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The Winston Crisp Mysteries #1
A Show of Hands
RETIRED INTELLIGENCE agent Winston Crisp thought his career of delving into dark, unpleasant secrets was long over. Heâ s forsaken adventure and is comfortably settled on peaceful Penobscot Island, off the coast of Maine. The mild-mannered Crisp is content to write poems no magazine will publish, gossip with the locals around the stove at the hardware store, and gain weight on his landladyâ s homestyle cooking. But when the body of a young woman turns up, Crisp just canâ t stop himself from asking a few questions. Questions like, how did she end up frozen in the ice of an abandoned quarry? Whose fingerprints are those on her slender neck? What was her relationship with the son of a U.S. Senator who summers on the island? And why is her beautiful face caked with forty-year-old theatrical make-up?
Before long, octogenarian Crisp finds himself caught up in a tangled murder investigation, haunted by a red-headed ghost, and the target of a killer with a strangely twisted mind. His own grip on reality is slipping, and heâ s losing his will to keep digging. But he's determined not to go to his grave with these questions unanswered...
Before long, octogenarian Crisp finds himself caught up in a tangled murder investigation, haunted by a red-headed ghost, and the target of a killer with a strangely twisted mind. His own grip on reality is slipping, and heâ s losing his will to keep digging. But he's determined not to go to his grave with these questions unanswered...
- GenresMystery
Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
David A. Crossman
20 books4 followersMystery writer, musician and artist David Crossman grew up on Vinalhaven and graduated from the island school in 1970.
The roots of his mother's family (Roberts) extend back to the earliest settlers on the island who arrived in the late 18th century. David stressed that he and his younger brother Matt were born on the island and therefore really are Vinalhaven natives. His older brothers Phil and Dick, however, were born in Massachusetts, and are clearly from away.
Crossman is probably best known to Maine readers as a writer of mystery novels. This, however, is not a complete job description of a man with such a diversity of talents. Phil Crossman's younger brother is the author of six books, an accomplished artist and a musician with seven albums to his credit. Currently he and his wife Barbara live in Nashville, Tennessee and, together with their son Jason, have their own TV production company.
When Crossman graduated from high school, the Vietnam War was raging. Benefitting from a high draft number, he left the island and began a peripatetic life that has taken him to "six or seven states and four or five countries". Altogether David said he and his wife Barbara, who he met in Florida, have moved 21 times.
David got the writing gene from his mother Pat, a published author, skilled designer, and talented artist. She produced "a prodigious amount of material," that he is still going through. Three of the four Crossman brothers are writers. Brother Dick is, "a good poet." Phil has been a popular columnist for the Working Waterfront and is author of the book Away Happens. David told me he and Phil, have talked about collaborating, possibly on a TV pilot. David likes the idea but emphasized that "Phil needs to learn to spell."
I asked David where he got the idea for the Bean and Ab books that have become so popular in the last decade. He told me he and his wife were living in Egypt in 1997 when he became homesick for Maine. He started writing about growing up on the island and found it helpful. The exercise ultimately turned into The Secret of The Missing Grave, published in 1999, which was the first book in the Bean Carver and Abby "Ab" Peterson series. He had so much fun he decided to continue.
What is the difference between writing for teenagers and adults? David told me he enjoys doing both. "I had vivid memories of being a teenager growing up on an island so I just plowed ahead. I was confident that I could appeal to a younger audience. Subsequently I have discovered that the series spans the generations."
Crossman's characters are drawn from people he knew growing up on Vinalhaven. The character of Ab was based on Debbie, a summer girl from New York. "She was a friend who became a flame, and is now a friend," he recalled. "We spent a lot of time together and the adventures in my books are bits and pieces of things that really happened, as well as island legends, island locations, combined with flights of fantasy and imagination".
At the end of the third book, The Legend of Burial Island (published in June 2009), David said, "Bean and Ab have aged. They started out as 12 and 13-year-olds. Now they have a tentative, rather tenuous relationship and are not sure how they feel about each other. Their hormones are beginning to kick in. It reminds me of myself back then."
Crossman's other characters are composites of people from the island although he tries to stay faithful to local types. A lot of people on the island have said, "‘I know I saw myself in your book'." "When people recognize themselves it lets me know I am being true to life." Forty years later his memories of island life remain vivid. David says he can conjure them up wherever he happens to be living.
Burial Island is an actual island, near the entrance to Carver's Harbor on Vinalhaven. And yes, there is a legend connected with it. When I told David I'd heard that his first book The Secret of the Missing Grave might lead to a possib
The roots of his mother's family (Roberts) extend back to the earliest settlers on the island who arrived in the late 18th century. David stressed that he and his younger brother Matt were born on the island and therefore really are Vinalhaven natives. His older brothers Phil and Dick, however, were born in Massachusetts, and are clearly from away.
Crossman is probably best known to Maine readers as a writer of mystery novels. This, however, is not a complete job description of a man with such a diversity of talents. Phil Crossman's younger brother is the author of six books, an accomplished artist and a musician with seven albums to his credit. Currently he and his wife Barbara live in Nashville, Tennessee and, together with their son Jason, have their own TV production company.
When Crossman graduated from high school, the Vietnam War was raging. Benefitting from a high draft number, he left the island and began a peripatetic life that has taken him to "six or seven states and four or five countries". Altogether David said he and his wife Barbara, who he met in Florida, have moved 21 times.
David got the writing gene from his mother Pat, a published author, skilled designer, and talented artist. She produced "a prodigious amount of material," that he is still going through. Three of the four Crossman brothers are writers. Brother Dick is, "a good poet." Phil has been a popular columnist for the Working Waterfront and is author of the book Away Happens. David told me he and Phil, have talked about collaborating, possibly on a TV pilot. David likes the idea but emphasized that "Phil needs to learn to spell."
I asked David where he got the idea for the Bean and Ab books that have become so popular in the last decade. He told me he and his wife were living in Egypt in 1997 when he became homesick for Maine. He started writing about growing up on the island and found it helpful. The exercise ultimately turned into The Secret of The Missing Grave, published in 1999, which was the first book in the Bean Carver and Abby "Ab" Peterson series. He had so much fun he decided to continue.
What is the difference between writing for teenagers and adults? David told me he enjoys doing both. "I had vivid memories of being a teenager growing up on an island so I just plowed ahead. I was confident that I could appeal to a younger audience. Subsequently I have discovered that the series spans the generations."
Crossman's characters are drawn from people he knew growing up on Vinalhaven. The character of Ab was based on Debbie, a summer girl from New York. "She was a friend who became a flame, and is now a friend," he recalled. "We spent a lot of time together and the adventures in my books are bits and pieces of things that really happened, as well as island legends, island locations, combined with flights of fantasy and imagination".
At the end of the third book, The Legend of Burial Island (published in June 2009), David said, "Bean and Ab have aged. They started out as 12 and 13-year-olds. Now they have a tentative, rather tenuous relationship and are not sure how they feel about each other. Their hormones are beginning to kick in. It reminds me of myself back then."
Crossman's other characters are composites of people from the island although he tries to stay faithful to local types. A lot of people on the island have said, "‘I know I saw myself in your book'." "When people recognize themselves it lets me know I am being true to life." Forty years later his memories of island life remain vivid. David says he can conjure them up wherever he happens to be living.
Burial Island is an actual island, near the entrance to Carver's Harbor on Vinalhaven. And yes, there is a legend connected with it. When I told David I'd heard that his first book The Secret of the Missing Grave might lead to a possib
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 14, 2021
A good mystery with plenty of twists. It is interesting to see the personalities of people living year round on an island.
March 25, 2018
BK 1 of Winston Crisp mysteries
Part of the Maine Reads, Mysteries by Maine Authors discussion series. I enjoyed this one more than the previous two, which were to bloody and gruesome for me. When the dead body in pristine condition turns up frozen in the ice of a the quarry on Penobscot Island in late December, with the finger prints in her heavy makeup of a man who died two days before she was last seen in nearby Rockland on the mainland right after Labor Day, set the island folk talking and wondering, especially 80+ year old retired OSS/NDA/FBI agent, Winston Crisp, who can’t keep his curiosity from asking questions and teasing at shreds of evidence to uncover the truth and solve this new puzzle, in detriment to his own health and safety. Several unrealistic details, unbelievable in explaining the how’s of the murders, didn’t prevent me from turning pages to see how it turned out.
I’ll look for more in the series.
Part of the Maine Reads, Mysteries by Maine Authors discussion series. I enjoyed this one more than the previous two, which were to bloody and gruesome for me. When the dead body in pristine condition turns up frozen in the ice of a the quarry on Penobscot Island in late December, with the finger prints in her heavy makeup of a man who died two days before she was last seen in nearby Rockland on the mainland right after Labor Day, set the island folk talking and wondering, especially 80+ year old retired OSS/NDA/FBI agent, Winston Crisp, who can’t keep his curiosity from asking questions and teasing at shreds of evidence to uncover the truth and solve this new puzzle, in detriment to his own health and safety. Several unrealistic details, unbelievable in explaining the how’s of the murders, didn’t prevent me from turning pages to see how it turned out.
I’ll look for more in the series.
March 28, 2018
It was a fun read. The nick names and phrases were hilarious. Having summered on an Island in Maine, I had pictures in my head of these characters. Hard to follow the timing of the story at times. Not my favorite mystery.
February 11, 2018
This author creates characters who I totally relate to. The plot line was slow for me as I had read #2 in the series first so I knew what to expect.
March 10, 2018
Pretty good yarn!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews