HThanks for stopping by. And if you’re wondering where I’ve been, I can tell you I’ve been painting the house. This involves Hey all:
Thanks for stopping by. What have you been up to? In addition to writing, I’ve been spending much of my time standing atop very tall ladders. So you may say, why don’t you hire somebody to do that? What if you fall and break your wrists and can’t write? Well, that would be a bad day. For me, especially. But sometimes a crime novelist has to live on the edge. Right now that adrenalin rush is coming from standing near the top of a 40-foot extension ladder. And hoping a bat doesn’t explode out from behind that shutter.
Anyway, I’m working on a few things. Both continuing series and something entirely new. More news on that to come shortly. I’ll post it here and on my Facebook page, which I hope you’ll visit and “like.” Also, a couple of appearances this fall (ah, I can’t say no). I was unable to make the Bangor Book Festival. Sorry about that. I will be at Rockport Public Library, Nov. 14, 6:30 p.m. I hope to see you there.
I’ll leave you with these
images from autumn in Maine. Today I saw sumac waving from the roadsides like red-orange cheerleaders; a garter snake that tried to cross a road and didn’t make it; a painted turtle that did; two turkey vultures feeding on a large but unidentifiable carcass in a field.









In PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, the first Brandon Blake novel, Brandon gets a full dose of bad guys. A brawl in a funeral home introduces him to Joel Fuller, a sociopathic hustler. Fuller is fresh out of jail and determined to take Brandon out—after Fuller and his sidekick Kelvin shake him down.
Rocky isn’t a tough guy. He’s a skinny little kid with crooked glasses, and he shouldn’t be homeless in Portland, Maine. When McMorrow and Roxanne pluck him from under the stomping feet of a gang of street kids, Rocky latches onto McMorrow–and drags him into a world of murder, both old and new. Why is McMorrow protecting Rocky? The cops want to know. Why is Rocky on the run? McMorrow wants to know. Why does death follow in Rocky’s wake? Jack and Roxanne need to find out before they’re added to the list.