ABOUT THE BOOKSTHE JACK MCMORROW MYSTERIESBRANDON BLAKE: A CRIME NOVEL

Brandon Blake

June 28th, 2012

Summer Reading, with Jack McMorrow

Hello friends,

A quick note on a summer day in Maine that can’t make up its mind: rain or sun, blue sky or dark gray clouds. I go outside, come back in, go outside, come back in. I’m in now and it’s showering so I thought I’d be in touch with you all.

Three things:homebody Summer Reading, with Jack McMorrow

One, I’m at work on a new McMorrow, in the research stage but not long from starting to write. I’m excited about the premise. I can’t tell you because that will jinx it. Not that I’m supersititious.

Two, I’ve got a few appearances coming up. Next is the Auburn (Maine) Public Library, Monday July 2  at 6 p.m. Come join in the conversation.

Three, in my travels people have said they’ve been having trouble finding some of the early McMorrow novels. Not to worry! Just drop me an e-mail at gerry@gerryboyle.com and we’ll fix you up. We have the books in hardcover. Let us know what you need and we’ll have them signed, sealed and in the mail. Don’t want you to miss any of Jack’s adventures, or Brandon Blake’s, either.

May 18th, 2012

Port City Black and White in the finals

I just learned that the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance has chosen PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE as a finalist for the 2012 Maine Literary Awards in the category of crime fiction. A bit of good news, especially considering the caliber of the other finalists: THE LOST DAUGHTERS by Janis Bolster, and TRESPASSER by Paul Doiron. If we are judged by the company we keep, I’m in a good place.

Winners will be announced in Portland May 31. Brandon Blake will see if he can get the night off at Portland P.D.

February 22nd, 2012

On the Portland Turf of Brandon Blake

Le cover, c’est moi.

I’m talking about the Gerry Boyle cover photo of the February/March issue of Northern New England Journey magazine. I wondered if it would be noticeable.

0312 NNE Redux 188x250 On the Portland Turf of Brandon BlakeThe cover photo was taken on Custom House Wharf in Portland’s Old Port. I like it down there and so does my series protagonist Brandon Blake. I walk the city’s streets and docks. Brandon walks (and drives) the beat. He also lives on a vintage Chris Craft cabin cruiser in Portland Harbor.

When photographer Nance Trueworthy called to schedule the photo shoot, she asked me to take her to all of the places my detective (patrolman) hero goes. We wandered around the Old Port, where Brandon helps keep the drinking crowd under control. We explored the Parkside neighborhood, where Brandon searches for a missing baby (pre-Ayla Reynolds) and comes up empty for more than 300 pages. (More to come on the Ayla case). We tromped around Munjoy Hill, the Eastern Prom, where Brandon is given a hard time for being a cop. We walked Upper Congress Street in a blisteringly cold wind.

But we settled back into the waterfront because that’s where Brandon is most at home.

There’s nothing like the film noire feel of a working waterfront, especially at night. The photo was shot after we asked a guy working at The Comedy Club, which was closed, if he could do us a favor and turn on the outside light. He thought about it for a minute, then helped us out. Thanks, bud.

We shot in a brick-lined alley. On the edge of the wharf. With boats in the background. But it was the hollow-sounding boardwalk, the purple wall with the hole in the siding, the vintage signs that kept pulling us back. We wanted to get the half-wild wharf cats in the shot but they were too elusive.

So do I wander the wharves in a Sam Spade overcoat, my fedora pulled low? Well, maybe not. I prefer a baseball cap and leather jacket. But we were trying to capture the spirit of the nighttime city streets, the mystery of the darkened wharves. I hope that when you look at the photo you feel a little of that.

I sure did.

Catch you on the streets.

February 11th, 2012

I’m Watching You–and Writing about it

Hey all. Sorry to be away so long. I’ve been pedal to the metal on ONCE BURNED. Getting very close to the finish line on that one, McMorrow No. 10. More about that as it happens.

Next week I head for Portland to hit the streets in preparation for Brandon Blake No. 3. My friend Officer Christian Stickney of the Portland P.D. and his K-9 Taz have graciously allowed me to ride on the 5-12 p.m. shift. Always an interesting time and invaluable to getting in my Brandon Blake vibe.

I’m working mostly these days, when I’m not suffering through this snowless Maine winter. One event planned. April 14 at 2 p.m. I’ll be speaking at the Stockton Springs Library in Stockton Springs, Maine. If you’re in the area …

Lastly, I’m writing today at Maine Crime Writers. The post starts like this:

Gerry here, reporting on what I did last weekend. I went to a funeral. I actually enjoyed it. I didn’t expect to but I did. Every minute.church image Im Watching You  and Writing about it

This was in a small town in northern Somerset County (redundant, I know), in a chapel off of Main Street. ….

Hope you enjoy, friends. Enjoy the weekend.

And lastly

January 7th, 2012

After the holidays

Hey all,

Hope your holidays were good ones, filled you with enough good will to power you through the winter. That’s the case in my neck of the woods. No big news. Continue to work on McMorrow No. 10, ONCE BURNED, and to follow the case of still-missing toddler Ayla Reynolds. Her dad, Justin DiPietro, has been talking to my alma mater, the Morning Sentinel. Something he said rang very true: “The truth is patient,” DiPietro told the newspaper. “It will come out.”

Just a matter of time.

One last thing. I’m blogging over at Maine Crime Writers today. A bit of musing on creatures of the night. You might enjoy.

December 20th, 2011

Ayla Reynolds, deja vu

I read all the news stories about Ayla Reynolds, the 20-month-old girl reported missing from her bed in Waterville, Maine, last Friday. I watch the TV news. I even watched CNN’s Nancy Grace: (“Tot snatched from bed—Exclusive”) as Nancy interviewed Trista Reynolds, the child’s mother. “All I want to know is where she is,” said Trista, who lost custody of the little girl a couple of months ago and has reportedly struggled with drug addiction.portland press herald 3600858 187x250 Ayla Reynolds, deja vu

It’s all pretty horrible. And familiar.

I say this, not because I’ve seen other kids snatched from their beds, but because I’ve written about one. A lot. His name was Lincoln and he was almost a year old. He disappeared from the bedroom of his mother’s apartment in Portland. Mom was a drug addict and for several hours didn’t notice he was gone. When it sank in, she freaked.

This was in my last crime novel, PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE. My fictional cops converge on the neighborhood. They bring in tracking dogs. They interrogate the mom, her boyfriend, the child’s father, all of the neighbors, a homeless woman who roams the neighborhood.

Nothing.

Days go by. The mom and her family accuse the police of dragging their feet. The dad beats the boyfriend to a pulp. The neighbors say they’ve seen nothing, heard nothing, know nothing. The child has simply vanished.

Of course, he hadn’t. And some of the people in the book know where he was. Even as the cops speculate that little Lincoln has been snatched to leverage a drug debt, or maybe has been sold on the street. I knew what had really happened. I’d made up the story.

I had someone tell me just last week that they couldn’t read my book because it involved a crime against a child and they didn’t have the stomach for it. I was surprised because as the author, I hadn’t found the story terribly disturbing. But then again, I knew how it would end.

That’s not the case with Ayla Reynolds. I walk out to the mailbox to get the paper every morning and, with trepidation, open the front page. (Today was a $30,000 reward). I don’t want to see bad news. Like everyone else, I want to see the story that says the blonde, smiling innocent toddler has been located and she’s live and well.

As I write this, I’m still hopeful. As a crime writer, I can come up with any number of scenarios that involve all sorts of deception—and no violence. I can envision any number of ways this all could play out, and end with the child safe and sound. I know the tangled webs that people weave, how one lie leads to another and before you know it, every investigator in the state is at your house. I know that because I’ve invented those stories. I can invent one with a happy ending for Ayla Reynolds—but I can’t write it.

It’s an odd feeling, seeing things happen that are right out of my book, but knowing that this case has a life of its own. Something happened to this little girl last week and the dominoes continue to fall, day after day, cold night after cold night.

It’s made me wonder why I invented such a story—a child snatched from his crib, his mother distraught, racked with guilt—but  in the end, it’s just that—a story. And just as I have the power to imagine such a mess, I have the power to clean it up. I can put little Lincoln in harm’s way, but I can also save him.

Not with Ayla. I just follow this story like everyone else, with the hope that she is fine and the guilty parties in the case will be brought to justice. It happens in books. Let it happen one more time.

December 13th, 2011

Off the road again

Hey all. Last stop at Maine Maritime Museum in Searsport was a fun one. Great spot, nice people. Nothing else schedule for now so back to writing. Speaking of which, I’m over at the Maine Crime Writers blog today, talking about writing movie scripts. Check it out.

October 19th, 2011

Augusta bound

Thursday, Oct. 20, Lithgow Library, Augusta, Maine. Don’t be afraid of the poster. I promise I MysteryMonth2011GerryBoyle 193x250 Augusta boundwon’t talk you to death.

October 5th, 2011

The Days Grow Darker

Maybe it’s the shotgun blasts that have taken the place of my alarm clock in the past week. No carnage, unless you’re a duck and the hunters on the marsh have shot you out of the air. But when you’re  jarred away by a 12-gauge, it does get your day off to an interesting start.MysteryMonth2011Final 193x250 The Days Grow Darker

But the days are growing shorter, and the mornings and evenings darker, and that’s a good thing for a crime novelist. Something about fog and rain and early dusk. I’m in the mood to write and McMorrow No. 10 is moving along. I’m liking it. I hope you will, too.

Of course, I’m also out and about talking about my young friend Brandon Blake and PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE. This week I did a joint thing with New Hampshire writer Toby Ball at Water Street Bookstore, in Exeter, N.H. Great store, nice people, good crowd. I had a good time and I think everyone else did, as well.

Next up is Oct. 20 at Lithgow Library in Augusta, Maine. Lithgow is one of my regular stops, and one I look forward to. Hope you can stop by. And check out the poster. Some of my friends from Maine Crime Writers are on the slate. Stop by and say hello.

If not, stop by here when you can and I’ll have the latest news. E.G., Booklist really liked PC B&W. Some reviewers like the book and get it. Some even add to my understanding of Brandon. This is one of those.

Question of the week: a reader at the NH event asked if I had plans to bring McMorrow and Blake together in a future novel. I’ve considered it. What do you think?

September 19th, 2011

More quick notes

Things are rolling right along with PC B&W. Next stop is Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, N.H., Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. I’m doing a joint appearance with N.H. writer Toby Ball. He’s out there with his second noir mystery, TORCH CITY. Toby’s a good writer, very distinctive style. He’s also fun in person so if you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by. I hear very good things about the store and its proprietors. Should be a good time.

Otherwise, all is well. Getting in the last boat outings of the season. Writing steadily (McMorrow No. 10). Blessed with good health, good friends, good times.

Enjoy the day,

Gerry

PS Enjoy PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE? Please drop a quick review on Amazon. I’m told this is important. I know it will be appreciated.

PSS Don’t forget to check out the group mystery writers blog, mainecrimewriters.com. Ten Maine mystery writers, blogging all the time.