Panelists & Moderators
Gerry Boyle is a crime novelist based in Maine. His signature character, freelance reporter Jack McMorrow, has led Boyle through a dozen novels since Deadline appeared in 1993. Boyle is also the author of the Brandon Blake series, the third of which, Port City Crossfire, has just been published.
www.gerryboyle.com
Brenda Buchanan brings years of experience as a journalist and a lawyer to her crime fiction. She has published three books featuring Joe Gale, a newspaper reporter who covers the crime and courts beat, and is now hard at work on new projects. www.brendabuchananwrites.com
Richard Cass writes the Elder Darrow jazz mysteries, including In Solo Time, which won the 2018 Maine Literary Award in Crime Fiction. His short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Playboy, Gray’s Sporting Journal, ZZYZVA, and Best Short Stories of the American West, as well as other periodicals and anthologies.
www.rjcassbooks.com
Bruce Robert Coffin is the bestselling author of the Detective Byron mysteries. A former detective sergeant with over twenty-seven years in law enforcement, he supervised all homicide and violent crime investigations for Maine’s largest city. Following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, Bruce spent four years investigating counter-terrorism cases for FBI. www.brucerobertcoffin.com
Kaitlyn Dunnett is a pseudonym for Kathy Lynn Emerson. Kaitlyn writes the Liss MacCrimmon series, set in the fictional village of Moosetookalook, Maine and the Deadly Edits Mysteries featuring retired teacher turned book doctor Mikki Lincoln. Kathy’s sixtieth traditionally published book, Clause & Effect, will be in stores June 25.
www.KaitlynDunnett.com
Jessica Ellicott lives in N.H. where she knits wool socks and enthusiastically speaks Portuguese with a shocking disregard for the rules of grammar. As Jessie Crockett she writes the Sugar Grove and Granite State mysteries. She writes the Change of Fortune series as Jessica Estevao.
jessicaellicott.com
A finalist for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer, Kate Flora writes short stories, strong women and police procedural fiction, and true crime, memoir, and nonfiction. Her latest works are Schooled in Death, A Child Shall Lead Them, and Careful what You Wish For, a short story collection.
www.kateclarkflora.com
New York Times-bestselling suspense novelist Lisa Gardner started her career waitressing, but after catching her hair on fire, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. Now published across 30 countries, with 4 TV movies and an award for best thriller of the year, The Neighbor, she’s happy she did!
www.LisaGardner.com
Trained as a medical doctor, Tess Gerritsen built a second career as a thriller writer. Her 28 novels include the Rizzoli and Isles crime series, on which the TV show “Rizzoli & Isles” is based. She lives in Maine.
www.tessgerritsen.com
Vaughn C. Hardacker’s novels, Sniper, The Fisherman, and Wendigo were finalists in the Crime Fiction category of the 2015, 2016, and 2018 Maine Literary Awards. His fifth novel, My Brother’s Keeper, is scheduled for a July 2019 release.
www.vaughnhardacker.com
James Hayman is the New York Times-bestselling author of six McCabe/Savage suspense thrillers. After a long career as an advertising creative director, his first novel, The Cutting, was published in 2009 and translated into seven languages. His most recent, A Fatal Obsession, was published by Harper Collins in 2018.
www.jameshaymanthrillers.com
Chris Holm is the author of the cross-genre Collector trilogy and the Michael Hendricks thrillers. His work has appeared on dozens of year’s best lists, been named a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and won several awards, including the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Novel. Chris lives in Portland, Maine.
www.chrisholmbooks.com
Katrina Niidas Holm is a freelance writer and book reviewer who regularly contributes to Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Mystery Scene Magazine. She also did time with The Life Sentence as an editor and social media maven. She lives in Portland, Maine with her husband, writer Chris Holm.
New York Times-bestselling author Gayle Lynds is the award-winning author of 10 novels, including The Assassins and The Book of Spies. Library Journal hails her as the reigning queen of espionage fiction. With David Morrell she cofounded ITW and ThrillerFest. www.GayleLynds.com and www.RogueWomenWriters.com
Katherine Hall Page writes an award-winning series featuring amateur sleuth Faith Fairchild—the 25th is The Body in the Wake (Morrow May 2019). She is the recipient of Malice Domestic’s Lifetime Achievement Award and has spent summers on Deer Isle since 1958, happily stretching it out into the fall now.
www.katherine-hall-page.org
Barbara Ross is the author of seven Maine Clambake Mysteries. The latest, Steamed Open, was released in December 2018. Barbara’s novellas are included along with stories by Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis in Eggnog Murder and Yule Log Murder. A new book, Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody, releases in June 2019.
maineclambakemysteries.com
Meg Ruley joined the Jane Rotrosen Agency in 1981. She is a business partner to and advocate for established bestselling authors as well as emerging writers. Her focus is commercial fiction, writers with distinctive voices in suspense, thrillers, mysteries, crime fiction, historical novels and historical suspense, romance, and women’s fiction.
www.janerotrosen.com/agents
Frank O Smith is novelist, ghostwriter, and journalist. His novel Dream Singer was a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize, and named Notable Book of the Year in Literary Fiction by Shelf Unbound, the international review magazine. He’s written magazine features on life in a Trappist monastery and riding the rails across America.
www.frankosmithstories.com
New York Times-bestselling novelist Julia Spencer-Fleming took up writing while still a stay-at-home mother, creating Clare Fergusson, first female priest in the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill. Her series has won or been nominated for every American mystery award available, including the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Agatha.
www.juliaspencerfleming.com
Peter Swanson is the author of five thrillers, including his most recent, Before She Knew Him. He currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with his wife and cat.
www.peter-swanson.com
Lisa Erbach Vance joined the Aaron Priest Literary Agency in 1993 and began representing her own clients shortly thereafter. Her clients include Harlan Coben, Gregg Hurwitz, Gayle Lynds, Glen Erik Hamilton, B.J. Daniels, Aaron and Charlotte Elkins, Anthony Franze, G.M. Ford, Amanda Stevens, the estate of Madeleine L’Engle, and more.
www.aaronpriest.com
When Lea Wait was single she was an adoption advocate and adopted four daughters. Now she writes three mystery series as well as historical novels set in Maine about people searching for love, acceptance, and a place to call home.
www.leawait.com