Interview: Lea Wait, author of Thread and Gone

When a priceless antique is stolen, murder unravels the peaceful seaside town of Haven Harbor, Maine…

Angie Curtis and her fellow Mainely Needlepointers know how to enjoy their holidays. But nothing grabs their attention like tying up loose threads. So when Mary Clough drops in on the group’s Fourth of July supper with a question about antique needlepoint she’s discovered in her family Colonial-era home, Angie and her ravelers are happy to look into the matter.

Q: Aloha Lea, thanks for stopping by! Angie Curtis, of the Mainely Needlepointers, has some history. Tell us about her.
A: Angie Curtis, my protagonist, had a rough childhood in Haven Harbor, Maine. She never knew who her dad was, and her mom had lots of boyfriends. When Angie was ten her mother walked out … and never came back. Angie’s more conventional grandmother brought her up, but people in town expected Angie to take after her mother. She had a rocky adolescence, and headed west, as far away from Maine as she could get, after high school. In Mesa, Arizona, she got a job working for a private investigator, learned how to “follow and photo,” and bought a Glock. When she was twenty-seven her grandmother’s call, “Angie, it’s time to come home. They’ve found your mother,” brought her back to Haven Harbor, where she has to confront her memories, and possibly find her future.
Q: How much of you is in Angie? How would you feel about her if you met her in real life?
A: Although, like me, Angie loves the sea and the sea coast, she is younger than I am, braver, has less education, and is still figuring out who she is. She drinks a little too much, trusts too little, but is “street smart,” and a hard worker. I like her.
Q: Do your characters change and evolve throughout consecutive books in the series?
A: Some of my younger characters, especially Angie, change as the Mainely Needlepoint series progresses. But, even more important, all my characters have secrets and pasts, and in each book Angie (and my readers) will find out a little more about who they are. Few people are as they appear on the surface.
Q: You mention in your author bio that you left the corporate world a few years ago. Have you ever thought of going back to your old workplace and killing someone–on the pages of a murder mystery, I mean?
A: So far I have no desire to go back to the corporate world – fictionally or in person. But that doesn’t mean some of the people I knew there, and things I learned, won’t pop up in various books!
Q: How realistic is your setting? Do you take liberties, or are you true to life?
A: Haven Harbor is a fictional seaport, but it’s very realistic. It has a working waterfront, seafood restaurants, antique stores and art galleries, a bakery and a small police force. The postmaster and minister know everyone in town. In the summer the town is flooded with tourists. Mainers who live there year ‘round respect each other’s privacy (and secrets) and may work three or four different jobs during the year to support their families. People from away might describe Haven Harbor as “scenic” or “quaint.” But they don’t see what goes on in the rooms behind those wide porches and green-painted doors.
Q: When the movie or TV series is made, who plays the major parts?
A: That’s a tough one! I see Angie as a younger Angie Dickinson. Her Gram could be Helen Mirren or Angela Lansbury. As for the other characters … I think the readers should picture them.
Q: What’s the worst and best advice you’ve heard or received as an author?
A: Worst advice? “Write what you know.” I think it should be, “Start with what you know.” Research and imagination will take you the rest of the way. Best advice? Be productive. Keep reading. Keep writing. And know when it’s time to write “The End” and move on.

About The Author

About The Author –
Lea Wait lives on the coast of Maine. A fourth generation antique dealer, and author of the Agatha-nominated Shadows Antique Print mystery series, she loves all things antiques and Maine, and she’s learning to do needlepoint. She also writes historical novels for young people set in (where else?) nineteenth-century Maine. Lea adopted her four daughters when she was single; she’s now the grandmother of eight, and married to artist Bob Thomas.

Keep up with Lea