ABOUT THE BOOKSTHE JACK MCMORROW MYSTERIESBRANDON BLAKE: A CRIME NOVEL

May 4th, 2010

Not the New York Times

Two things to report this morning:

One, I’ll be at Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine this Thursday (May 6) at 7 p.m. to chat and sign DAMAGED GOODS. Longfellow is a “fiercely independent” bookstore, the kind that every town and city should have. It’s a shop run by and for book lovers. I’m looking forward to it and hope to see some of you there.

Two, I’m a dedicated obituary reader. I read about the “notable”  people in the NY Times. I read about the quiet accomplishments of the people in my local paper here in central Maine, the Morning Sentinel. Today’s Sentinel had a small gem. His name was Harry E. Carter, and he lived in Moscow, Maine, up in Somerset County. If you’ve driven up to Quebec, you’ve been through Moscow.

Anyway, Mr. Carter worked for paper companies, mostly, the biggest landowners in his parts. He retired at 62, and for the next 22 years, his obituary said, “continued to work from home as an inventor, builder, metal worker, mechanic, carpenter, and welder. A more clever man would be hard to find.

There was other news in my paper this morning: a guy stabbing another guy after being chased by a mob from a local bar. Some other items reflecting general mayhem.

Mr. Carter’s obituary offered some reassurance. It told me that  I live in a part of the world where his  sort of cleverness is valued, and would be offered as a last testament as to the kind of person he was. Good for him.

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