Books at Boothbay Festival 2016

Saturday was a terrific time up in Maine, when I took part in the yearly Books at Boothbay Festival- apart from being a really good book event, it was also a fundraiser!
Many thanks to Sharon Pulkkinen and author Jen Blood for making the arrangements for us all.
Also thanks to the good folks from Sherman's Books for handling all book sales.
And to the staff for setting up and taking down the event, and the generous folks who provided hard-working authors with a tasty lunch!

Took place at the Boothbay Railway Village, a fun spot to visit.

We set up with a lot of authors of all different book types, and didn't know what kind of crowd to expect on a rainy day. And we were competing with the world-famous Moxie Festival, only a few miles down the road. (Any Moxie fans out there?)

Not to worry, as we had a steady stream of browsers and buyers for the four hours we were open.

Luckily we were indoors- and away from the "murder scene," which was a fun scenario cooked up to get people involved. Since we had a number of the Maine Crime Writers and the Sisters in Crime taking part, we were suspects in a mock crime. Folks could go next door, find clues, query the suspects, and try to solve the mystery. The winner got a huge basket of books as a prize. The enthusiasm for the mystery was infectious, as folks from young to old asked us about our alibis, trying to get us to give a clue, or maybe even confess.

 

Here's Kate Flora with the subject of her book A Good Man With a Dog, Roger Guay.

Jessie Crockett, in red, with Barbara Ross, and the recent books poster of the Maine Crime Writers.

 

Authors Bruce Robert Coffin and Edith Maxwell. 

 And Bruce again (with his head not cut off) with Jen Blood. I'm going to be on a panel with these two at Crime Bake, with Kate Flora as moderator. We'll see if we can flummox Bruce, whose debut novel, Among The Shadows, will be out this September. And he'll be a guest interviewee on this blog around then, so check back to find out more about him and his newly-released book. Teaser- he was in law enforcement for over 27 years, serving in Portland, Maine. Think he's got some stories to tell?

 Here's Maureen Milliken, another member of both the Maine Crime Writers and Sisters in Crime.

And Lea Walt, another author in both groups.

 Here's the lineup along the wall.

I had the spot in the corner, next to Jeannette de Beauvoir, and thought of charging a toll to use the restroom, located behind us. When I mentioned that people had to buy a book to get in, they looked surprised for a moment, before realizing it was all in fun.