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A group of 13 Maine crime and mystery writers, including several from central and mid-coast Maine, will share bits of their thrillers and mysteries in a Maine Crime Writers Noir at the Bar event Sunday, Nov. 18.
The readings will be from 3 to 5 p.m. at Banded Brewing Co., 32 Main St., Biddeford.
The event will include a free raffle of a large basket of signed books from the authors, and Kelly’s Books to Go will also be on hand to sell all the authors works.
Author Barbara Ross explains the appeal. “We thriller and mystery mystery authors are mild-mannered, lovely people. We help you shovel your driveways and take care of your cats while you’re away. You’d never guess we have a flair for mayhem until we read you a bit of it. We’ve got seaweed-snarled bodies pulled up by fishermen, trees dropped on best friends, a charred corpse under a clambake grate, a world-class assassin who dispatches other assassins — and lots more of that kind of thing.”
Asked why Maine has so many successful and prolific crime and mystery authors, Sandra Neily (who uses the North Woods), thinks it’s a combination of ideal settings and a fairly safe environment. “Maine is just chock full of dramatic and varied locations that allow us to pull readers deeply into a story. We also have a reputation as a pretty safe state so perhaps our readers can dive into the literature of what’s not safe … with a kind of curious freedom.”
Other authors at the event will be Brenda Buchanan, Richard Cass, Bruce Robert Coffin, EJ Fechenda, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Vaughn Hardacker, James Hayman, Gayle Lynds, Maureen Milliken, John C. Sheldon and Joe Souza.
As a teaser, here’s a mash-up of bits from six of the 13 authors:
The mountains, the thick woods and unforgiving terrain, had taken Lydia’s life. As they were easing the stretcher back into the ambulance, a wail erupted from the other side of the fence. Byron steered his mind back to the floater. What would it be this time: young, old, male, female?
Death was not something the six men talked about — instead they used phrases like “the job” or “the assignment.”
“Dead weight is the worst.”
“A dog might find more carcasses. Just don’t let him chew on what he finds.”
