Lea Wait's Blog, page 302

Breaking News: New for 2015! Books, Books, Books!

Happy New Year from Maine Crime Writers

Here’s what will be coming your way from us in 2015:

Sarah Graves: New in 2015, WINTER AT THE DOOR,  due out January 6, 2015. Ex-Boston homicide cop Lizzie Snow hunts her long-missing niece in the Allagash wilderness of northern Maine, while a backwoods predator of the human variety hunts, too — for Lizzie.

Lea Wait: New books in 2015 …. Twisted Threads: A Mainely Needlepoint mystery. Angie Curtis’ mother disappeared when Angie was ten, and her life went downhill from there. She headed west as soon as she was eighteen. But now her mother’s body has been found, and she’s back in Haven Harbor to find her mother’s killer – and confront her own past. publication date: January 6.

Threads of Evidence: A Mainely Needlepoint Mystery. An old Victorian mansion, perhaps the scene of a murder forty years ago, has been empty for years. Who has bought it … and why? Publication date: August 25

Vaughn Hardacker: THE FISHERMAN: Mike Houston and Anne Bouchard agree to look for an elderly couple’s missing granddaughter. What they find was beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. To be released June 2, 2015 from Skyhorse Publishing.

 

Kathy Lynn Emerson: MURDER IN THE QUEEN’S WARDROBE, first in a new historical mystery series set in England and Russia in 1582-1583, will be out in hardcover in the U. S. in early March, followed soon after by the Kindle edition. The second of the “Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries” will be out in the UK in November. The title is MURDER IN THE MERCERY and it will show up in the U.S. in March of 2016.

There should also be a short story, “The Cunning Woman,” in a forthcoming 2015 issue of ALFRED HITCHCOCK MYSTERY MAGAZINE, but I don’t have a date yet. The characters are the same ones who appeared in “The Blessing Witch,” my short story in ROGUE WAVE.

Kaitlyn Dunnett’s 9th Liss MacCrimmon mystery, THE SCOTTIE BARKED AT MIDNIGHT, will be out in hardcover and ebook editions on October 27. The paperback edition of #8, HO-HO-HOMICIDE, should be published a few weeks before this new one comes out.

Barbara Ross: The next book in the Maine Clambake Mystery series, Musseled Out comes out April 28, 2015. Here’s the description: The busy summer tourist season is winding down in Busman’s Harbor, Maine, but Julia Snowden senses trouble. Shifty David Thwing–the “Mussel King” of upscale seafood restaurants–is sniffing around town for a new location. When Thwing is found sleeping with the fishes beneath a local lobsterman’s boat, the police quickly finger Julia’s brother-in-law Sonny. Julia believes he’s innocent, but he’s lying about something, so proving it won’t be easy…

Meanwhile, the manuscript for the fourth book in the series, Fogged Inn, is due June 1. And of course, in May, the editors will be reviewing a big pile of manuscripts to chose the stories for the next anthology in the Best New England Crime Stories series, exact title tbd. Submissions open in January.

Susan Vaughan: No pub date as yet, but early in the year, I’ll release the first book in a new series. The romantic adventures feature the Devlin Security Force whose mission is protecting and recovering art and artifacts. Here’s the description of the first book, ON DEADLY GROUND. Desperate to save her kidnapped brother, timid museum director Kate Fontaine  must work with Max Rivera, the cynical ex-military guide she doesn’t trust to carry out the kidnapper’s demands and return a precious Mayan artifact to its temple. Soon Max and Kate find themselves outrunning international black-marketeers and a predicted earthquake in a race against time that takes them from Washington to England and into the steamy Costa Verde jungle.

Al Lamanda: I have a new mystery in the John Bekker series being released in hardcover in June.

Kate Flora: Well, it looks like my eighth Thea Kozak mystery, DEATH WARMED OVER, won’t be out until next fall. Disappointing, but I’ll get it to you as soon as I can. Hoping for some more good news soon, so stay tuned.

What feast of reading you all have ahead of you. And don’t miss this weekend’s update, when we each share some writing advice gleaned from our own many years in the chair. I haven’t done the math, but collectively we’ve probably got at least a hundred years of experience.

 

 

 

Mysteries for Your Book Club

Hi. Barb here. Or rather there. By the time you read this, I’ll be on the road to Key West, probaby somewhere in the Carolinas, if you’re reading on the day it posted.

Recently, I was thrilled to be included in an article on reading mysteries for book clubs, written by Ann Connery Frantz and published in the Worcester Telegram. Also interviewed were fellow Maine Crime Writer Kate Flora, and our friend Hank Phillippi Ryan. You can read the entire article here. I strongly recommend it.

Here’s how I answered Ann’s questions about general book clubs that were considering reading a mystery.

I’ve never been a member of a book club, but I have been a guest at several when they were reading one of my books.

My observation is that book clubs approach crime fiction in two ways. Some choose “literary” crime fiction, which is as well-written, well-rounded and affecting as anything else they read during the year. Others, may choose a “lighter” mystery as a good book for members during busy times, such as the holidays, or over the summer when everyone wants a great beach book.

Traditional mysteries ask the question, “Whodunnit?” and “Howdunnit?” In these stories the main character must follow clues and dig into other characters’ current lives and their pasts to unmask a killer. In a traditional mystery, the victim and the killer will always be someone readers meet in the journey of the book, often a part of the victim’s world or the book’s community. Thrillers, on the other hand, ask the question, “What the heck is going on here?” In a thriller, the main character must figure out what is going on, and who is behind it, usually to save themselves and/or stop something terrible from happening in their world or the world at large. In these books the villain may be an individual, a criminal organization, or a part of a vast conspiracy.

Traditional mysteries for book clubs

“Literary” mysteries are roughly defined as books you can read more than once and get something out of it every time—i.e. the treatment of character, theme, the use of language, etc. transcends the “puzzle.” It doesn’t wreck the book for you if you know the solution. These mysteries can contain many weighty subjects for book club discussion. For example, Malla Nunn’s Emmanuel Cooper Mysteries, about a white policeman in South Africa during apartheid, ask the question, “How can a moral man enforce the law when half the laws are immoral?” Plenty to talk about!

In the traditional mystery vein I would recommend any of Louise Penny’s fantastic Armand Gamache series, which take place in rural Quebec, Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries, which take place in the Adirondacks, Paul Doiron’s Mike Bowditch Mysteries about a Maine game warden, Craig Johnson’s Longmire Mysteries about a sheriff in Wyoming. I could go on and on.

If you don’t want to get involved with series, try William Kent Krueger’s Ordinary Grace, which won all the major mystery awards this year. Or B.A. Shapiro’s The Art Forger, which is on its way to becoming a classic.

If your book club is looking for something lighter, try a cozy mystery. Cozies are just like traditional mysteries, with some additions. The sleuth is usually an amateur who has another interest or profession, and who is propelled into solving the mystery by a personal stake. They’re light on the descriptive gore (and the descriptive sex) and you can be virtually certain no child or pet will be harmed. These books make a nice break from a heavier reading schedule, and will still leave your group plenty to discuss.

Consider one of Cleo Coyle’s Coffee House Mysteries, set in Greenwich Village, Jessie Crockett’s Sugar Grove Mysteries, which follow a multi-generational syrup-making family in New Hampshire, Sheila Connolly’s Orchard Mysteries set in Western Massachusetts or my Maine Clambake Mysteries.

As for discussion questions:

Mysteries are full of relationships, the same mother-daughter, sister-sister, parent-child connections that you’d dissect in any book club discussion. In a mystery, almost every character has a secret, so it would be fruitful to mine this vein. Which secrets did you believe? Which did you guess?

Mysteries have themes. In fact, some people believe that while literary fiction today can tend to get a little preachy, crime fiction can treat serious subjects like PTSD or the abuse of painkillers, or the damage caused by prolonged unemployment, more adeptly.

Finally, you can dissect the mystery itself. Did you guess the solution before the end? When and why? Or why not? Did the author “play fair”—i.e. once you knew the solution, were all the clues in the manuscript? Could you have guessed if you’d wanted to?

As you can tell, I heartily embrace the idea of book clubs reading crime fiction!

As I said, I recommend reading the full article. Kate and Hank add a lot of meat to the discussion, and Ann puts it all together brilliantly.

Where is Haven Harbor, Maine?

Lea Wait, here, answering a question several people have asked me recently: where is Haven Harbor? The answer is simple. It’s just down the coast of Maine from Cabot Cove. And not far from Waymouth.

And, for those of you who’re looking in your atlases …. all three towns are all fictional places in midcoast Maine.

So we’ll start with Waymouth. Waymouth is the town where Will’s 92-year-old Aunt Nettie lives, in my Shadows Antique Print Mystery series. Will has now moved there, too, and it looks as though ….Well, you’ll just have to read Shadows on a Maine Christmas to find out.  But, here’s a hint: the next book in the series will probably be called Shadows on a Maine Morning.

Readers have often asked me about Waymouth. Or, more accurately, they’ve told me they’ve deciphered the code: they’re sure they know which town I’m REALLY writing about. Wiscasset, Bath, Brunswick, Boothbay Harbor, Damariscotta, have all been suggested as the REAL Weymouth.

In truth, Waymouth, on the Madoc River, is a little like all of those, with a bit of imagination thrown in. Although my historical novels (Uncertain Glory is the most recent of those) are set in Wiscasset, creating a town like Weymouth allows me to add in whatever my plot calls for: a beauty salon, an old inn, a hospital, a couple of seasonal and off-seasonal restaurants. While my characters do visit “real places” like Portland and Union and Pemaquid and Freeport, Waymouth exists only in my notes and my imagination. And in that of my readers.

But when I started to write the Mainely Needlepoint series (which will debut next week, January 6, with Twisted Threads,) I wanted a new setting for a new cast. Haven Harbor is a small village on the Atlantic. Its town and harbor are sheltered by the Three Sisters — three islands that protect the harbor from the stormiest Atlantic blasts. Haven Harbor boasts its own lighthouse, yacht club, tourist and non-tourist shops, a lobsterman’s co-op, a small rocky beach, and, of course, its own mysteries.

Both Waymouth and Haven Harbor have Congregational Churches, nearby hospitals, houses with history, long-time families, and lots of classic Maine food, from baked beans to maple syrup to rhubarb to fiddleheads to, of course, lobster.

But Haven Harbor is closer to the sea, so its more influenced by the ocean’s moods and tides than is  Waymouth, ten miles upriver.

During the nineteenth century days of tall ships, mariners and immigrants from around the globe could be found in Maine ports. Today, Haven Harbor is home not only to descendants of those men,  but to others looking for a place to settle. Perhaps to hide.

Who will you meet in Haven Harbor?

Angie Curtis, whose mother was a “bad girl,” and whose own reputation is suspect. She left Haven Harbor when she was 18 and worked for a private investigator in Arizona for ten years. Now, ten years later, she’s back, determined to find her mother’s killer – and confront her own ghosts.

Angie’s grandmother, who started her own custom needlepoint business in her fifties, and found romance at an even later age.

Coming – January 6, 2015!

Ruth Hopkins, who supported her late husband, and now herself, for years by doing something she can’t tell anyone in town.

Sarah Byrne, an antiques dealer from Australia who quotes Emily Dickinson.

Dave Percy, an ex-sailor who now teaches biology. And has an unusual garden.

Rev. McCully, who has a collection few other ministers choose.

And others.

So – where is Haven Harbor, Maine? It’s a place where people have secrets and mysteries are solved. It’s a state of mind, in the State of Maine.

Weekend Update: December 27-28, 2014

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Lea Wait (Monday), Barb Ross (Tuesday), and John Clark (Friday). On New Year’s Eve and Day we’ll have a special post about what’s coming up for Maine Crime Writers in 2015.

There’s a shortage of news in the news department again this weekend. We’re still taking some time for family, friends, and food. Happy New Year, everyone!

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. Don’t forget that comments are entered for a chance to win our wonderful basket of books and the very special moose and lobster cookie cutters.

 

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: mailto: kateflora@gmail.com

 

Happy Boxing Day

Unless you are still sleeping off yesterday’s hot mulled wine or spiked eggnog, you know it’s the day after Christmas, but what you might not realize is that December 26th is actually a holiday in some parts of the world.  Great Britain and Canada, as well as other Commonwealth nations, celebrate Boxing Day, while many Catholic countries mark the day as St. Stephen’s Day. In Ireland, the day is known as “The Day of the Wren,” and in some southern US states, December 26th is feted with the most unimaginative name ever:  the “Day After Christmas Day.”

Vicki Doudera here.  In Maine we don’t celebrate any of these things, which is unfortunate, because if the world is divided between people who like holidays and those who don’t, I come down squarely in the camp of those who love them.  The more occasions to whoop it up, the happier I am. Wren Day, St. Stephen’s Day…   I’d take any one of these monikers, although the name I prefer and the occasion I’d most like to mark would be Boxing Day.

For one thing, it’s fun to say, just like any word with an “x.” (Go ahead, say it out loud and see what I mean.) Someone once told me that the origin of the name lay in all the empty boxes laying around after Christmas, but I’ve since learned that’s balderdash. Most historians believe Boxing Day began because working class folk received their gifts, known as a “Christmas box,” from their bosses on the day following Christmas. Since these servants and tradespeople spent the day of Jesus’ birth working, they were given the day after off from their jobs to celebrate.

I will not be taking today off, although I would like to.  Instead, I’m spending the day putting away all of those aforementioned boxes, getting my kitchen back in order after serving some terrific holiday meals, and organizing my office so I can start in earnest on a new writing project in January. (More to come on that next month.) Generally, this is the way I usually roll on the day after Christmas:  I clean up and reflect, ease myself back into the world of winter and work, catch my breath after a whirlwind of a month.

What about you? Do you enjoy any special December 26th traditions? Here’s hoping your holidays this month were bright, no matter what they were, and that 2015 finds you happy and healthy wherever you are.

Merry E-Christmas to You

The star on Mt. Battie in Camden

We here at MCW are hoping you have a happy holiday, safe driving, and plenty of time to read. And since many people get new e-readers, or finally have time to sit down with a good book once the shopping and cooking are done, we’re offering links today to some of our newest books.

Happy Reading!

Kate Flora: I am actually a bit astonished to find that both of my new babies are available as e-books. This now means the whole Joe Burgess series can be read the way you might eat a box of chocolates, one delicious book after another. Here are the links to Death Dealer and And Grant You Peace:

Death Dealer buying link:

Kindle http://amzn.to/1Cy29b7

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-dealer-kate-clark-flora/1118198601?ean=9780882824765

And Grant You Peace buying link:

Kindle http://amzn.to/1zgmxaa

Tinsel Painting done by my mother

Barbara Ross: My books are:

Clammed Up

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Clammed-Maine-Clambake-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B00C6BFTZ2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-3&qid=1417706924

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/clammed-up-barbara-ross/1114146827?ean=9780758286864

Boiled Over

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Boiled-Over-Maine-Clambake-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00G9ABZL8/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NFD2A8W5DJTA3RNXP6R

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/boiled-over-barbara-ross/1116150345?ean=9780758286888

Musseled Out (pre-order)

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Musseled-Out-Maine-Clambake-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00ONTR4TO/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0NYDZB9QWVS4VANP5X68

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/musseled-out-barbara-ross/1119949600?ean=9780758286901&itm=1&usri=barbara+ross

And, Kensington has recently released an “ebook boxed set” including Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (The First Hannah Swensen Mystery with Recipes) by Joanne Fluke, Death Of A Kitchen Diva (The first Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery–set in Bar Harbor) by Lee Hollis and Clammed Up (The first Maine Clambake Mystery) by Barbara Ross

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Murder-Box-Set-Joanne-Fluke-ebook/dp/B00OS9BUWQ/ref=asap_B003ZABYBG_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417706927&sr=1-10

Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-taste-of-murder-box-set-joanne-fluke/1120627582?ean=9781617737022

Susan Vaughan: Here’s my Holiday feature:

ONCE BURNED, part of my Task Force Eagle trilogy, is only 99 cents Dec. 18-25, on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1bPOxIb

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson:

The links for the ebook edition of my most recent Liss MacCrimmon Mystery, Ho-Ho-Homicide (w/a Kaitlyn Dunnett) are:

iBook

https://itun.es/us/Kp_VZ.l

Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ho-ho-homicide-kaitlyn-dunnett/1118482477?ean=9781617736162

Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Ho-Ho-Homicide-Liss-MacCrimmon-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B00JVW6H1O/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0GZP5TW6VDB73KJ8F15M

And here is a link for my backlist titles. The entire Face Down series (prequel to the new Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson) and many others are also available at all the usual outlets but I get a bigger share of the price if readers buy them here:

http://www.belgravehouse.com/online/authors-kathy-lynn-emerson-c-1012_1030.html?zenid=rvd5m6bjgjlacf9ra53hnt6me6

John Clark: If you have a Y/A reader in your family who loves fantasy and adventure, how about The Wizard of Simonton Pond?

Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Simonton-Pond-John-Clark-ebook/dp/B005WEF64E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419379670&sr=8-1&keywords=John+Clark+The+Wizard+of+Simonton+Pond

Lea Wait: Has been crazy busy promoting a Christmas book, so she hasn’t sent links, but the clever detectives among you can track her down now that you know, as Lea says:

For those still celebrating Christmas, my Shadows on a Maine Christmas is available in e-book formats, and for who’ve had enough holidays, Shadows on a Cape Cod Wedding is also in e-book formats.

For those of you still going crazy entertaining, or perhaps with a New Year’s crowd to cook for, here’s another quick and dirty recipe from Thea, who loves to eat:

Boil a bunch of tiny potatoes until they’re crisp tender. Drain and chill. Then wrap in bacon (one slice will do 3-4 potatoes), skewer the bacon with toothpicks, and bake about 20-35 minutes at 400 degrees, until bacon is crisp. Serve with a dollop of sour cream into which you’ve stirred some fresh snipped dill. You will be a party sensation!

And if you’re just knocking about the internet and want some recipes to drool over, check out this link:

http://www.chef-in-training.com

 

 

Murder at Christmas

Kaitlyn Dunnett here, pondering the subject of murder at Christmas.

On the surface, this sounds like a contradiction in terms. Who would ruin a merry Christmas with murder? Unfortunately, as every law enforcement officer and medical professional knows, the holidays produce more than their fair share of domestic violence. Expectations that are too high? Too many people together in a confined space? Early-onset cabin fever? Something to do with the shorter days and absence of light? Cold weather? The effect of the full moon? Who knows what causes it, but more people do harm to their nearest and dearest during this “joyful” season than just about any other time of year.

Is it any surprise, then, that a huge number of crime novels take place during Yuletide? What is perhaps more peculiar is that statistics show that these books sell better than non-holiday-themed mysteries. As a result, editors often ask their authors to write stories set at this time of year. I even had that stipulation written into one of my contracts. This seems to be especially prevalent among those of us who write traditional and/or cozy mysteries.

No, murder isn’t funny, but solving one can be fraught with humorous pitfalls for the amateur detective. The gathering together of relatives and friends also provides an opportunity for the series sleuth to resolve personal conflicts that have been building from book to book.  That’s what happens, along with murder, mayhem, and mistletoe, in both of the new Christmas books out this year from Maine Crime Writers.

Here’s what I said in my blurb after I read an advance copy of Lea Wait’s Christmas book:

“When shadows from the past darken the present it’s up to Maggie, and Will’s Aunt Nettie, to bring the truth to light. Like champagne with breakfast on Christmas morning, the aptly named Shadows on a Maine Christmas is a special treat.”

Then there’s my current Christmas story, Ho-Ho-Homicide, in which Liss and Dan spend time on a Christmas tree farm in rural Maine and solve not one but several mysteries from the past. The action doesn’t actually take place on Christmas, but rather ends with a scene much like those I’ve been experiencing all this month—groups of people tromping out into the snow-covered fields to select and cut down the perfect Christmas tree.

The most complete list of Christmas mysteries comes from Janet Rudolph at Mystery Readers Journal and this year’s update starts here:

http://www.mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-mysteries-authors-d.html

Don’t go there quite yet. First let me tell you about some of my personal favorites. There’s my own A Wee Christmas Homicide, of course, which revolves around Liss MacCrimmon’s discovery that the shops of Moosetookalook, Maine have the last remaining supplies of what has unexpectedly turned out to be “the” toy of the year, the Tiny Teddy. This book has been around for a few years, but it can still be found in paperback and electronic formats.

Donna Andrews, whose amateur sleuth is a blacksmith as well as a wife and mother, has two very funny mysteries set at Christmas. All of the titles in this series have birds in them, so it won’t surprise you to learn that the books in question are Six Geese A-Slaying and The Nightingale Before Christmas.

Rhys Bowen’s The Twelve Clues of Christmas is great fun. Set in the 1930s, it features Lady Georgie, 35th in line for the English throne and a magnet for trouble. Another historical series, set just a bit earlier (1923), is written by Carola Dunn and features Daisy Dalrymple as the amateur sleuth. In Mistletoe and Murder, Daisy faces a formidable foe—her mother! Dunn modeled her Cornwall estate, the fictional Brockdene, on the real Cothele, a sixteenth-century manor house I visited back in 2001.

In the oldie but goodie category, you can’t beat Charlotte MacLeod’s Rest You Merry, the first Peter Shandy mystery, in which Peter, sick of being pressured by neighbors to get with the program and decorate his house for the holidays, decides to do so with a vengeance and then leave town. Needless to say, his escape from Christmas doesn’t go quite as he planned.

Another gem is Joan Hess’s O Little Town of Maggody, an entry in her Arly Hanks series. This one involves the return of a native son, now a country music star, and the disappearance of his elderly aunt. And, of course, there is a cast of quirky characters designed to drive level-headed Arly, the chief of police in this small town, right around the bend!

Finally, for those of you who also read in other genres, let me suggest Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner, an anthology of paranormal short stories. I also recommend, for those who enjoy well-written tales of romance and adventure, Christmas Revels, a collection of five novellas by Mary Jo Putney.

Happy Holidays.

 

Have You Heard About Thunderclap?

December 9, 2014: Vaughn Hardacker here. A few days ago I received an email from a fellow writer who asked me the title question. My answer at that time was “no”. He directed me to the Thunderclap website (http://thunderclap.it) and I was intrigued. I’m not unique, like many writers I find the marketing end of the business to be a real pain in the keester. Publicity kills me. I have accounts on all the social media sites but seldom visit them. I’m not even a user of the telephone (even when I was in my teens I was not one to spend time on the phone–I found it much more satisfying to actually walk over to my girl friend’s house and spend a couple of hours there rather than talking on the phone until I lost all feeling in my ear). I am constantly being told: “You only call when you want something.” Well, Yeesss!I have always believed that people have better things to do than spend time on the phone with me…if I have something important to discuss or ask,  then I’ll call. When we used to communicate regularly, a typical phone call between my daughter and me used to go like this: Me: Hello. Daughter: Hi Dad. Me: How you doing? Daughter: Fine. Me: How are your boys doing? (Note I didn’t ask about her first husband…I used to call him ZERO because those were his prospects.) Daughter: They’re doing great. Me: That’s good, here’s your mother. (At which time I handed the phone over and departed stage right…) However, there are two types of people on social media. There are people who spend hours each day monitoring their pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, then there are unsocial people like me. I use electronic communications when I need to, not as a way to kill time. For ten years my cell plan gave me 100 minutes a month and I don’t think I once used a quarter of them. But I digress, back to the subject at hand. Thunderclap is a crowdspeaking” platform that allows individuals and companies to rally people together to spread a message. The site uses an “all-or-nothing” model similar to sites such as Kickstarter, in that if the campaign does not meet its desired number of supporters in the given time frame, the organizer receives none of the donations. On Thunderclap, backers donate tweets and social media posts rather than money. Campaigns can range between activism, fundraising, films, creative projects, and product launches. Notable brands that have run Thunderclap campaigns include the White House, Major League Baseball, People (magazine), and the United Nations. In her article, Thunderclap: Is louder better when it comes to transmitting your message? (http://deeson-me.co.uk/blog/articles/benefits-and-downsides-thunderclap), Clare Aspin includes lists of Thunderclap’s benefits and downsides. Among the benefits are these:

By getting lots of accounts to send your message to their followers, you can significantly increase the reach of your message and people who do not follow you will see it.
It shows you the analytics and details of all of your supporters.

Among the downsides are these:

In order to support your Thunderclap, people have to connect with the Thunderclap platform and give it permission to access their social media accounts and send messages on their behalf. Many people will not do this as they do not want to give a third party that level of control.
The messages are all sent at the same time, so you will only really reach people who are on social media at that moment.

Thunderclap is a free service, however, it does offer paid campaigns which allow organizers more flexibility with richer pages, updates to members, and more. I have created a campaign to announce that my new novel, THE FISHERMAN, is available for pre-order on all of the major book sales sites… The creation of the campaign is easy and when you visit the website you can easily navigate through the process. Once you have written your 140 character message (the max you can Tweet) and uploaded your media you submit the campaign for approval (usually takes 2 to 3 days), my approval came back in less than one day. Now comes the hitch (refer to the first downside above) before the message will go out you have to get 100 people to support you. Thunderclap provides you with a link (mine was http://thndr.it/1yvW11j) which you must provide to potential supporters via email, facebook, twitter, or any method you can. Once 100 people have accessed the link and authorized the Thunderclap platform to send messages on their behalf, the campaign will go live and on the date and time you set up, a single post will go out via facebook, twitter, and TUMBLR. Sounds simple…maybe too much so. I’ll let you know how it works in a later blog. Oh yeah, Happy holidays!!!

December 16, 2014: With six days to go it doesn’t appear as if I’ll be meeting the 100 supporter requirement. I’ve posted so many reminders on facebook (I have over 500 so-called friends) that I’m starting to feel like an obnoxious telemarketer. The fact that if you don’t obtain the 100 supporters your broadcast doesn’t go pretty much neuters Thunderclap as a viable PR tool. On a positive note several of those who are supporting me (21 at this time) have passed my posts on to their friends–so maybe something will come of this yet.

December 18, 2014 (2:30 p.m.): With four days to go I have 23 supporters. I must say that Thunderclap is more like a moped backfire. The requirement for 100 supporters renders this useless from my perspective. I have over 500 so-called friends on Facebook and only 23 signed on. Looks as if I better spend my time and energy on some other means of PR. As for crowdspeaking software…doesn’t do much good if the crowd isn’t listening.

Weekend Update: December 20-21, 2014

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Susan Vaughan (Monday), Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett (Tuesday), and Vicki Doudera (Friday). On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we’ll post an e-book round up—news about our titles in electronic format just in time to read them on all those new e-readers and tablets folks will be receiving as gifts.

This close to Christmas there isn’t much news from Maine Crime Writers. Just like our readers, we’re busy with all the usual holiday chores, as well as with getting our works in progress to the point where we can take a few guilt-free days off to be with family and friends.

As usual, we’d love to hear your comments on Maine, Crime, or Writing. Just use the link below to share. All comments are automatically entered for a chance to win our wonderful basket of books and the very special moose and lobster cookie cutters.

If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker in 2015, we hope you’ll keep us in mind. Contact Kate Flora at mailto: kateflora@gmail.com to ask if contributors to Maine Crime Writers are available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business.

Holiday Round-Up: Books We’re Getting and Books We’re Giving

Happy Friday, All. One of the most common questions we crime writers are asked at library and bookstore events is: What books do you read? So here, from some of our regulars, are our answers to the questions:

What books do you want to get for Christmas and what books are you going to give?

Kate Flora: When John and I were children on the farm in Union, one of the high points of the holiday season was when the Brentanos catalogue arrived. Each of us was allowed to pick on special book which our parents would order for us for Christmas. It was more magical than the Sears catalogue, and the choice was anguishing. It had to be a very special book, and we wanted it to be one that would last though as much of the school vacation as possible. I still have my volume of Amecrian myths and legends, one year’s prized selection.

These days, despite being passionate about books, there have been years when I didn’t get any books except a cookbook. Now that my sons are older, they choose books for me, and I love the fact that they will often pick something I’ve never heard of or would be unlikely to read. Dan Chaon short stories. Neil Gaiman. The Poisoner’s Handbook. I’ve set aside the two days after Christmas to curl up on the couch and read.

Giving? We have a five year old, so I’ve ordered Where the Sidewalk Ends, and Bendy Wendy by Jo Jo Thoreau, a Maine author who just turned 10. For the dog lovers, Cat Warren’s wonderful book, What the Dog Knows. And someone will get Sparta, by Roxana Robinson, because it is truly wonderful book.

Lea Wait: Books I’d love to get for Christmas?  EUPHORIA by Lily King (a Mainer) and THE BURNING ROOM by Michael Connelly.  I’m also really looking forward to reading the first in Maine Crime Writer Sarah Graves’ new series, WINTER AT THE DOOR, which will debut on January 6.

As gifts? My younger grandchildren who giggle a lot are getting PRESIDENT TAFT IS STUCK IN HIS

BATH by Mac Barnett and with hilarious illustrations by Mainer Chris Van Dusen. For the granddaughter who still wants to be a princes when she grows up – PRINCESSES ARE NOT JUST PRETTY by Kate Lun and Sue Hillard. The young man who’s just getting interested in American history will be unwrapping Philip Hoose’s WE WERE THERE, TOO: YOUNG PEOPLE IN US HISTORY.  (Yup. Phil Hoose is also a Mainer.) And for the older granddaughters, Jacqueline Woodson’s brilliant and moving memoir, BROWN GIRL DREAMING, and I AM MALALA: How One Girl Stood for Education and Changed the World, by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick.

Vaughn Hardacker: I can’t think of a single book that I’d like to receive however, a gift card to a bookstore (although the nearest one to me is BAM in Bangor three and a half hours drive from here) I have sent out a couple of books as gifts though: Lee Child’s latest Personal and Deadline by John Sandford (his latest Virgil Flowers book). I have a couple of books available in eBook format: SNIPER and my book loosely based on my experiences in Vietnam (very loosely) ELEPHANT VALLEY.

Kaitlyn Dunnett: In what’s left of our tiny family, we no longer exchange gifts at Christmas but rather celebrate by getting together, pigging out on food, and catching up on news. The only exception has been our niece and it has been my habit to buy two or three hardcover middler grades books as presents for her. I was all set to order Dreamwalker (Red Dragon Academy Book 1) by Rhys Bowen and her daughter, C.M. Broyles, a fantasy novel aimed at kids in grades 4-8 when the family got together for Thanksgiving and I learned two things. One, said niece has only read a handful of fiction all year. Two, that what she has read is way beyond what I’d have expected for someone in her age group. On her teacher’s recommendation, she read Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. Currently she’s reading a book about a girl from another country trying to adjust to living with an American family. Sorry, I didn’t catch the title or author. My conclusion? Give the kid cash and let her pick out her own present. Maybe it will be a book and maybe it won’t but at least she’ll be happy with her choice.

At her age, I always received a stack of girls’ mystery stories—Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, and all the rest. I was always happy to get them and had probably read them all within a week. Then it was back to borrowing from the library and occasionally buying a title for myself at the local Woolworth’s. These days, when I real almost everything not for research on my iPad, I download a book as soon as I decide I want to read it. Combined with that non-exchange of gifts thing I just mentioned, I don’t expect (or even want) to receive any books for Christmas. An extra piece of apple pie, though, or some leftover fudge . . .

Susan Vaughan: I’m giving my husband THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN, book 4 in the Martin Beck series by Swedish authors Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. He enjoys the Inspector Wallander series by Henning Mankel and other mysteries by Swedish authors (in English) so this seemed a natural. It’s a mass-murder police procedural and thriller I think he’ll enjoy. If the title seems familiar, THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN was made into a film starring Walter Matthau, but neither of us has seen it.

I couldn’t put down Hallie Ephron’s stand-along thriller NEVER TELL A LIE, so I’d like the road the first book in the Dr. Peter Zak series she and Donald Davidoff write as G.H. Ephron. The idea of a forensic psychiatrist as sleuth intrigues me. So Amnesia is going on my holiday list.

John Clark: Now That You’re Here by Amy Nichols.

One minute Danny was running from the cops, and the next, he jolted awake in an unfamiliar body–his own, but different. Somehow, he’s crossed into a parallel universe. Now his friends are his enemies, his parents are long dead, and studious Eevee is not the mysterious femme fatale he once kissed back home. Then again, this Eevee–a girl who’d rather land an internship at NASA than a date to the prom–may be his only hope of getting home.

Eevee tells herself she’s only helping him in the name of quantum physics, but there’s something undeniably fascinating about this boy from another dimension . . . a boy who makes her question who she is, and who she might be in another place and time.

Barbara Ross: 

Books I’m giving.

My husband Bill told me he had “bought lots of books for Christmas presents.” So, in preparation for this list, I went up and opened the box. They were all for our nineteen month-old granddaughter!

So, I can say without fear of anyone reading this and spoiling their present, this Christmas we are giving

The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, by LeVar Burton

The Night Riders, by Matt Furie

Stories 1, 2, 3, 4 by Eugene Ionesco and Etienne Delessert

Symphony City, by Amy Martin

As for what is on my list

To Dwell in Darkness, Deborah Crombie

The Handsome Man’s Deluxe Cafe, Alexander McCall Smith

Tagged for Death, Sherry Harris

Death with all the Trimmings, Lucy Burdette