Jack. Is. Back. View the Damaged Goods Trailer!

June 27th, 2010

Good and evil

Once more, I’m struck by contrasts: on the lake this weekend, a snapping turtle snagging bait from fishermen casting from shore, the turtle waiting with his head held high out of the water like a dolphin at SeaWorld. Same place, same time, a loon swimming under a bridge beneath us, slicing through the water like a penguin. A beautiful sight on a summer night.

But the news story that has hung with me all weekend: three people stabbed to death at a house in the town of Amity, Maine, on the Canadian border. A man, his friend, the man’s 10-year-old son. The man in question said by his ex to be a dealer in prescription drugs, Oxycontin being a popular pastime in that particular neck of the woods. So a buyer in a town of 200 decides to rob the dealer? All the witnesses have to go? A young boy?

Life is good. And sometimes it’s not good at all. Wrong place, wrong time.

I’m writing, talking. Events coming up include the Sixth Annual Maine Summer Book Fair, now called Books in Boothbay. July 10, in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Come by. We’ll chat.

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June 23rd, 2010

One to retweet

When DEADLINE was published there were newspaper reviews. Now there are online reviews. To which do you give more weight?

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June 22nd, 2010

Honors Project

This week it’s Barrington, New Hampshire Public Library, Thursday, June 24, 6:30 p.m. I’ll be talking about Brandon Blake, my relatively newfound friend, and PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN. Of course, Jack McMorrow and DAMAGED GOODS will creep into the conversation. I’m looking forward to it; very good people down there. Hope you can join us.

Meanwhile, in in Canaan, Maine in southern Somerset County, a flash from the past.

They call it The Slaughterhouse, because it once was a meatpacking plant. But the concrete building in the woods now is a Hell’s Angels clubhouse, a place to get away from the big city and kick back. I wrote about the place and its small-town setting years ago in my newspaper column. This month it’s back in the news with the arrest of one and killing of another in connection with an attempted murder at the clubhouse gates last year.

According to the ATF, who sent someone in undercover, the Outlaws Motorcycle Club was exacting revenge for an assault on two of their guys by Hells Angels in Connecticut. The Angels put the Outlaws in the hospital and, worse than that, stole their colors. This is an act that cannot go unavenged. So, the cops say, two Outlaws sat on the gate of the Angels’ Maine hideaway and, when an Angel pulled up in his truck, opened fire. The Angel lived, barely, and the events that led to the death of Thomas Mayne in Old Orchard Beach were set in motion. ATF says Mayne opened fire when they went to arrest him. Agents were wearing body armor; Mayne was not. End of story.

Oh, but it won’t be. As in Afghanistan and Iraq and other cultures where the tribe is first and foremost and honor is more important than life, the chain of violence will see more links added. Dave Hench, crime reporter for the Portland Press Herald, wrote a good story about the structure of the Outlaws, based on the federal indictment. Interesting that these clubs, supposed to be the world of crazy bikers, are in reality strictly structured with lots of rules that members adhere to like it’s a matter of life or death.

Which it is, sometimes.

Until next time, another tale from my neck of the woods, “Maine, the Way Life Should Be.”

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June 14th, 2010

Under the Influence

This Saturday, June 19, 11 a.m to 1 p.m., Mr. Paperback, Waterville, Maine. Father’s Day signing. DAMAGED GOODS for your dad. And also ….

Dave at Kingdom Books in Vermont asked if I’d write a bit about my influences, some favorite mysteries. So I swiveled my chair, reached for the shelf. Books I really like—they get to stay in the study. Others are vanquished to bookshelves elsewhere in this rambling old house.

So what did I come up with? It’s an eclectic mix:

The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. First published in 1968 by the husband-wife team from Sweden. Their Martin Beck mysteries are solid police procedurals. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
Just a Corpse at Twilight by Janwillem van de Wetering. The Zen master of mysteries, van de Wetering wrote mysteries set in Amsterdam. They have a dreamy quality to them that I find beguiling. A brilliant guy, van de Wetering lived all around the world before settling on the Maine coast. He died in 2008.
Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. Enough said. I turn to these from time to time to witness wonderful writing. Every page has a sentence you feel you should remember. This one, picked because that’s where the book fell open. “He lay smeared on the ground, on his back, at the base of a bush, in that bag-of-clothes position that always means the same thing.” Nice
God Save the Child by Robert B. Parker. Chandler’s only true heir. I read the last Spenser, then reread some of this one, his second, published in 1974. I like the early books best. Parker was a gifted writer, known for his dialogue, but his descriptive stuff, which fell away over the years, was very good.
Blitz by Ken Bruen. The UK’s master of dark and gritty crime novels set in South London and Galway. Inspector Brant, his amoral London detective, is a masterful creation.
The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald. I’ve read everything MacDonald wrote and have a collection of his Travis McGee paperbacks with their quaintly lurid covers. A great storyteller, skilled at narrative, powerfully descriptive. “She was a tall and slender woman, possibly in her early thirties. Her skin had the extraordinary fineness of grain, and the translucence you seen in small children and fashion models. In her fine long hands, delicacy of wrists, floating texture of dark hair, and in the mobility of the long narrow sensitive structuring of her face there was the look of something almost too well made, too highly bred, too finely drawn for all the natural crudities of human existence.” Is that good or what?

So these are a few of the influences. Reading the work of writers like these, and spending more than a decade as a newspaper reporter, landed me in this chair. Today I continue with PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE (working title), the second Brandon Blake mystery. I’m pondering a character whose biggest flaw is a highly developed sense of right and wrong. Could that flaw be fatal?

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June 6th, 2010

Driving rain but still a good morning to take the boat out on the lake. Two loons drifted in the cove. Otherwise deserted. Sometimes it’s good to be alone out there.

Reminds me a story one of the old-timers in my town told me. Bill used to lobster and crab on the mid-coast before he was called away from Maine by World War II. One day he stopped me at the Post Office, settled in for a chat. I told him we’d been down to East Penobscot Bay, stopped at Butter Island. Bill knew Butter Island and every ledge from Deer Isle to Owls Head. He leaned close and said,

“They talk about fog but you know what’s worse than fog?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Fog at night?’

“Fog never bothered me,” Bill said. “Only thing bothered me is snow.”

“Snow,” I said.

“Because in the snow you can’t hear a thing. Bells, waves breaking on a ledge. You can hear in the fog. Fog is nothin’.”

So that’s today’s news from my neck of the woods. Still making the rounds with DAMAGED GOODS (schedule of stops on events page). Some readers have been good enough to let me know how much they’ve enjoyed it. If you have, please pass the word along. I can talk about books, Down East Books can do its publicity thing. But nothing gets the word out like the recommendation of a trusted friend.

Working away at Brandon Blake No. 2., working title, PORT CITY BLACK AND WHITE. (reference to Brandon’s world view in which there is right and there is wrong and never the twain shall meet.)

Drop a line if you have a moment. Always good to hear from you and I’ll add you to the list for news and updates.

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May 31st, 2010

On Memorial Day, a reminder

A show on the History Channel about a World War II naval battle: two U.S. destroyer escorts vs. Japanese cruisers in Leyte Gulf. The destroyers happened upon a much larger Japanese battle group, took them on to keep them from overtaking American troop transports. The DEs were sunk, some sailors survived. Their bravery saved the transports from certain destruction.

A very good chance they saved my father’s life as he was aboard one of those transports. The U.S. sailor interviewed was an old man, as they all are now from that era. I gave him silent thanks.

The Eagle has Landed: In the tree above my head. This was at the lake this morning. First a cawing, then a crow flying in, then another and another. Right above me, a bald eagle sat high in an oak tree, the crows darting around him or her. The eagle was huge, unflappable. Until it flapped once and glided down and away. Is that where the word comes from?

Sight of the week: a merganser with a dozen babies, skittering away from a loon, just popped to the surface. Babies ran along the surface like skipping stones.

Truth is stranger … Topless Donut Shop, Vassalboro, Maine. In an office trailer since the old place was torched. Local conservatives suspected; turned out to allegedly be a guy whose ex was working there against his wishes. Isn’t it always the way? In the trailer, the donut shop is diversifying. Sign in window advertising, “Worms and Crawlers.”

Next weekend, signing books at my alma mater, Colby College, Sat, June 5, 3:30 p.m. Here’s a graphic by a Colby student, Dash Wasserman. More appearances on the list. Hope to see you along the way.

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May 24th, 2010

On DEADLINE and Damariscotta, Maine

In the course of my stops on the summer 2010 DAMAGED GOODS Tour, I’ve run into some people who haven’t read McMorrow and are hesitant to plunge into the ninth book in the series. I explain that the books are written to stand alone, that I think it would be sort of presumptuous for me to predicate books on what went on before. For that reason, I hesitate to bring back characters from the past.

But for those of you who want to start at the beginning, here’s a deal. Send us $25 (gerryboyle.com, Box 6293, China Village, ME 04926), and we’ll send you a signed and personalized hardcover edition of DEADLINE, the first McMorrow novel. Such a deal!

Seriously, I’d like those of you who want to meet McMorrow as he was introduced in 1993 to do so. DEADLINE was McMorrow in the western Maine town of Androscoggin, alone and in danger, trying to navigate a labyrinth of murky relationships. And survive. Which he did. But you know that.

This week’s stop is Skidompha Library in lovely Damariscotta, Maine, 10-12 a.m., Thursday may 27. The event is sponsored by Maine Coast Bookshop. The store is worth a visit and the library is award-winning and very cool. I’ll be talking about DAMAGED GOODS, McMorrow, writing. Stop by if you can.

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May 18th, 2010

Another nod to Robert B. Parker, and off to Portsmouth

The comparisons first came years ago and continue to come. I’m flattered and not a little pleased. Robert B. Parker was arguably the best at what he did so well for so long. This, from Publishers Weekly, May 17, says DAMAGED GOODS, evokes some of Spenser. Fast company, indeed.

“Robert Parker fans who have yet to discover Boyle will be pleasantly surprised by his suspenseful ninth crime novel set in Maine featuring former New York Times reporter Jack McMorrow. … Boyle has succeeded in creating a likable lead whose sense of responsibility is reminiscent of Spenser as well as supporting characters with depth.”

I wrote about Bob Parker and his early and generous assistance in an earlier post. Scroll down.

Next stop is RiverRun Books in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Thursday, May 20, at 7 p.m. It’s my birthday. Come by and help blow out the candles. Or at least say hi and stay a bit for a chat.

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May 12th, 2010

Three days, three views of Damaged Goods

Stories by an old friend and new ones. I met Bob Keyes from the Maine Sunday Telegram at Arabica coffee shop in Portland. Dan Harrington from the Capitol Weekly and I met at the Chin-ah Dinah in my home town. And Abbie Curtis of the Bangor Daily News and I had a great chat at a coffee shop in Belfast. Her story was interesting.

Dan does a series on Maine icons. I’m not one, but I am absolutely thrilled to be lumped in with Maine legendary boxer Joey Gamache. I mean, is that cool or what? Check it out.

Bob covers the arts for the Portland newspapers. He’s a rock solid reporter and a good guy. Here’s his Q&A.

Abby covers Knox County, Maine. The whole thing. She’s a gamer. Talking with her encouraged me about the future of the newspaper biz.

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May 12th, 2010

Farfetched? I don’t think so

In Belfast, Maine (where I’ll be signing DAMAGED GOODS on Friday, 1-3, Mr. Paperback), a reviewer for one of the local papers noted the resemblance between fictional Galway, Maine, and the real Maine mid-coast city named for a city in Northern Ireland. And yes, DAMAGED GOODS does take place in a place that is physically modeled on Belfast, Maine.

But I’ve populated my fictional version with fictional characters, from Jack and Roxanne, to the prostitute who opens up shop on Main Street, to the backwoods Satanist who targets Roxanne, Jack, and their daughter Sophie. The reviewer liked the story but put in one of those smiley things at the notion of a Satanist living in our midst. Those writers and their imaginations!

Is there really a Satanist in the woods around Belfast, Maine. I don’t know. I do know that a white supremacist group was handing out literature just upriver in Bucksport just this week. Good story about it in the Bangor Daily News.

Maybe DAMAGED GOODS isn’t that far off.

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