Writing is often a chance to escape. But, if writing contemporary mysteries and thrillers, wouldn’t it be a crime to erase the world in which the characters are interacting? I do not get up on a soapbox and preach politics, religion, or social issues. But they do exist. If my goal is to bring the people of the pages to life, well then, these people must have beliefs and opinions. They do not live in a vacuum. The characters need to have passion, to love, to hate, and most of all, to live. My writing often reflects the issues of the Long Past or the Real Now. In Love in a Time of Hate , I take the reader back to Reconstruction New Orleans. Reconstruction always sounded like too humdrum of a title for an era that was defining, tumultuous, brutal, and chaotic. My novel focuses on the fight for social and economic equality that took place at that time and that place. The book is raw, brutal, and pulls no punches. It was a tough time, and my protagonist, Emmett Collins, is fighting for something worthwhile against forces of hatred and oppression. My contemporary novels, those in the Real Now, take on many social issues. Just a few so far are the impact of Big Pharma, cults, genome editing, Covid, private interest groups, and the separate laws and rules for the ultra-wealthy. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed has Max and the band taking on a morally corrupt billionaire with aspirations to the presidency with swirling foreign complications. The sequel, EveryThing vs Max Creed , out in May, finds the enemy to be a social media mogul looking to combine his information gathering sites into world domination. Impossible to believe? I think not. I believe that the popular opinion is that writers, much like a Thanksgiving dinner gathering, should avoid pitfalls of social issues, politics, and religion. The opinion of your protagonist promises to alienate half the readers, well, maybe I offend half the people, but I doubt it is half the readers. Still, it is stepping onto a precipice to take a stance with the opinions and values of my protagonist. But how can they be real people of the pages if they don’t have opinions and values? My current work in progress is tentatively titled Mainely ICEd. You get the gist. What say you, readers and writers? Would you rather shy away from the Real Now? Or do you feel that the people of the pages resound stronger and with greater impact for having opinions and values?

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, success is the result of hard work and does not happen overnight. I wrote my first novel in 1991 and twenty-nine short years later, in 2020, it was my first traditionally published book. I am Cuba. Last August, my eighteenth book was published. Three historical fiction novels, thirteen mysteries, and two that combine historical and mystery. That takes sitting in the chair and getting the work done. This dedication also requires organization and goals. What are my writing goals for 2026? I plan on publishing three books this year. EveryThing vs Max Creed , Book 2 of the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed is out on May 21st and 1955 , Book 1 in the Jazz Jones & January Queen will pub on October 13th. I’m hoping also to have an August release of Mainely Iced , the 7th in the Mainely Mystery series. Although the inspiration, the writing, and the editing is done for these books (except Mainely Iced ), there is plenty of work left to be done. EveryThing vs Max Creed is a modern-day Robin Hood thriller where Creed and his band of people try to bring justice to those wronged by the ultra-wealthy in a world where the law overwhelmingly favors those with money and power. He is bound only by the laws of humanity and not those of the legal system. It is the second book in the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed where Max and his band take on a social media mogul who is trying to enact chaos to grab the reins of world power. A breathless thrill ride that will keep your heart pounding long after the last page is turned. I have begun the marketing phase by emailing libraries offering four different kinds of presentations. COST TALK Matt Cost will talk about the process of writing a book with emphasis on his latest, EveryThing vs Max Creed , the second book in the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed. He will talk about where ideas come from, the research process, the writing itself, and of course, editing. Cost will read a short excerpt from the book and field questions. Two Authors in Conversation (TAC) Matt Cost will share the stage with another author, and they will discuss their writing process and latest books. A nod will be given to the IREAD national library summer theme touching on how writing and reading is like how farmers nourish crops, sparks imagination, and grows the culture. Writers on Writing (WOW!) Mat Cost will moderate a panel of authors speaking about the writing process with an emphasis on their latest books. A nod will be given to the IREAD national library summer theme touching on how writing and reading is like how farmers nourish crops, sparks imagination, and grows the culture. Mystery Making Panel The final possibility would be a panel of authors doing a Mystery Making event with audience participation where they take suggestions and make a mystery right in front of your eyes. I am in the process of sending these options out to over a hundred libraries. If you would like for your library or organization to feature one of these events, please reach out to me. Once EveryThing vs Max Creed is available for purchase (with an ISBN), I will start reaching out to bookstores to do signings and talks. I hope to do more book clubs this year and will actively be pursuing that option as well. Next month, I have my first of the year at Illume in Newburyport, Massachusetts. I only have one other book club set up at this point, at the Richmond Public Library in May. Last year I did sixty-two various events and hope to do more this year. My writing goals will be to finish Mainely Iced, write the third Jazz Jones & January Queen Mystery, and write my second Bob Chicago Mystery. That is if I can get a contract for a three-book series with the first one, Bob Chicago Investigates . I also hope to sign a contract for three more of the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed. Maybe a couple of short stories. Those are my goals for 2026. Library events, podcasts, bookstore signings, sign two contracts, and write and edit three books. Write on!

2025 was a good year for me. This year, as of tomorrow, I will have completed 62 writing presentations of one sort or another. Let’s break that down into categories. 23 COST TALKS at libraries. 11 PODCAST interviews. 9 Bookstore Signings. 8 Festivals, Fairs, and Sidewalks. 3 Mystery Making Events. 2 Crime Conferences. 2 Television Interviews. 2 Noir at the Bar. 1 Interview for a Book Launch (Jule Selbo & 7 Days). 1 Judge of a writing competition (Joy of the Pen). It was an off year for publishing, as only two of my books were published. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed was released on April 8th and Glow Trap pubbed on August 13th. The interesting piece of this is that Max Creed is the first book in a new series, The Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed and Glow Trap is the final book in the Clay Wolfe Trap series. The truly interesting aspect of these two books is that it is quite possible that they will weave together at some future point in time….I did get a short story into an anthology. Dead Men Don’t Kiss appeared in Celluloid Crimes in August. I wouldn’t rule out the possibilities that Elton Connor, a 1950s Hollywood PI, might just get his own series one of these days. I wrote three books this year. Bob Chicago Investigates is looking for an agent with hopes of going to the big dance. Bob is a retired schoolteacher, recently divorced, and struggling mystery writer who gets mistaken as a real PI and takes a case looking for a stolen katana, which turns out to be a priceless Japanese sword originally gone missing at the end of World War II. Max Creed Takes the Spice Road is the second in the Modern-Day Chronicles of Max Creed slated to come out with Level Best Books in May of 2026. Max and his band take on a social media mogul who has developed a terrifying new algorithm called Triangulation meant to cause anarchy. 1956 is the second book in the Jazz Jones & January Queen Mysteries set in 1950s Raleigh, North Carolina. The first, 1955, is slated for an October of 2026 release, and this one will publish in October of 2027. Jazz Jones, with January Queen, is hired to prove the innocence of a civil rights leader arrested for embezzlement and is filled with shadowy figures, Irish gangsters, and J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. I was asked to join the Crime Wave committee this year and helped plan a rousing crime conference in September that incorporated the exciting new feature of Round Tables for conversation about various writing topics to go along with the regular components of panels, speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities for writers and readers. And most importantly, I met many new friends in the crime writing community, both writers and readers—people who make all the work so special and rewarding in my life. That is my 2025 in a nutshell. How about you? What did the year hold for you and what makes it all worthwhile? Write on!

Glow Trap. The Final Trap. I currently have four crime series out in the world. Two contemporary Maine, one historical, and one thriller series. I have another series set to debut in October of 2026. And there is a sixth series being shopped around. That is a serious amount of series. Sorry. But on August 13th, something new happened. While sequels have been piled on one after another in my mystery novels, for the first time, I have ended the sequence. Glow Trap, published eight days ago, is the Final Trap. In an interview once, I was asked how I knew it was time to end a series. My answer at the time was that I have no idea, I have never done that. My reasoning now is that Clay Wolfe as we know him just plain seemed to have run his course. It was time to say goodbye to Port Essex, Baylee, Crystal, Westy, Murphy, and Cloutier. Glow Trap ties together and unravels quite a few threads all at the same time. A documentary film crew wants to make a movie based on Baker & Wolfe Private Investigators. A man with an alias washes up on shore dead. A trio of suspects included a retired spy, a former gangbanger in the WITSEC program, and a wealthy art thief hiding out in Port Essex. In a blast from the past, the idea is floated that the death of Clay’s father, mother, and grandmother when he was just a child was not just an accident. That a man who Mack Wolfe had put away for dealing drugs had reached out from prison and snuffed their lives in revenge. The pharmaceutical billionaire that Clay built a case against in Wolfe Trap has the charges dismissed due to technicalities that most likely involve bribes and blackmail. Is he ready to let bygones be bygones or is he set on a path of retribution? Goodbyes are always difficult. But it is time to say goodbye to Port Essex. The fireworks are so explosive, the action so packed, and the suspense so tight—it only seemed right to cap the climax and call it complete. Glow Trap. The Final Trap. Or is it?

The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed They tell us, sir, to not chase trends in the writing business. But often something pops my writing impulses from the headlines, and I engage. I dig in. I explore and research and learn. And then the words appear on the screen, the printer spits them out, and we have the makings of a book. Two years ago, I wrote The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed about a billionaire playboy who has political aspirations, perhaps inclined in that direction from powerful forces beyond his knowledge. It publishes in April and is the beginning of a new series with a new publisher. Max Creed is a fictional person created to bring justice to those wronged by the ultra-wealthy in a world where the law overwhelmingly favors those with money and power. He is bound only by the laws of humanity and not those of the legal system. When Sevyn Knight hires Max Creed and his disciples to right the wrongs done to her father at the hands of billionaire playboy, Rupert Hastings, the game is afoot. Creed must enmesh himself into the world of the immoral tycoon in order to destroy him, but the temptations of sin and the allure of the pleasures of the rich and famous tease the very fabric of his being. Aided by his business manager, John Little, the former assassin, Scarlett, the tech wizard Scads, the attorney, Marian, and the financial guru, Tucker, Creed races against time to stop Hastings from becoming all powerful as murky figures appear on the darkest edges of his fiefdom. A breathless thrill ride that will keep your heart pounding long after the last page is turned. The fact of the matter is that it takes time from typing the first sentence of a new book to publication date. I write diligently and will finish the first draft of a book in four months, but then take a couple of months to edit. I recently submitted a new book, 1955, the start of another series, to Level Best Books. It took five months to get accepted, even though I am an established author with them now. I have been told it might sneak into publication at the end of 2026, or maybe 2027. The timeline on this is four months to write, two months to edit, five months to get accepted, and twenty-four months to publication. All in all, from the beginning of the book to its publication date is three years (give or take a month). This series has less complications due to the length of time because it is a historical fiction PI mystery set in 1955. There are not many changes to the events of seventy years ago, unlike writing contemporary thrillers. In The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed, Max Creed and his band of not so merry people will fight a crusade to fight evil and worse from seizing power in a world determined by the super wealthy. The beauty of Max is that he is not forced to play by any set of rules. He will give the justice system their chance to set things right, but if they prove incapable, he will take matters into his own hands. Sometimes, breaking the law is the only way to achieve justice. Do you agree?

How does one go about creating characters? I would be most interested to hear how other writers go about the process as well as thoughts from readers on what they like and don’t like about character development. I first get an image in my mind of who this person is going to be, and this is often modeled upon traits that I possess, those that I admire or detest in others, and conflicting flaws that I find fascinating. Sometimes I scroll the internet to find a picture of somebody who fits the blurry image coming into focus in my mind and put it into my notes, character sketch, and outline document. Underneath this image I start building the description. Tall, short, slim, thick, eye and hair color, and so on. I also like to give characters a descriptive defining trait like the nose of a falcon’s beak or some such thing. But a description is much more encompassing than physical traits. Who are they and how did they become that? Humor, foibles, wit, trigger points, compassion, attention to detail—well, you get the picture. A real, live, breathing human being. The Protagonist: I have five different protagonists in my books, three out there in the world, and two not yet born. Goff Langdon is the star of my Mainely Mystery series. He is a PI as well as the owner of a mystery bookstore. Langdon’s father left at an early age, making him the man of the house before he was even a teenager, and a father to his younger twin brothers. This experience shapes who he is and how he interacts with the world. Clay Wolfe is a PI and a lead in my Port Essex Trap series. He returns to his small coastal hometown in Maine after becoming jaded on the job as a Boston homicide detective. He is a snazzy dresser, perhaps to cover up his insecurities, and has a difficult time committing to a love interest due to his own tragic beginning being orphaned at age eight. Brooklyn born Hungarian 8 Ballo is a naturally large and strong man who has trouble finding clothes that fit. He is ‘woke’ long before his time (1920s), is a product of WWI, and consorts with gangsters as easily as celebrities, even though he is an honest and average person. Max Creed will grace the pages of my new series debuting in April of 2025. His life takes a horrific twist when his bride is killed on their wedding day by an assassin hired to take her life by a billionaire who Max tried and failed to bring to justice for his crimes. After a downward spiral, Max re-emerges as a modern-day Robin Hood looking to bring justice to those wronged by the ultra-wealthy. Jazz Jones is my latest creation. He is a white PI in 1950s Raleigh who was raised by his aunt and her Black husband. This shapes his life as he has one foot in each of two worlds in that turbulent time, and at the same time, belongs in neither. It will be interesting to continue to breathe life and bring to life this man who has his own emotional baggage, some of it foisted upon him, and some of his own doing. The Antagonist: The five PI mystery and thriller series that I have created all need an antagonist, none of whom make the jump from one book to the next. That means that I have now fabricated sixteen villains. Men and women who are just plain bad and evil, but sometimes complicated and with redeeming qualities. They are the most fun to manufacture. A man with rancid breath like the smell of burning tires. That sort of thing never gets old. The Regulars: I like to cloak my protagonist in the warm embrace of a supporting ensemble of friends who throw their efforts into helping, bailing out, saving, and doing whatever necessary to help our hero win the day. They, along with the protagonist, continue to evolve and grow from book to book as the traits not visibly seen continue to be added to complete them as living, breathing, human beings. The Nameless: And then there are those who have not risen high enough in the ranks to get a name. Sometimes they get nicknames based on their physical features. The Mountain. Mouse. Scarface. Crooked teeth. And sometimes, these same people grow and gain a name. The deli owner Tony. The newspaper journalist Marie. Real people who refuse to leave the pages like Dorothy Parker. Creating life is one of the best perks of being a writer. I’d love to hear input from writers and readers on what they think works and doesn’t work in breathing heart and soul into the people of the pages.

In my Clay Wolfe book, Mouse Trap , I traveled down the rabbit hole into the world of genome editing, which some consider Wonderland. On the one hand, it is a place of wildly creative science trying to banish disease and disorder. On the other hand, it is a process that could lead to the demolition of human uniqueness, or what Wonderland represents, a world of absurdity, irrationality, uncertainty and disorder. Genome editing is a process in which the DNA of individuals can be changed at the embryo stage to edit traits such as height, eye color, and just about anything you can imagine using a technology called CRISPR-Cas9. The FDA frowns upon this being used on human subjects, but as often is the case, the science has outpaced the laws on putting any real teeth in restrictions on this being done. It could be used to make super soldiers. It could be used to change skin pigmentation. Do you want your child to have DNA traits common among geniuses, athletes, musicians, or artists? Mouse Trap posits that there are labs out there helping, for a very healthy fee, you to accomplish these aspirations for those goals for your unborn child. At the time of researching that book, it led me to the eugenics movement of the early 20th century. The primary place of research in the U.S. was at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, New York. It started in 1904 as a record gathering facility under Charles Davenport, a zoologist, and would quickly expand to a large part of the Carnegie Institute trying to declare certain individuals as unfit due to mental health, gender, race and other things that would lead to the involuntary sterilization of at least 60,000 people in this country. This movement funded by the wealthiest Americans, backed by a majority of politicians, spearheaded by the lead scientists and medical innovators, was the foundation of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. Of course, when the horrible atrocities of the Nazi’s and Hitler were revealed to the world, people began to distance themselves from the Eugenics Movement and it went dormant for years, but is now reappearing full-cycle in the form of genome editing. The research I did on Mouse Trap led me to the information that is the basis for my upcoming Brooklyn 8 Ballo book, City Gone Askew . 8 is confronted by the possibility, in 1924, of a horrifying triumvirate of the Eugenics Movement, the resurgence of the KKK, and the emergence of the Nazi party. Coming to you July 31st.

Dixey Bull is generally considered the first pirate in Maine. As these things so often go, even if he dreamed of being a pirate when he was a kid, living the life of a buccaneer of the seas was not his first intention. But, given his moniker, perhaps becoming a corsair was merely his manifest destiny. In the early 17th century, Bull started life off as an honest merchant, but when a roving band of French men attacked him along the coast of Maine, moored in Penobscot Bay, and relieved him of trade items of knives and beads as well as the furs he was bartering them for, something clicked in his brain. The raiders left him his small sailing vessel, but nothing else. Destitute and desperate he visited several English settlements and recruited fifteen men to be in his band of pirates. They started out ransacking small vessels, expanded their treachery to settlements along the coast, and then The Dread Dixey Bull and crew disappeared into thin air, never to be heard from again. Almost one hundred years later we come across Black Sam Bellamy. Much like Bull, Bellamy started off as a sailor, but he was with the British Royal Navy. Stationed in Cape Cod, he’d fall in love with a young lass named Goody Hallett. It is not quite known whether she was already married, and her husband disapproved (funny that), or she was too young, and her parents rejected Bellamy, but either way, he felt it necessary to go find his fortune so that he could return and take Goody away. He initially went looking for the treasure of the Lost Spanish Armada of 1715, but when that didn’t work out, he turned to piracy. In a little over a year, he became the wealthiest pirate ever, capturing the loot for up to fifty-three different ships. And this is where it becomes interesting. Loaded down with loot, he came to Maine. He stopped in Pemaquid Point before continuing to Machiasport with the thought of creating a Pirate Utopia, a democratic community of buccaneers enjoying the splendors of their booty. He had one task left to do first, though, and that was to retrieve his love, Goody Hallett, from Cape Cod. Unfortunately, his ship was caught in a fierce storm and sunk, and he and all but two of his men went down with the ship. And this is where my latest Clay Wolfe adventure begins. One of those survivors carries with him a treasure map that suggests that the stolen riches of Black Sam Bellamy were actually buried/hidden in the area now known as Port Essex. This map is uncovered in a King James Bible by two antique dealers who hire Clay and Baylee to help them find the treasure. Of course, it is not that simple. Pirates, Motorcycle Clubs, and Sex Doll Manufacturers round out the mix of those hunting the treasure. Pirate Trap publishes March 27th. Dead men tell no tales. Or do they?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens is writing about the French Revolution, but he might as well have been writing about the Industrial Revolution that was his time period, or maybe even the world of today, if he was an oracle in line with George Orwell. All three of these eras are ages of paradox. The rich live safe and leisurely existences far removed from the realities of most of the population. The French Revolution, Industrial Age, and Now are times of extreme wealth and of extreme poverty, a polarization of the whole truth, with a middle class plunked down on the lower side of the stratosphere. And this best of times and worst of times is also representative of the paradox of the holidays. Whether you celebrate Bodhi, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Hannukah, Yule, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or something else, it can be a wildly chaotic time. For those with money, family, friends, and love—it can be a wonderful celebration of life. For those struggling to pay the bills, it can be an enormous financial weight similar to cement shoes in a river. Many people feel alone and isolated as the world revels around them. The holidays are a time where it is stressed that is important to ask for help when help is needed. Whether it be money, sadness, remorse—it is essential to realize that you are not alone. And this means that those on the other side of the paradox, those with the means and the relationships of love, are ready to extend a hand. The holidays should not be the worst of times for anybody, not with so many of us living the best of times. None of us should live alone on a mountain top, nor need the visit of three spirits to wake us to the true meaning of the holidays. Nobody should feel the isolation of the Grinch nor the miserliness of a Scrooge. Let us make this the best of times and the season of light. We are all one people. Happy Holidays. Write on.