Left Bank Books Event – Tess Gerritsen, Thomas Ricks

How good is Tom Ricks’s debut fiction book Everyone Knows But You: A Tale of Murder on the Maine Coast? We’re going to let William Cohen, former Secretary of Defense and former senator from Maine say:  Maine, murder, methamphetamines, and a mystery wrapped up in an island culture as tight as a lobster trap. . . .Ricks gives us a story put together with the skill and finesse of a master watchmaker. This is a superb breakout novel, psychologically deep as Maine coastal waters.

Of course, we’re not surprised that a man who has twice (2000, 2002)  received the Pulitzer Prize for his writing, has published five NYT nonfiction bestsellers including Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq and Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom, and has reported on U.S. military activities from around the world has some decent writing chops.

Now, Tom applies his literary talents to a land he knows deeply from working in the Maine woods and trapping lobsters year-round in his youth. He’s spun a fast-paced story that takes place in the insular world of a Maine fishing village where the rules in that remote corner of America are “different.”

Joining Tom is a writer who knows a few things about crafting mysteries: NYT bestselling novelist Tess Gerritsen, who has written more than thirty books published in more than forty countries. Her series of police procedurals featuring Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles.” Last winter she published The Spy Coast, the first installment in a new espionage series that takes place in midcoast Maine. The second in the series, The Summer Guests, will be out next March.