Another successful year!

That's it -- the doors have closed on yet another successful Books in Boothbay festival. Thanks to all of our authors and artists for attending and signing so many of their books! Thanks, too, to our sponsors, but most of all thanks to all of you for attending and making this another year to remember!

Stay turned for information on Books in Boothbay 2017!

Today's the day!

This is it! Books in Boothbay is here once again. Come on down to Boothbay Railway Village today to meet all of our incredible authors and artists. Buy some books, get your favorites signed, and participate in our first-ever mystery challenge!

Thanks to all of our attending authors, our sponsors, and most of all to you, the book-loving public!

Our complete list of authors for 2016!

Hey folks, we're just a few hours away from Books in Boothbay 2016! Join us tomorrow -- Saturday, July 9 -- for the most fun you can have outside of a bookstore.

Here's our complete author list -- and it's a great list, indeed. Peruse the rest of our website for author bios and more about the fun events happening at Boothbay Railway Village tomorrow.


Young readers
Sally Loughridge Busch
Dnn Fendler
Francine McEwen
Paige Pendleton
Lynn Plourde
Lea Wait
Barbara Winslow

Adult Fiction
Elizabeth Atkinson
Jen Blood
Brenda Bowen
Brenda Buchanan
Dorothy Cannell
Richard Shane Cohen
Jessie Crockett
Charlene D’Avanzo
Paul Doiron
Kate Flora
Stephanie Gayle
Mary Lawrence
Edith Maxwell
Maureen Milliken
Jim Nichols
Anne Britting Oleson
Dale T. Phillips
Morgan Callan Rogers
Barbara Ross
Lea Wait

Adult Nonfiction
Eleanor Phillips Brackbill
Kate Christensen
Jeannette de Beauvoir
Matthew Langdon Cost
Roger Guay
Jim Haskell
Jean Larkin
Tom Major
Sarah Sherman

Jeannette de Beauvoir

Jeannette de Beauvoir grew up in Angers, France, but has lived in the United States since her twenties. No, she's not going to say how long ago that was. She was never good at being told what to do, and that's probably why she started writing—so she could live in other worlds than the real one. It's fair to say she rebelled quite a lot... against her parents, her teachers, probably even herself. All prerequisites for the perfect writing career. She's written a lot of books (some of which you can see on Amazon, Goodreads, Criminal Element, or her websiteand teaches writing at the Cape Cod Writing Workshops.

Books in Boothbay to Feature ‘Murder at the Old Railway Chapel’

This year, Sisters in Crime New England is pleased to team up with Books in Boothbay for the first time, to present Murder in the Old Railway Chapel -- a murder mystery complete with staged crime scene and featuring some of the top mystery writers in New England, for the public to view and try their hand at solving. The event will take place at the twelfth annual Books in Boothbay event, held at Boothbay's historic Railway Village on Saturday, July 9. One attendee who correctly solves the mystery will be awarded a $50 gift certificate to Sherman's Books, which co-sponsors the event. 

The Murder in the Old Railway Chapel revolves around the unexpected death of a fictional mystery author invited to the event, one Eunice K. Stoneheart. When Eunice is found murdered in the old railway chapel the night before Books in Boothbay kicks off, tragically bludgeoned by a hardbound edition of Paul Doiron's most recent release, everyone is a suspect. The chief suspects, however, are Eunice's fellow mystery authors -- many of whom had a stake in her demise, from personal slights to professional jealousy to drastically differing political perspectives. 

Books in Boothbay attendees who wish to try and solve the crime will be given a fact sheet with background on Eunice K. Stoneheart and her relationship with fellow Books in Boothbay author participants. Attendees will have an opportunity to view the crime scene, question suspects, and then submit their solution to the whodunit for the drawing to be held at the end of the day. 

Sisters in Crime is an international organization with 48 chapters worldwide dedicated to the professional development and advancement of women crime writers. The New England chapter hosts events for mystery lovers at various locations throughout the year and offers networking, advice, and support to mystery writers. Membership includes both women and men, beginning writers and well-known authors, readers, librarians, and booksellers from the six New England states and beyond. Sisters in Crime New England board member Jen Blood, author of the Erin Solomon Mysteries, engineered the idea for the collaboration between Books in Boothbay and SinCNE, and has worked with the two organizations to coordinate the mystery, with the assistance of fellow mystery author and former Portland detective sergeant Bruce Coffin and Sharon Pulkkinen, who has coordinated Books in Boothbay since 2012. 

Books in Boothbay is a partnership benefiting both the Boothbay Railway Village and the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, co-sponsored by the Boothbay Harbor Restaurant Group (Boathouse Bistro, Cod’s Head BBQ and Mine Oyster). Admission to the book fair and literary activities including the murder mystery are free. Books in Boothbay will feature more than 30 authors and be open from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. For more information, including a list of participating authors, visit the event blog at www.booksinboothbay.blogspot.com

For those who would also like to visit the Museum exhibits and enjoy a steam train ride, admission can be purchased onsite for $12 adults, $10 seniors and $6 children. Museum members and children under 3 are free. The Museum will be open from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm with steam train departures on the hour between 11:00 – 4:00. The Boothbay Railway Village is located at 586 Wiscasset Road, Route 27 in Boothbay.  For more information about the Museum call 207-633-4727 or visit www.railwayvillage.org.

Morgan Callan Rogers

Morgan Callan Rogers based her books, Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea and Written on My Heart, on the dignity, grace, humor, and practical magic of her father's Yankee relatives. "I wanted to honor them. Unfortunately, I didn't know many of my father's Maine relatives very well as I was growing up, and they all passed away before I could. That saddened me, so I wanted to get to know them through the characters I created in my work. Fortunately, my characters understood what I was trying to do, and they brought out the Maine in themselves, beautifully." Morgan lives in West Bath, with her South Dakota mining town cat, Tula Mae.    

Come meet Morgan Callan Rogers and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Jean M. Larkin

Jean M Larkin is the author of three books. Among her works are children's book titled "That Cat Jagger" and family books "Hardscrabble & Castle Building" and"Us Kids". Jean is a resident of Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and  summer resident of Ocean Point, Maine.  Her education includes R.N. Leominster Hospital School of Nursing and a Bachelor of Science Degree from Leslie College. She is the mother of four children.  Her husband George died in 2007. 
 
Come meet Jean Larkin and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Maureen Milliken

Maureen Milliken, the author of the Bernie O’Dea mystery series, is a third-generation newspaper editor, whose books reflect her love of her home state, Maine, and also for her affection for journalism, as draws on her experience as a newspaper reporter and editor in northern New England.

Cold Hard News, her debut mystery novel, was released in June 2015 by S&H Publishing. The second in the series, No News is Bad News, was released in June 2016.

She is the city editor of the Morning Sentinel, Waterville, Maine’s daily newspaper, and has worked at newspapers in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in her three-decade career. She grew up in Augusta now lives in a small central Maine town, where she knows all is not as it seems.

Come meet Maureen Milliken and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Jen Blood

Jen Blood is a freelance writer, editor, and author of the bestselling Erin Solomon Mysteries and the soon-to-be released 5-Day Fiction guides. She is a blogger with Maine Crime Writers, a member at large with the nonprofit organization Sisters in Crime New England, and regularly speaks at writing conferences on issues relating to writing, publishing, and marketing for authors. Jen grew up in Midcoast Maine, and continues to derive inspiration from the rocky coastline and the eccentric characters who abound there. Her new mystery series featuring search and rescue dog handler Jamie Flint will be published this fall.


Embrace the mystery -- come meet Jen Blood and dozens of other Maine writers at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Elizabeth Atkinson

Elizabeth Atkinson’s quirky, heartfelt middle grade novels include From Alice to Zen (Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books),  I Emma Freke (starred School Library Journal review, Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books, gold Moonbeam Award, Honor Book Award by the Society of School Librarians International, the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award shortlist, Sunshine State Young Reader Award, and the Ado-Lisant prize in Belgium for the French Edition), The Sugar Mountain Snow Ball (2016 Maine Literary Finalist and awaiting 2017 Scandinavian release in Swedish, Finnish, and Norwegian) and her most recent, The Island of Beyond (Spring 2016). Raised in Harvard, Massachusetts, Elizabeth received her MA in Liberal Studies (with a concentration in Creative Writing) at Dartmouth College. She currently divides her time between Newburyport, Massachusetts and Center Lovell, Maine. Her favorite part of writing novels for children is visiting with (in person and virtually) schools, libraries, book clubs, and offering fun, interactive writing workshops to middle grade students. Please visit www.elizabethatkinson.com to learn more.

Come meet Elizabeth Atkinson and dozens of additional Maine writers at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Charlene D’Avanzo

Marine ecologist and award winning environmental educator Charlene D’Avanzo studied the New England coast for over thirty years. In 2015 she was awarded Mystery Writers of America’s McCloy award for new authors. Her Mara Tusconi Mystery series takes readers into the sunning beauty of Maine’s seawaters and grave threats facing them. An avid sea kayaker, D’Avanzo lives in Yarmouth, Maine.

Come meet Charlene D’Avanzo and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Mary Lawrence

Mary Lawrence lives in Limington and worked in the medical field for over twenty-five years before publishing her debut mystery,

The Alchemist’s Daughter (Kensington, 2015). The book was named by Suspense Magazine as a “Best Book of 2015”

in the historical mystery category and was an Amazon top selling historical mystery for two months. Her articles have appeared in several publications including Portland Monthly Magazine, and the national news blog, The Daily Beast.

Book 2 of the Bianca Goddard Mysteries, Death of an Alchemist, released in February, 2016. Visit her at www.marylawrencebooks.com

Come meet Mary Lawrence and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Barbara Winslow

Come meet Barbara Winslow, author of Dance on a Sealskin, at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Matthew Langdon Cost


Matthew Langdon Cost graduated with a B.A. in history from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Right after graduation he wrote a yet unpublished historical novel about the Cuban Revolution of 1953-1959. He has since published two mystery novels, Mainely Power and Mainely Fear. In 2007, after taking a two-week class on teaching biography in the classroom, Cost decided to return to historical fiction, choosing Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War as his topic.  Eight years later, his historical novel, Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War:  At Every Hazard, was published in April of 2015. The novel has been getting extremely good reviews from national publications such as KIRKUS REVIEW and the “Civil War News”. Cost was a business owner for ten years in Brunswick, Maine. His ventures included a video store, a fitness club, and a bookstore.  He was then a middle school social studies teacher for ten years, and has now dedicated himself to life as a writer.  


Come meet Matthew Langdon Cost and dozens of other Maine writers at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Paul Doiron

Paul Doiron is the author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels. His first book, The Poacher’s Son, won the Barry and the Strand Critics Award and was nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, a Macavity, and a Thriller Award. His second novel, Trespasser, received the Maine Literary Award. Paul’s sixth book, The Precipice, was an ABA bestseller. The seventh, Widowmaker, published on June 14, was a LibraryReads selection. His novels have been translated into ten languages. Paul is the former longtime Editor in Chief of Down East Magazine and a Registered Maine Guide. He lives on a trout stream in midcoast Maine.

Sally Loughridge

Sally Loughridge, PhD, is a professional artist, cancer survivor, and retired clinical child psychologist who believes strongly in the power of art in its many forms to foster understanding, connection, and healing. Daniel and His Starry Night Blanket is the tale of a young boy as he is impacted by his sister's cancer journey. A story of illness and sibling love, the book reflects Sally's deep empathy for those going through serious illness, whether as patient or family member, and her expertise as a child psychologist and visual artist.

Raised by creative, curious parents, Loughridge lives on the coast of Maine where she is inspired by the beauty and ruggedness of the landscape and the resourcefulness of her people. She exhibits her paintings in galleries and invitational shows. Using the mediums of oil and soft pastel, she tries to convey her emotional responses to the beauty and power of Maine and the ever-changing light which graces it.

Loughridge earned her BA from Smith College and her PhD from Cornell University. She is also the author of Rad Art: A Journey Through Radiation Treatment (Atlanta, GA: American Cancer Society 2012). The book presents the personal visual and written diary she kept over thirty-three consecutive days of radiation treatment after surgery. As a clinical psychologist, she co­authored three books for children going through significant family change: The Divorce Workbook, Changing Families, and My Kind of Family (Burlington, VT: Waterfront Books 1985, 1988, and 1990).

Jim Haskell

Jim Haskell got hooked on hiking while climbing mile-high Mount Katahdin in his native Maine when he was twelve. He hiked the Appalachian Trail between 1990 and 2010, and has now climbed most of New England’s 4,000-foot peaks. His goal is to climb all of the 4,000-footers in New England and New York by 2020 – his 60th year.

Jim was the executive director of Salem Harbor Community Development Corporation from 1994 to 2006. Since then, Jim has been a consultant to a number of non-profits on affordable housing projects. He holds a bachelor of arts from Boston University in history and a master in public administration from Suffolk University.  

In September of 2015, Two Tents, Jim’s memoir of his Appalachian Trail hikes, was published. Two Tents is his first book.

Anne Britting Oleson

Anne Britting Oleson is a writer and teacher who lives in the mountains of Central Maine with her family. She is a graduate of Bowdoin College, and USM's Stonecoast MFA program; she is a founding member of Simply Not Done, a women's reading, writing, and teaching collaborative. Her poetry chapbooks are The Church of St. Materiana (Moon Pie Press, 2007), The Beauty of It (Sheltering Pines Press, 2010), and Counting the Days (Pink Girl Ink, forthcoming). The Book of the Mandolin Player is her first published novel. 

Jessie Crockett

Jessica Estevao writes the Change of Fortune Mysteries. The first in the series, Whispers Beyond the Veil, will release in September 2016. She loves the beach, mysterious happenings and all things good-naturedly paranormal. While she lives for most of the year in New Hampshire with her dark and mysterious husband and exuberant children, she spends summers on the coast of Maine where she keeps an eye out for sea monsters and mermaids.

As Jessie Crockett she’s the author of the nationally bestselling Sugar Grove Mysteries and the Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Live Free or Die.

Kate Clark Flora

Attorney Kate Clark Flora’s fascination with people’s criminal tendencies began in the Maine attorney general’s office. Deadbeat dads, people who hurt their kids, and employers’ acts of discrimination aroused her curiosity about human behavior. Her true crime, Finding Amy, co-written with Portland, Maine Deputy Chief Joseph Loughlin, was an Edgar finalist. Death Dealer was an Anthony and Agatha finalist and won the Public Safety Writers Association 2015 award for nonfiction. The gritty police procedurals in her star-reviewed Joe Burgess series have twice won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. Her books also include seven Thea Kozak mysteries. Flora has also published 17 crime stories and was a Derringer finalist. Her latest work, as co-writer, is retired Maine game warden Roger Guay’s memoir of hunters, poachers, search and rescue, and cadaver dogs: A Good Man with a Dog: A Game Warden’s 25 years in the Maine Woods

Come meet Kate Clark Flora, Roger Guay and Roger's dog at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Brenda Bowen

Brenda Bowen was born in Philadelphia, grew up in England (from Herman's Hermits to Queen to the Clash), was graduated from Colby College, and has made her career in New York as a publisher and literary agent. She wrote Enchanted August in a summer cottage overlooking the Sheepscot River, in Boothbay, Maine.

Come meet Brenda Bowen and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Lea Wait

Edgecomb author Lea Wait writes the USA Today-bestselling Mainely Needlepoint series, based in a small harbor town similar to Boothbay Harbor, the most recent of which is THREAD AND GONE, which includes the story of the Marie Antoinette House In Edgecomb. She also writes the Shadows Antique Print mystery series, and historical novels for ages 7 and up set in nineteenth century Wiscasset, and a book of essays, LIVING AND WRITING ON THE COAST OF MAINE about her life with her husband, artist Bob Thomas.  Lea invites readers to check her website, www.leawait.com, for more information about her life and books, and to friend her on Facebook and Goodreads.

Come meet Lea and other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Murder at Books in Boothbay

This year's Books in Boothbay comes with an extra dose of mayhem. Read all about it here:

Murder at the Old Railway Chapel | Maine Crime Writers

Donn Fendler

Donn Fendler will always be known as “the little boy who was lost on Katahdin.”

In 1939, Donn, just twelve years old, was lost on Maine’s tallest mountain and in the surrounding wilderness for nine days. His survival story was news across the whole country and was shared with young readers in the classic book “Lost on a Mountain in Maine.” Donn’s story was retold in the 2011 graphic novel, “Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness,” co-authored with Lynn Plourde and illustrated by Ben Bishop. “Lost Trail” was both a Maine Student Book Award winner and Maine Literary Award winner. In July of 2016, it will be the 77th anniversary of Donn’s “Maine miracle.”

Come meet both Donn Fendler and Lynn Plourde at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Lynn Plourde

Lynn Plourde is the author of thirty children’s books including her newest You’re Doing THAT in the Talent Show?! as well as Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud, Wild Child, and Dino Pets. She has three more books coming out in 2016: Bella’s Fall Coat, Baby Bear’s NOT Hibernating, and her first middle grade novel, Maxi’s Secrets (or what you can learn from a dog). Her books have received a variety of recognitions including Junior Library Guild selection, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Los Angeles Times Best Children’s Book, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award, and Amelia Bloomer List. Plourde considers herself a “teaching author,” as she does numerous author visits to schools each year during which she teaches students how to write their own stories. Video read-alouds, learning activities, and a blog on teaching writing are available at her website.

Come meet Lynn and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Eleanor Phillips Brackbill

Eleanor Phillips Brackbill is the former director of education at the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, and author of An Uncommon Cape: Researching the Histories and Mysteries of a Property and essays for When Modern Was Contemporary: The Roy R. Neuberger Collection. She graduated from Antioch College, earned an MA in art history at Boston University, completed a curatorial fellowship in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program, and studied in the art history doctoral program at City University of New York. Following twenty-five years as an educator, she embarked on a second career writing about history. She lives with her husband near Portland, Maine, and is currently working on her next book, another story steeped in history.

Come meet Eleanor and dozens of other Maine authors at Books in Boothbay on July 9!

Jim Nichols

Books in Boothbay is one month from today!

To celebrate, we're running our first author bio today. Expect many more announcements in the days to come!

Jim Nichols won the 2016 Maine Writers and Publisher's Book Award for Closer All The Time. His novel Hull Creek was a finalist for the same award in 2012, and also won a silver medal IPPY. His short fiction took the Kurt Johnson Memorial Award in 2014, and in 2000 the Willamette Fiction Prize. He has published three books of fiction and stories in numerous magazines, including Esquire, Narrative, Change 7, december, Zoetrope ASE and Downeast. He is a lifelong Mainer who lives on the St. George River in Warren, with his wife Anne. 

Coming soon: Books in Boothbay 2016!


About this year's poster and event: At the 11th Annual Books In Boothbay in 2015, Paige Pendleton, children’s book author, wrote a short story to be used by illustrator Thomas Block for a children’s illustration workshop. She created a character, Reginald, who lived there at the Railway Village and the kids created their vision of Reggie. As we checked out the results it became apparent that Reggie needed his story told. At that point Paige and Thomas began to create REGINALD THE RAILWAY RAT. It was sent to a publisher by the folks at the Railway Village and early in 2016 the book was launched. It is being sold at the Railway Village.

It was a no-brainer that Reggie would be one of the stars of the 2016 Books In Boothbay. Paige and Thomas will be in attendance to sign the book and a scavenger hunt will be held for the kids to visit the locations in the Village that appear in the book.

For the older attendees, the Sisters In Crime, mystery authors, will be staging Murder At the Old Railway Chapel. A crime scene will be set up at the chapel next door to the author signings and participants can gather clues and make their guesses on ‘whodunit.’