land through this fund.

The prime focus remains the same – conserving the prime physical features of the Maine landscape and recognizing that working lands and public access to these lands is critical to preserving Maine’s quality of life. Most of these areas are managed as public lands.

LMF accomplishements:
59 water access sites
41 farms and 9,755 acres of farmlands conserved
25 commercial working waterfront properties
Acquisitions include 1,272 miles of shorelines of rivers, lakes and ponds, 55 miles of coastline, and 158 miles of former railroad corridors for recreational trails.
Over 600,919 acres of conservation and recreation lands. This includes 333,425 acres of working lands reflecting LMF’s efforts to conserve the working landscape and keep lands in private ownership with permanent land conservation agreements

[image error]

the Caribou Bog Recreation Area is also from the MOHF

ACTION: Contact your state Representative/Senator. Ask/her/him to always fully fund LMF bond proposals. Remind them that these purchases are always matched and supported by federal or privately raised funds. In other words, our state dollars attract millions more conservation dollars.

The Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund has been helping to fund critical wildlife and conservation projects throughout the state since it was created by the Maine Legislature in 1996, in response to a grassroots effort from environmental and sportsman’s groups who recognized that wildlife and habitat conservation were poorly funded … if at all.

[image error]

The MOHF and lots of dedicated volunteers made the Royal River Trail happen.

Supported through proceeds from a lottery ticket, MOHF often finds its funds lagging while grant proposals continue to pour in. The more tickets that are sold, the more wildlife and habitat can be protected.

Find tickets at convenience stores, gas stations, and other outlets where Maine State Lottery tickets are sold. ACTION: Buy MOHF tickets.Something simple you can do that will add up.) Thank You![image error]

Sandy writes about the disappearing Maine. Her novel, “Deadly Trespass, A Mystery in Maine,” won a national Mystery Writers of America award, was a finalist in the Women’s Fiction Writers Association “Rising Star” contest, and she’s been a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Find her novel at all Shermans Books and on Amazon . Find more info on her website. The second Mystery in Maine, “Deadly Turn,” will be published early in 2020..