Brenda Buchanan

I am pleased and excited to pull back the curtain on the stunning cover for the second book in my Joe Gale Mystery Series, Cover Story.

Heeeeeere it is:

Here’s a sneak preview of the plot:

Maine newspaper reporter Joe Gale is at his best when covering the crime beat for the Portland Daily Chronicle. In the dead of winter Joe heads Downeast to cover the murder trial of fisherman Danny Boothby, charged with burying a filleting knife in the chest of politically well-connected social worker Frank O’Rourke.
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Chris Holm, Katrina Niidas Holm, me, Ken Cohen and Kate Flora

On Friday May 15, the launch of Quick Pivot was celebrated with a party at Rí Rá, an Irish pub on the Portland waterfront.  We had a rollicking time sending my debut novel down the ways. 

Many family members were in attendance, as were writer friends, lawyer friends, island friends, mainland friends and a few people who fit multiple categories. It was gratifying (and fun!) to hear from those who already have downloaded and read Quick Pivot.

The members of my former writing group, who were so helpful when the book was first being outlined: Richard Bilodeau, James Hayman, me and Jane Sloven.

Over the course of the evening a considerable amount of beer was consumed, and everyone seemed to have a heck of a convivial time.

Despite the challenging lighting conditions inside the pub, here are a few photos of some of those who’ve been stalwart and generous supporters of me and my work.  
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I was transported last night back to the Central Massachusetts paper mill town where I was raised. It was the early 1970s and the community was in the middle of a long strike. My parents didn’t work in the mills but that didn’t matter. With the millworkers on strike pay, every small business in town felt the pinch. As a young teenager, I was just old enough to understand what it meant to live in a mill town.

Maine’s brilliant Monica Wood has the ability to help people who did not grow up in places like her hometown of Mexico—located across the mighty Androscoggin from the Oxford Paper Company’s Rumford mill—understand.

Last night, when her play Papermaker premiered at Portland Stage Company, I was fortunate to have a seat in the packed theater. Because not many plays are written about the lives of people who work in mills, a number of proud papermakers were in the audience. I spoke briefly with one after the standing ovation finally ebbed. We both had tears in our eyes.
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