I am preparing to head to the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in St. Louis, and I have a new post up at MaineCrimeWriters.com about how my understanding of the conference, and myself as a mystery fan, has changed over the past three years. Give it a read. And if you are also planning to attend, please introduce yourself!
Mystery Month
If you're a fan of crime fiction, Augusta, Maine, is the place to be in October. The folks at the Lithgow Library always bring in the big guns.
The Maine Edge
One of the interesting things about having a novel out is you never know when it will get reviewed. The process starts months in advance of the publication date as journals like Publishers Weekly and Booklist begin weighing in with notices. But it continues long after your book has been in stores for a while, too. That's the hope anyway: that you keep getting discovered.
For instance, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a glowing review of Trespasser in the Maine Edge, an alternative weekly out of Bangor, Maine:
In Mike Bowditch, Doiron has created someone we can root for. He's a man with a real connection to the outdoors and to the job that he does. He's got smarts, but he's not the over-the-top genius that some fictional lawmen are. He's articulate without being overly verbose. He makes mistakes. He's human, essentially, which is a large part of why he's such an engaging character. He feels real — no mean feat.
Getting reviews like these never gets old.
Ridiculous Recommendations
Through Twitter today I learned about a new Web site called whatshouldireadnext.com that claims to offer useful advice for book lovers. If you like this book, the logic goes, you might enjoy these as well. Being an egotistical novelist I typed my own title into the search box. Here are the books the site suggests you should read if you enjoyed The Poacher's Son.
| Title | Info/Buy |
| Chelsea Cain, - Evil at Heart |
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| Jennifer Crusie, - Maybe This Time |
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| Chelsea Cain - Sweetheart |
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| - God Save the Child (Penguin Crime Fiction) |
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| Robert Parker - Mortal Stakes |
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| Robert Parker - The Judas Goat |
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| Robert Parker - Taming a Sea-Horse |
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| James Patterson - Cross |
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| Don Winslow - The Death And Life Of Bobby Z |
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| Tim Green - Exact Revenge |
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| Sidney Sheldon - The other side of midnight |
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| - Pale Kings And Princes |
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| Lee Child, - Worth Dying for |
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| Sidney Sheldon - A stranger in the mirror |
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| Robert B. Parker - Crimson Joy |
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| Phillip Margolin - Sleeping Beauty |
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| Richard Kadrey, - Sandman Slim |
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| Jeffery Deaver - The Sleeping Doll |
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| Sherman Alexie - The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven |
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| Lee Child, - 61 Hours: A Reacher Novel |
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| Robert B. Parker - Looking for Rachel Wallace |
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| Mary Higgins Clark - All Around the Town |
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| Mary Higgins Clark - Loves Music, Loves to Dance |
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| Jennifer Crusie, Bob Mayer - Agnes and the Hitman |
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| Jeffrey Archer - A Prisoner of Birth |
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| Chelsea Cain - Heartsick |
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| Dean Koontz - The Husband |
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Sidney Sheldon? That's a low blow.
See You in Portland
On Wednesday, August 31 at noon, I will be the guest speaker at the Portland Public Library, as part of its Brown Bag Lunch series. I'll read a little from Trespasser, take questions, and sign copies of both my novels, courtesy of Longfellow Books. The library always puts on a great event. Last year's reading was packed, so come early if you want a seat.