Guest Poster...Lea Wait!

Welcome our guest poster, author Lea Wait!

 Lea Wait writes the Shadows Antique Mystery series, the Mainely Needlepoint series, and historical novels for ages eight and up set in nineteenth century Maine. She’s also written Living and Writing on the Coast of Maine, about the joys and frustrations of being an author in the Pine Tree State. She speaks frequently, in person and via Skype to book groups, libraries, schools, and other organization. For more information about Lea and her books, see http://www.leawait.com, and friend her on Facebook and Goodreads.

MY FAVORITE THINGS ….

            Ever picked up a book you’d never heard of and known you’d love it? I suspect most of us have. Without even thinking about it, we know what we love to read about. Maybe it’s romantic love. Or cats (hi, Rocco!) Or family dramas. Or serial killers. (Probably not all of the above in the same book.)

            I’m attracted to old houses, preferably large, and possibly deserted. Mysteries from the past that affect people today. Antiques. Small towns, where everyone thinks they know everyone else … but don’t know everyone’s secrets. And the coast of Maine, a place I’ve loved since I was a child, and where I’m now lucky enough to live now.

            And what would be more fun for a writer than to plot a book that included all their favorite things?

            So THREADS OF EVIDENCE, the second (after TWISTED THREADS) in the Mainely Needlepoint mystery series, includes all my favorites.

            A large Victorian “cottage” (as summer homes of the wealthy were, and sometimes still are, called in Maine) where a seventeen-year-old girl died suspiciously at a party in 1970. Her mother never believed the girl’s death was an accident, so for years she sat alone and tried to figure out what might have happened. And while she sat, she did needlepoint. Cushions of all sorts. And, most dramatically, a series of large panels picturing her home and the town of Haven Harbor, Maine.

            The house, named “Aurora,” has been deserted for years. Many people in Haven Harbor think it should be torn down. 

            Then, to everyone’s surprise, famous Hollywood actress Skye West and her handsome son buy the old estate, complete with broken windows, valuable and not-so-valuable old furnishings, and all that needlepoint. They ask Angie Curtis, head of Mainely Needlepoint, and fellow needlepointer and antiques dealer Sarah Byrne to appraise everything in the house, hold a sale to get rid of anything they don’t put in dumpsters … and restore those needlepoint panels.

            They soon learn Skye has a personal interest in the history of the old house. And when her glass is poisoned during the house sale, it’s clear someone in Haven Harbor doesn’t want her asking questions about what happened in 1970.

            Skye hires Angie to help her investigate and examine the past, and talk to everyone who was at that fatal party in 1970. And then the Mainely Needlepointers restoring the panels find they contain clues to the past.

            Love those old house mysteries!      

We've got a copy of THREADS OF EVIDENCE for one lucky commenter!  Leave a comment with your email address in the comments section below to enter!  Contest ends midnight, Aug. 20!