What is it About Maine and Mysteries? by Lea Wait

Wicked Wednesday

I love Wicked Wednesday, don't you? Enjoy my guest today, Lea Wait!

Recently I was at Crime Bake, a mystery conference in Massachusetts, and someone asked me, “What’s with all the murders in Maine? Dark winters?”

I assured her we didn’t have a lot of murders. In fact, last year only five states had fewer murders than the twenty in Maine. Most of those deaths were domestic homicides. Sad, of course. But usually involving drugs, alcohol and tempers, not the result of complicated plotting.   

“Then,” asked the woman, “Why are so many mystery writers from Maine?”

She certainly had a point. The number of horror, crime, mystery, thriller, suspense, spy,  police procedural and true crime writers in the state known as “Vacationland” is rather amazing. I’m a member of a loosely organized group who blog at www.mainecrimewriters.com and our membership varies from year to year, but never disappears. In fact, at that mystery conference I met half a dozen aspiring  unpublished mystery authors who, yes, lived in Maine.

So maybe it’s Stephen King’s presence. Or the dark woods and winters. Maybe it’s the mix of people who call Maine home, and the wide variations in economic status throughout the state. Maybe it’s the choice of backgrounds – we have beaches and mountains. Wilderness and cities. Farms and fishermen. People whose families have been here for generations, and people who arrived yesterday.

But, for sure, they don’t kill each other, except in our books. Don’t want to brag, but I alone have killed off more than twenty people in my twenty-one books. And I’m sure that right now, in some study or kitchen or coffee shop in Maine, some writer is killing off another character.

Most of us mystery writers know the others, and some of us are close friends. We have a supportive community. We’re members (with writers in other fields) of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, which sponsors a one-day Maine Crime Wave conference every spring. Many of us are members of the New England chapters of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Maine is lucky to still support about 45 independent bookstores. Almost every town has a library, and many of them host author talks.  

And, perhaps most important, we writers support each other. In addition to that blog I mentioned earlier, we’ve been known to critique each other’s work, celebrate each other’s successes on social media, form panels to speak at libraries, schools and other events, attend each other’s book launches and author talks, and sometimes even share rooms at conferences.

Which is good. Because otherwise it would get pretty lonely, just sitting in front of a computer, thinking of creative ways to kill people.

Not that we don’t do that, too, of course! You’ll excuse me, while I decide which poison will work best in my next book …

Buy Link for Thread the Halls 

Lea Wait Bio:

Mainer and USA Today best-selling author Lea Wait adopted four daughters when she was single. Now she’s married to a Maine artist, and writes mysteries and historical novels about people searching for love, acceptance, and a place to call home. Her most recent mystery is THREAD THE HALLS, a holiday mystery set in Haven Harbor, Maine. For more information about Lea and her books, see her website, www.leawait.com. She also invites you to friend her author page (Lea Wait/Cornelia Kidd) on Facebook.