My publisher Minotaur Books (an imprint of St. Martin's Press) is giving away 25 advance copies of my forthcoming novel, DEAD MAN'S WAKE (in stores 6/27). These are uncorrected galleys, not the final hardcovers—but close enough. You'll need to sign up for Goodreads to enter, but it's pretty painless in my experience. You might even enjoy Goodreads if you haven't tried the site before! Jut click the link to enter. May the odds be ever in your favor. https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/359929-dead-man-s-wake
Death and Dismemberment on Golden Pond
I don’t often write about the reasons behind the choices I make in my novels. But I thought readers might find it interesting to learn why I chose to set my forthcoming Mike Bowditch novel, Dead Man’s Wake, on Great Pond in Belgrade. In general I prefer to set the stories in real Maine place, but sometimes that isn’t possible, given the violent content. (I don’t want people freaking out about real seabird islands!)
With Dead Man’s Wake, I needed a real lake with an affluent summer population. Having never written about that corner of Kennebec County, I decided that the time had come for me to visit the historic Belgrade Lakes region. The area is home to some crazy episodes many of which didn’t get into the novel. Elizabeth Arden once ran a destination spa there. Judge Crater famously disappeared on his way back to his cottage in Belgrade.
Some things that did make the novel: The lakes are home to some of Maine’s most storied summer camps. My favorite Maine author (E.B. White) wrote my favorite Maine essay (“Once More to the Lake") about Great Pond. A mailboat still delivers mail to docks along the water in an age when the Postal Service is slashing services to the bone everywhere else. And a very famous play and movie rebranded the lake forever as “Golden Pond” (although the film with the Fondas was made in New Hampshire). Indeed, a friend who is a year-round Belgrade resident introduced me to the concept of “Golden Pond Syndrome” which still entices starry-eyed cottage buyers to purchase property along a pond that bears little resemblance to its fictional ideal.
Writing murder mysteries is an inherently subversive, macabre, and often perverse activity, and I must confess that I couldn’t think of a better place to set my wickedly violent tale than a lake enveloped in such an enduring pink cloud. The Mike Bowditch books are about showing the Maine you find scurrying and wriggling when you lift the log labeled Vacationland and expose the underside to the light. What better place to expose the dirty underside than “Golden Pond”?
DEAD BY DAWN Wins the New England Society Book Award
I am beyond humbled to announce that DEAD BY DAWN has won the New England Society’s 2022 Book Award for Fiction.
Founded in New York City in 1805, with a membership that has included Daniel Webster, J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller, and JFK, among many others, the organization devotes itself to charitable projects in addition to sponsoring these annual awards, honoring "books of merit that celebrate New England culture."
Recent recipients include my fellow Mainers Lily King, Author, Christina Baker Kline, and Monica Wood. It's very much a "one of these things is not like the others" moment for me, but I am sincerely grateful to the judges for finding my thriller worthy of this esteemed company.
Me on TV
One of my favorite parts about going on a book tour is visiting WSCH 6 television and talking about the new novel with Rob Caldwell on 207. Rob always asks such great questions. With a setting as offbeat as the one in HATCHET ISLAND, it made for an especially freewheeling conversation.
About My Short Stories....
For the past half dozen years or so I have written a Mike Bowditch short story for Minotaur Books timed to come out in advance of each new novel.
I really enjoy the chance to play with different styles (“The Caretaker” is my twist on a Sherlock Homes story, for instance) and fill in the backstory of some of the characters. It was a great moment in my life when one of these stories, "Rabid," was a finalist for the 2019 Edgar Award.
Unfortunately, my stories have also caused surprising trouble for me. Some readers, misguided by inaccurate websites (including a few sites that know better, cough, Macmillan), jump to the conclusion that the stories are actual full-length novels. And these readers are upset that they can't locate “The Imposter” or “Backtrack” in bookstores and libraries.
More frequently, I get complaints about the format. The only way to publish a single short story is digitally (although mine are also recorded for audio), and I hear from many fans who won't (or admittedly can't) read on a screen. To be clear: you don't need a dedicated device, such as a Kindle or iPad, to do so. Amazon offers that option to purchase and read a book or story on your computer (as does Apple). So if you are reading this post now on Facebook or elsewhere, you can read "Rabid." You have the technology! Until such time as I have enough stories for Macmillan Publishing to bring out a printed collection (no guarantees it will happen but fingers crossed), this is the only way for me to offer short stories to my fans.
This blog post is all prefatory to my announcing that I have a long short story (or a short novella) titled “Skin and Bones” coming out digitally on May 5. It will be available as an audio in June. I sincerely hope you enjoy it!
