This is a true account of Maine's most famous historical murder cases. The first two chapters look into Maine's first axe murders the Purington Massacre. Then every aspect of the Smuttynose case is covered from the murders, arrest, trial, jailbreak, sentencing and double hanging on the gallows of Maine State Prison at Thomaston. Louis Wagner was joined on the Gallows with another Maine Axe murderer, John True Gordon of Thorndike. Wagner in one of the most charismatic psychopaths I have ever heard of. After his conviction, he convinced everyone he met, reporters, prison officials, even the Warden that he was completely innocent of his crimes. Louis swore that one day the truth would come out and the next year a deathbed confession was printed across the nation, if true would exonerate him of his crimes. This is the intensely bizarre true account of the axe murders that shocked a nation.

A tale of marital intrigue. The protagonist is a woman photographer sent to investigate an old murder on an island. She takes along her husband, the husband's brother and the brother's girlfriend. Problems arise when the husband develops an interest in the other woman. By the author of Resistance.

In 1790 the first water-powered mill in America was run by children, some as young as 7 years old. They were paid pennies for a work day that might last more than 10 hours. As America grew, the children's plight grew worse. Exhausted by six-day work weeks and harsh conditions, millions of young workers had no time to play or go outdoors. They had no childhood. In time children and adults fought back, and the children went on strike to protest harsh conditions. Finally, during the last years of the Great Depression, the government took action, passing the Fair Labor Act.

Portsmouth, NH, March 5th, 1873... A confluence of events resulted in the murders of two women and brought national attention to the Maine/NH seacoast area. By mid day of Thursday, the 6th, word reached Portsmouth police that an atrocity had taken place on one of the islands, called Smuttynose. A group of fishermen from the Isles of Shoals were stunned with disbelief and rambling in heavily accented English when they broke the news to authorities. Two of their own were savagely murdered. The killer could still be out there on the small cluster of islands or had somehow made it back to Portsmouth in a dory on a very cold night. He had to be caught and, what's more, they knew who did it. Police Chief Thomas Entwhistle calmed the men and slowly began to piece the story together.The murders of Karen and Anethe Christensen by a Prussian immigrant who rowed ten miles to their deserted island, stirred controversy when it happened and continues to do so today. Cold Water Crossing sheds new light on that event and brings to life, the tragedy of one Norwegian immigrant family.

The wreck of the Nottingham Galley on Boon Island and the resultant rumors of insurance fraud, mutiny, treason, and cannibalism was one of the most sensational stories of the early 18th century. Shortly after departing England with Captain John Deane at the helm, his brother Jasper and another investor aboard, and a skeleton crew, the ship encountered French privateers on her way to Ireland, where she then lingered for weeks picking up cargo. They eventually headed into the North Atlantic later in the season than was reasonably safe and found themselves shipwrecked on the notorious Boon Island, just off the New England coast. Captain Deane offered one version of the events that led them to the barren rock off the coast of Maine; his crew proposed another. The story contains mysteries that endure to this day, yet no contemporary non-fiction account of the story exists. In the hands of skilled storytellers Andrew Vietze and Stephen Erickson, this becomes a historical adventure-mystery that will appeal to readers of South and The Perfect Storm.

Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835-1894) was born in Portsmouth, NH. When she was four, her father became the lighthouse keeper on White Island in the Isles of Shoals. After resigning his post eight years later, he built a resort hotel on Appledore Island in Maine. The first of its kind on the New England coast, the hotel became a gathering place for writers and artists during the latter half of the 19th century. In her last year of life, Celia published this work, in which she lovingly describes her Appledore garden and its flowers. The flowers she grew in her cutting garden filled her own rooms and those of the hotel, and this work became famous for its descriptions of the old-fashioned flowers she grew there. Her island garden, a plot that measured 15 feet square, has been re-created and is open to visitors.