Shadows on the Coast of Maine: An Antique Print Mystery [Paperback]

Lea Wait (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 28, 2007

Maine. Antiques. August. That's all Maggie Summer requires for a guaranteed fun getaway. But there is an unexplained urgency behind the invitation from her former college roommate, Amy Douglas. The eighteenth-century house Amy and her husband Drew are restoring in tiny Madoc, Maine, is perfect -- or it will be, once Maggie supplies just the right antique prints. But Amy's type A personality is bordering on hysteria: could her desperation to get pregnant explain the sound of the crying infant that haunts her nights? Perhaps the hostile neighbors -- resentful of transplanted New Yorkers Amy and Drew -- have Amy on edge. But when the body of a missing teenaged girl turns up on their land, Maggie knows the threat is authentic. Now everyone, even Maggie's antiques-hunter friend Will Brewer, is cast in a suspicious light -- as she scratches beneath the surface of small-town New England life, and blows the dust off secrets hidden inside a grand Maine home for generations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

More loosely plotted and reliant on coincidence than its predecessor, Wait's second mystery featuring widowed antique-print dealer Maggie Summer falters after the promise of last year's Shadows at the Fair. An old college roommate, Amy, has invited Maggie to the coastal town of Waymouth, Maine, where she and her husband, Drew Douglas, have bought an 18th-century house. Ghosts, late-night telephone calls, a baby's cries and a fire have made living in the historic home a bit of a trial, while the locals have plenty of scandalous tales to tell about its former occupants. Solid and reliable Will Brewer, the dealer in antique fireplace tools who attracted Maggie in Shadows at the Fair, joins her in Waymouth, where by chance his family used to reside in the Douglases' house. A hidden treasure, a young woman's murder and an attempted murder put Maggie on the sleuthing trail, but the real interest here lies in the wealth of antiques data. When, however, Maggie suggests that the word "sharpshooter" derives from the Sharps rifle used by Union troops during the Civil War, one has to wonder whether Maggie or the author is misleading the reader, since the term dates back to the Napoleonic era. For all its contrivances, this sophomore effort should still appeal to many cozy fans, while the simple vocabulary makes it accessible to young adults.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Although the characterization tends to the sketchy and the plot is a little wobbly in this second Shadows novel, there's tremendous charm, too, especially in the Maine location and the eighteenth-century house that is central to the story. Maggie Summer deals in prints, and she is also a professor of history. Her old college buddy, Amy, and her husband recently bought a 200-year-old house on the Maine coast. Amy is spooked by strange noises and the amount of work the old house needs; Maggie is amazed at the interconnections among Amy's neighbors to the house and to each other. Even Maggie's current swain, antique tool dealer Will Brewer, is distantly related to the original owners. When a local teenager who has been working with Amy to get the house in order is murdered, everyone is suspect. Each chapter starts with a description of a print from Maggie's stock, and these dovetail elegantly with plot developments and not a few historical family secrets. A fast and engaging read. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (November 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416587713
• ISBN-13: 978-1416587712
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,612,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing fiction (traditional mysteries for grownups, and historical fiction set in Maine for young people) since I left corporate America in 1998 and moved to Maine, a state I've always loved. Right now I'm working on a contemporary mystery for my young fans. I earned my B.A. at Chatham College and did graduate work at New York University. I've also owned an antique print business, MAH Antiques, since 1976. I adopted my 4 wonderful daughters when I was a single parent. They're grown now, and I have eight perfect grandchildren. (Aren't all grandchildren perfect?) In 2003 I married Bob Thomas, a man I've known and loved since 1968 .. sometimes life moves in slow but steady ways. Bob is not only a photographer and a partner in my antiques business, but is immensely supportive of my writing. (He even does all the errands and cooking so I have no excuses to leave my desk!) I'm very lucky to have achieved so many of my goals in life, and to have had fun doing it. My favorite quotation is "Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved." William Jennings Bryan wrote that, but I think it defines my life. For more information about me, check my website, http://www.leawait.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed reading this book but the plotting isn't great, August 31, 2004

By 

M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shadows on the Coast of Maine: An Antique Print Mystery (Antique Print Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

It almost doesn't matter -- who cares about the plotting when you have the coast of Maine in August in a fabulous old house that's being rehabbed and some antiquing to boot? To be honest, I can hardly remember the plot -- oh yes, some woman is killed and while everything else is going on, the police are investigating the murder (which occurs on the grounds of the fabulous old house and connects to the house). Our antiquing amateur sleuth only gets involved towards the end, of course managing to solve a case that the police couldn't crack. There's a drawing room confrontation with the accused at a gathering of all the suspects -- the sleuth has invited the police to attend as she unmasks the killer.

Yeah, the plot is hokey, but I really enjoyed the book anyway -- it's a lot cheaper than an actual trip to Maine in August and you can really imagine yourself there. I intend to read more books by this author.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent amateur sleuth mystery, August 5, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadows on the Coast of Maine : An Antique Print Mystery (Hardcover)

When Maggie Summer's old college roommate and close friend begs her to come visit her in her new home in Madoc, Maine, she drops everything to see Amy Douglas. Her husband and Amy left their high powered jobs in New York City and bought an old Colonial home built in 1774, which they intend to restore to it's former glory.

The move hasn't worked well for the Douglas' as Amy tells Maggie the moment she enters the home. Sounds of a baby crying disturb their sleep as do phone calls with nobody at the other end. A fire breaks out in a room where nothing is combustible and shingles fall off the roof even when the roofer has fixed them. Matters take a more serious turn when Amy's part-time helper is murdered and her husband gets into a car accident because the brake line is cut. As Maggie starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together, she realizes that there are two separate groups at work with different aims and only one of them intended actual harm.

SHADOWS ON THE COAST OF MAINE is a picturesque amateur sleuth mystery that is perfect beach or pool reading material. Readers are treated to life in a small Maine village in which the same families have lived near each other for generations and an outsider is considered anyone whose gene pool hasn't resided there for over a century. Lea Wait has written a complex, multi-layered who done it that is fun to read and difficult to solve, leading to readers waiting anxiously for the author's next novel.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars shadowy, June 18, 2005

By 

Linda Pagliuco "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Shadows on the Coast of Maine: An Antique Print Mystery (Antique Print Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

The title of this book was well-chosen. Qualifying as a "cozy" mystery, Shadows provides a slow-moving tale of ghosts, accidents, and murder with the potential to become more intriguing than it actually is. The residents of this small town in Maine are depicted as dour and unwelcoming, resentful of outlanders and bound by centuries of inbreeding and tradition. The unwitting city folk who have the audacity to buy a 250-year-old, dilapidated house are almost immediately subjected to anonymous intimidation. Nearly everyone, however, comes across as somewhat wooden, hard for the reader to care much about. And mystery becomes solvable only halfway through the book. Shadows on the Coast of Maine is a quick, effortless read that provides entertainment but not much more.