Panelists & Moderators
Top row, left to right: Steve Almond, Frankie Bailey, Bruce Coffin, Caitlin Wahrer, Ron Currie, Kathy Lynn Emerson
2nd row, L-R: Paul Doiron, Matt Cost, Kate Flora, Gillian French, Katherine Hall Page, Edwin Hill
3rd row, L-R: Kathryn Miles, Chris Holm, Guy Nicolucci, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Gabriel Valjan, James Ziskin
Bottom row, 2022 Maine Crime Wave Planning Committee, L-R: Brenda Buchanan, Richard Cass, Barbara Kelly, Barbara Ross, Gayle Lynds, Jule Selbo
Steve Almond is the author of a dozen books, including Candyfreak and Against Football, which were both on the New York Times Bestseller list for about four seconds. He’s the recipient of an NEA grant for 2022 and teaches at Harvard and Wesleyan. His work has been published in the Best American Short Stories, the Best American Mysteries, and the New York Times Magazine. After 30 years of writing terrible novels, he finally wrote one that doesn’t suck. All the Secrets of the World will be out in April. Anthony Doerr writes, “I devoured All the Secrets of the World in a couple of big, greedy bites. It is at once a media critique, a coming-of-age story, a meticulously plotted police procedural, an exploration of racial paranoia, and a haunting account of lust and longing on the fringes of what is allowable. Most of all, it’s a deeply compassionate book that shows how policies can trickle down into the lives of individuals and strip them of their humanity.” stevealmondjoy.org
Frankie Y. Bailey, PhD, is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice University at Albany (SUNY). She studies crime history, and crime and mass media/popular culture and material culture. She is the author of five mysteries featuring amateur sleuth Lizzie Stuart and two police procedurals novels featuring Albany police detective Hannah McCabe. Frankie is currently at work on a non-fiction book about four hundred years of dress and appearance in American crime and justice. She is also working on a historical thriller set in 1939 and her next mystery novel. frankieybailey.com
Bruce Robert Coffin is judging this year’s CrimeFlash Contest. He is the award-winning author of the bestselling Detective Byron mystery series. A former detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement, he supervised all homicide and violent crime investigations in Portland. Following September 11, Bruce spent four years investigating counter-terrorism cases for the FBI, earning the Director's Award, the highest award a non-agent can receive. Winner of Killer Nashville's Silver Falchion Awards for Best Procedural and Best Investigator, and the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction, Bruce was also a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. His short fiction appears in several anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2016. brucerobertcoffin.com
Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. Love in a Time of Hate is the third historical by Cost, and I am Cuba was published in 2020. Cost has also published the Mainely Mystery series including Mainely Power (a Read ME fiction book of the year), Mainely Fear, Mainely Money, and Mainely Angst. Cost also writes the Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Trap series with Wolfe Trap, Mind Trap, and Mouse Trap. Cosmic Trap will be released in December. Cost now lives in Brunswick, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. mattcost.net
Ron Currie is a screenwriter and novelist. He is the author of the novels Everything Matters! and Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles and the short story collection God is Dead, which was the winner of the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award. In 2009, he received the Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His books have been translated into fifteen languages. roncurrieauthor.com
Paul Doiron is the author of the Mike Bowditch series of crime novels, including The Poacher's Son, which won the the Barry Award and the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for an Edgar Award, an Anthony Award, a Macavity Award, and a Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and the Maine Literary Award for "Best Fiction of 2010." Two of Doiron’s subsequent novels won Maine Literary Awards. The ninth book in the series, Stay Hidden, was a USA Today Bestseller, and the twelfth, Dead by Dawn, was named a Best New Book by People Magazine and nominated for Barry Award. Doiron also helped found the Maine Crime Wave. pauldoiron.com
Kathy Lynn Emerson has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has independently published several others. She has written nonfiction, children's books, contemporary and historical romance, and both contemporary and historical mystery novels. Her most recent publications are in two series of cozy mysteries written as Kaitlyn Dunnett, the Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (A View to a Kilt) and the Deadly Edits Mysteries (Murder, She Edited), and I Kill People for a Living, a collection of essays written under her own name. kathylynnemerson.com
Gillian French’s debut novel, Grit (HarperTeen), was an Indie Next List pick, a Junior Library Guild Selection, an Edgar Award Finalist, a South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Finalist, and received both a Lupine Award and a Maine Literary Award. Her other novels include The Door to January (Islandport Press; Bram Stoker Award Finalist), The Lies They Tell (HarperTeen; International Thriller Award Finalist and Maine Literary Award Winner), The Missing Season (HarperTeen; Junior Library Guild Selection), and her upcoming novel for teens, Sugaring Off, which will be published in November. gillianfrench.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 A World of Deceit (A Joe Burgess Mystery, Book 7) and Death Comes Knocking (The Thea Kozak Mystery Series, Book 10). She is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake and the Maine Crime Wave. With two other crime writers, she started Level Best Books, where she worked as an editor and publisher for seven years. kateclarkflora.com
Edwin Hill is the Edgar- and Agatha-award nominated author of three novels in the Hester Thursby series: Little Comfort, The Missing Ones, and Watch Her. His latest novel is the standalone thriller The Secrets We Share. He was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts and earned his B.A. in American Studies from Wesleyan University and an MFA from Emerson College. He served as the vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martin's, a division of Macmillan Learning, for many years before turning to writing full time. He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and his favorite reviewer, their lab Edith Ann, who likes his first drafts enough to eat them. edwin-hill.com
Chris Holm is the author of the cross-genre Collector trilogy, the Michael Hendricks thrillers, and the standalone biological thriller Child Zero, published in May by Mulholland Books. Lee Child calls the book "Intense, propulsive, provocative—and shot through with the kind of been-there, done-that authenticity and expertise that makes it really scary... highly recommended." Holm’s work has been selected for the Best American Mystery Stories, named a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and won a number of awards, including the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Novel. He lives in Portland. chrisholmbooks.com
Kathryn Miles is an award-winning journalist and science writer. Her true crime book Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders will be published this May by Algonquin. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Saint Louis University and took both her Master of Arts and Doctorate in English from the University of Delaware. The long-time editor of Hawk & Handsaw, Miles served as professor of environmental studies and writing at Unity College from 2001-2015 and has since taught in several graduate schools and low residency-MFA programs including, most recently, at Green Mountain College, where she was also writer-in-residence. Miles is the author of four previous books: Adventures with Ari, All Standing, Superstorm, and Quakeland. Her essays and articles have appeared in publications including Audubon, Best American Essays, The Boston Globe, Down East, Ecotone, History, The New York Times, Outside, Pacific Standard, Politico, Popular Mechanics, and Time. She lives in Maine. kathrynmiles.net
Guy Nicolucci has had three crime/mystery feature screenplays aired by Lifetime Television, and a fourth is in production. He is an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer; credits include the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Late Night with Conan O’Brien and comedy specials. He’s taught at NYU, Columbia U’s Summer Arts and Loyola Marymount. M.F.A. in Screenwriting from the University of California, B.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Katherine Hall Page will be awarded this year's CrimeMaster Award. Katherine's first mystery, The Body in the Belfry, was the 1991 Agatha Award winner for Best First Mystery Novel. The fifteenth book in the series, The Body in the Snowdrift , won the 2006 Agatha Award for Best Mystery Novel. She also awarded the 2001 Agatha for Best Short Story and has been a nominee or finalist for an Edgar and multiple Agathas, Maine Literary Awards, and Mary Higgins Clark Awards. Katherine also received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from Malice Domestic. The Body in the Wake is her most recent book, and William Morrow will publish the 26th in Katherine’s Faith Fairchild series, The Body in the Web, in 2023. katherine-hall-page.org
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. Her most recent book, Hid from Our Eyes (Fergusson/Van Alstyne Mysteries, 9), was published by Minotaur in 2020. juliaspencerfleming.com
Gabriel Valjan is the author of the Roma Series, The Company Files, and the Shane Cleary Mysteries. He has been listed for the Fish Prize three times, shortlisted for the Bridport Prize once, and received an Honorable Mention for the Nero Wolfe Black Orchid Novella Contest. Gabriel has been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Silver Falchion Awards, and received the 2021 Macavity Award for Best Short Story. Gabriel is a member of the Historical Novel Society, ITW, MWA, and Sisters in Crime. gabrielvaljan.com
Caitlin Wahrer is a Maine girl through and through. She was born to two hippies who raised her in a small town in central-southern Maine without a single stoplight in it. Caitlin left the state for four years to study criminal justice and marriage and family studies at a college in Pennsylvania. She returned to Maine after graduation to attend law school and practice law. She and her husband live in southern Maine with their dog. Of her first book, Stephen King writes, “The Damage pulled me in from the first page with smart narration, characters I cared about, a hold-your-breath plot, and a terrific final twist.” caitlinwahrer.com
James Ziskin is the author of the Anthony and Macavity Award-winning Ellie Stone Mysteries. Turn to Stone won the Barry Award for Best Paperback Original and the Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery, and the Ellie Stone Mysteries have also been finalists for the Edgar and Lefty Awards. A linguist by training, he studied Romance languages and literature at the University of Pennsylvania. After completing his graduate degree, he worked in New York as a photo-news producer and writer, and then as Director of NYU’s Casa Italiana. He spent fifteen years in the Hollywood post production industry, running large international operations in the subtitling/localization and visual effects fields. His international experience includes two years working and studying in France, extensive time in Italy, and more than three years in India. jameswziskin.com
The 2022 Maine Crime Wave Planning Committee:
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. Buchanan also helped found the Maine Crime Wave. brendabuchananwrites.com
Richard Cass writes the Elder Darrow jazz mysteries, including In Solo Time, which won the 2018 Maine Literary Award in Crime Fiction. Mickey's Mayhem (Elder Darrow Mystery #6) was published in 2021. 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. rjcassbooks.com
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. GayleLynds.com
Barbara Ross is the author of the Maine Clambake Mysteries and the Jane Darrowfield Mysteries. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. Barbara’s Maine Clambake novellas are included along with stories by Leslie Meier and Lee Hollis in holiday anthologies from Kensington Publishing. Barbara and her husband live in Portland. barbararossauthor.com
Jule Selbo’s 10 DAYS: A Dee Rommel Mystery received a starred Kirkus review and a place on Kirkus’ 2021 best crime/mysteries from independent publishers. It’s been nominated for a Clue and a Foreword Review Award. Three years ago, she left Hollywood where she focused on screenwriting (film and tv, including work for Disney, Lucasfilm, HBO and more) to Portland to write novels. After three historical fiction novels, she focused on her favorite genre – the crime/mystery – and has just completed the second in her series: 9 DAYS, A Dee Rommel Mystery. juleselbo.com