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.














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.