Brenda Buchanan sets her crime novels in and around Portland, Maine. She keeps busy most weekdays with her active law practice and spends evenings, weekends and most vacations at the keyboard, bringing her characters to life.
Brenda’s first series featured contemporary newspaper reporter Joe Gale, who brought old-school style to the Maine crime and courts beat. Brenda drew on her own experience as a journalist when she imagined Joe and his colleagues at the Portland Daily Chronicle into existence. Her three Joe Gale books, Quick Pivot, Cover Story and Truth Beat,soon will be reissued as trade paperbacks.
Neva also needs to make peace with being back in Portland, a place with more than its share of painful memories. It helps that her once-gritty hometown has become something of a swan while she was living away. Even better is her nascent romance with a woman whose open heart and sense of humor give Neva a good reason to stay in Maine.
Joe and Neva are featured in two of Brenda’s short stories,Means, Motive, and Opportunity,published in 2021 (Crime Spell Books) andCrime of Devotion,published in 2026 (Wildside Press).
Buchanan’s prose is lean and assured, her characters are nuanced and fully fleshed, and her stories zip along with the relentless urgency of a lit fuse.
Chris Holm, author of The Killing Kind
The Neva Pierce Crime Series: Coming soon!
Neva Pierce is featured in a short story called Means, Motive, and Opportunity, where she is defending a particularly difficult client who’s accused of killing her fiancé. Old friend Joe Gale, the protagonist of my first three novels, also plays a key role in the plot.
Means, Motive, and Opportunity was included in the anthology Bloodroot: Best New England Crime Stories 2021. I am honored that this short story has also made the list of Other Distinguished Stories in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022 (BAMS).
The book that introduced Joe Gale to the world, Quick Pivot (2015).
A cunning thief skimmed a half a million dollars from the textile mill that was the beating heart of Riverside, Maine. A sharp-eyed accountant discovered the discrepancy, but was killed before he could report it. Decades later, reporter Joe Gale discovers the skeleton in a basement crawl space at the long-shuttered mill.
The second book in the Joe Gale series, Cover Story (2015).
Joe Gale is at his best when covering the crime beat for the Portland Daily Chronicle. In the dead of winter, he heads Downeast to cover the murder trial of a fisherman charged with burying a filleting knife in the chest of politically well-connected social worker.
Truth Beat, the third book in the series of Joe Gale Mysteries (2016).
A Maine newspaper reporter struggles with unreliable sources while covering two explosive stories—the apparent murder of a Catholic priest who stood up to his church during a child sexual abuse scandal and a spate of increasingly destructive bombings near the high school.
All three books in the Joe Gale series can be purchased through my publisher, Carina Press, or at any of the following ebook retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, ibooks and Kobo.
Reviews
“Truth Beat,” which tackles thorny social issues with rare grace, might be Buchanan’s finest work to date. Don’t miss it.
Chris Holm, author of the much praised thriller “The Killing Kind,” which is featured on many “Best of 2015” lists
“Equal parts courtroom thriller and small-town mystery, Brenda Buchanan’s second Joe Gale mystery is destined to win her legions of new fans. “Cover Story,” is a whip-smart page-turner of a read.”
Katrina Niidas Holm, October 7, 2015 review “Cover Story” in an October 7, 2015 review in Crimespree Magazine
“The brisk plotting and crisp dialog in “Quick Pivot” will suck you in immediately. This debut has action, heart, and twists in all the right places. Brenda Buchanan is a talent to watch!”
Steve Ulfelder, Edgar finalist, author of “Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage“
